Exercise 1.8 - Ways of Reading to Write

The most important thing about reading for a research paper is:
to take good notes, analyze the exert and read to understand.

Trapper's Last Shot

This opening seems to foreshadow the fact that people need to be more careful and consider what they are doing before they actually do it. The idea of a beautiful community was present in the beginning, but then the boy was struggling on his own in a lake that was anything but peaceful. "He got to the bank before he fell, and thought they wanted to help him, they couldn't keep from backing away." Things are not always as they appear. "The surface all around, even the farthest edge, roiled when he hit as if the pool were alive, but they didn't see the snakes at first." There seems to be a wildlife problem here (because the pool was full of snakes) as well as a lack of enough water for the humans and snakes.

Academic Article

"...Identity is the most important goal of adolescence," was suggested in this article. The theorist examined several different methods that "adolescence" use to determine their identity. He concluded that most of them form their identity based on events in which they are forced to make critical decisions. Any conflicting decisions are examined and the individual then comes to a conclusion about what they think and that becomes part of what defines them.

Fastwrite

In both approaches to the exerts, I analyzed the contents and looked for themes. However, I looked at the first one as I would a piece of literature, while the second seemed more philosophical. Usually when I am reading, I look for themes and specific examples that support that theme (or contradict it). I also look at the tone being used - formal or informal? I usually reread or skim the numerous different things that I read so I can better understand them and their context and I know where the article is going at the very beginning (having already read the whole thing through). I am also a note taker. Organized notes help me to think through my thoughts so I can see them on paper and develop my ideas more constructively. I believe that I did a good job at following my own reading for writing rules. Key difference: the first was quite informal, the second one was quite formal. I had problems trying to figure out where the writer was going with the exert. To fix this, I just analysed from where they were coming so I could somewhat predict where they were going.