P.T.I.C.

: A Strategy for Reading

Some believe that a principal aim of college is learning how to learn. Obviously, if we are equipped with lifelong learning strategies, we are better able to function in an age that requires skilled workers and affords cultural opportunities for an enriched life. Learning to read with a strategy is an indispensible tool for college and for life, both for career development and pleasure. Often in college, we are challenged to read large quantities of materials, to understand them, to remember them, to apply themand to enjoy them. When I was in college, I recall reading my homework while lying on my bed. Inevitably, I would slip in and out of a comatose state, but I stuck out each assignment until I got to the last word on the last page. During my freshman days, I thought these efforts were equal to the task, but I soon learned of my deficiencies as a reader. Arriving at class, I often wondered if I had read the same chapter the teacher had assigned. The material seemed only vaguely familiar. And quizzes! I was stuck in a B range. I wondered if that was the best my native intelligence could crank out. As a new college student, I found this experience alarming and began to question my intellectual ability. Maybe I was only a B student, especially since I had heard that freshmen typically drop their high school grade point averages one whole letter to figure their college GPAs. In short, I was beginning to feel that my academic fate was out of my control. However, eventually I discovered study routines that gave me more control of my college experience. For example, I learned that there are very simple strategies that markedly improve reading skills. Initially, they require a bit of time, but in the long run, they pay off. Heres why. Trying to be a good freshman, I remember re-reading all of the assigned chapters while studying for exams. Honestly, I can remember, for example, reading five chapters of zoology twice, once to prepare for class discussion and once to review for a unit exam. What I hadnt yet learned was a strategy for reading these chapters smart the first time, a strategy that would have enabled me to review chapters during successive study sessions, rather than re-read them in their entirety. So what does reading smart entail? Surveying the Text: PTIC Everything Ive encountered about readingthe kind of reading that requires engagement, comprehension, and retentionsuggests that you should take a few minutes to survey a text before reading it completely through. To make the survey simple, Ive come up with an acronym PTIC. The strategy goes like this. After reading the introduction and conclusion of the text at hand, ask yourself four questions, jotting the answer to each wherever you are taking notes. Think of each question as a step that will take you closer to the thesis, the writers most important point. 1. Discerning the Purpose: Why is the writer writing? The letter P in the PTIC strategy stands for purpose and poses this question: Why is the writer writing? Unless youre reading creative literaturefiction, drama, or poetrymost likely the material youll be studying in college will have one of two broad purposes: either to explain or to persuade. Writing to explain is often referred to as expository writing; writing to persuade, as argument. Determining which of these broad purposes the writer intends helps you anticipate how to interpret the text youll be reading. (I use the term text somewhat generically to refer to any kind of reading material you might encounter in college.) If the writers purpose is to explain, you naturally begin looking for the important concepts the writer intends to clarify; however, if the writers purpose is to argue or to persuade, you shift to another gear. You often begin to look for the claim in the argument and the reasons the writer gives to support that claim. You may also take a stance of caution while reading arguments: will you believe what youre reading, disbelieve it, or reserve judgment until you know more? The point is that you process your reading texts differently depending on the writers purpose. 2. Discovering the Topic: What is the writer writing about? The letter T in the PTIC strategy stands for topic and poses the second question: What is the writer writing about? Stating a writers topic as precisely as you can will help you clarify the writers thesis or conclusion, as we shall see in the next survey steps. Your answer to this topic question might sound something like this: The writer is writing about the parking problem at BYU-Idaho. Or she is writing about how texting becomes addictive.

3. Posing the Issue: What is the main question the writer is asking? The letter I in the PTIC strategy stands for issue. An issue is a question. When you read to uncover a writers issue, you are asking, What is the main question the writer seems to be asking in this text? If youre a bit stumped about how to pull an issue question out of an essayissue questions are most often impliedyou may want to take another look at the topic youve just identified in Step 2. Turning this topic into a question will help you identify the writers principal issue. For example, the topic of parking problems at BYU-Idaho might yield the issue question, Should the university construct a parking plaza near the new auditorium? The texting topic might produce the question, Are social skills declining because of excessive texting? 4. Stating the Conclusion: How does the writer answer the issue question? The letter C in the PTIC strategy stands for conclusion and takes you to the final question: How does the writer answer the issue question? As you answer the issue question in a single sentence, you have articulated the writers thesis, the single most important point in the text. Remember, at this survey stage of reading, you are trying to find the writers thesis by examining just the introduction and conclusion of the text. While its true that such a survey may not yield a finely-tuned rendering of the writers main point, a preliminary thesis idea will help you make better sense of what you are about to read. To clarify, imagine this analogy: surveying a text to discern a writers thesis is a bit like getting a glimpse at a blueprint to know what a building will look like or studying a jigsaw puzzle box top to see how those 1,000 pieces add up to a picture. With a blueprint in mind, a builder knows how the distinct parts of a structure will eventually become a completed edifice; with a box top in mind, someone who likes puzzles sees how those disparate pieces will reveal a sensible image. In a like manner, with a thesis in mind, a reader knows how a writers ideas will combine to clarify a thesis. Demonstration: Drinking Hemlock and Other Nutritional Matters What follows are the first and last paragraphs of a short but thought-provoking essay by Harold J. Morowitz, a molecular biophysicist. For practice, read these two paragraphs, and with that information in mind, PTIC the essay: write answers to each of these four questions, even if you feel like youre guessing. Why is Morowitz writing? What is Morowitz writing about? What is the issue question Morowitz seems to be asking in Hemlock? How do you think Morowitz answers this question? Introductory Paragraph As you read the introductory paragraph of Drinking Hemlock, Morowitz perhaps captured your attention with his anecdote about the Hollywood actress, but you might be confused about the larger point Morowitz is illustrating by way of this example. Concluding Paragraph However, as you read the concluding paragraph, you probably sensed that Morowitz was getting at an important point. As he begins, The solution seems clear, you might have wondered, Solution to what? Next Morowitz states rather emphatically that all students at all levels of learning should become sensitive to how valid knowledge is established. Then Morowitz concludes with a rather odd statement: Drinking hemlock may be less painful than swallowing some of the drivel that comes over the TV set every day. This concluding paragraph seems to be getting at a climactic point Morowitz wants his readers to believeperhaps his thesis. Heres what my survey PTIC looks like. (Remember, this may be just a good guess; Ive only read the first and last paragraphs of Morowitzs essay.) Why is Morowitz writing? Morowitz is writing to argue. He wants me to believe there is a problem (that TV hoists onto us information of questionable validity) and a solution to that problem (that we need to figure out what makes information valid). What is Morowitz writing about? Morowitz is writing about how TV encourages us to believe things that we should question. What is the central issue question Morowitz is asking in Hemlock? Morowitzs central question is something like: What can be done to make us more sensitive to the validity of TV information?
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 How does Morowitz answer this issue question? Morowitz answers this implied question directly in the third sentence of the concluding paragraph, which paraphrased might sound like this: To avoid being taken in by phonies, we need to learn what make an idea credible. Reading the Text Next, read Morowitzs essay smart by annotating as discussed on the Annotating a Text handout. Remember that in addition to your marking of the text (underlining, circling, etc.), you should also write a brief summary statement beside each paragraph. This will make reviewing, studying, and using the text much easier down the road, and it will help move the essay into your long term memory. Reworking Your PTIC After reading Morowitzs essay smart (or any other text you need to study carefully), take a moment to re-state the writers issue and conclusion/thesis statement with precision. Doing so will assure your comprehension. And reviewing this refined thesis and your marginal notes over time will sink these keys ideas into your memory. A simple strategy like this can build your confidence at exam time. And perhaps more importantly, you can have the satisfaction of knowing that what you have read now belongs to you. The Role of Reading Questions Another component of an effective reading strategy is asking questions as you read. You may even think about reading as a conversation with a writer. While were more accustomed to conversing with others face-toface, reading too can become conversational. When you ask a reading question, you listenor readfor answers; hence, you engage the text at deeper levels. Reading questions are of two types: those that check your literal comprehension and those that encourage your personal reflection and response. Posing literal comprehension questions is like giving yourself a reading quiz (before someone else does!). Personal reaction questions encourage you to think about ways you might liken the text unto yourself (as Nephi would with scriptures). These latter kinds of questions often take you outside of your text and encourage you to make connections to your own experience. Taking one more look at the first and last paragraphs of Drinking Hemlock. Im going to insert within brackets some sample literal comprehension and personal reaction questions to show you how many of these are embedded within a text. From your perspective, which of these questions seem tied to literal comprehension? Which seem to provoke personal responses and connections to person experience? Hemlock: First Paragraph It was a rather dark, bleak morning, and after rising early I thought it appropriate to turn on the television and communicate, unidirectionally to be sure, with the outside world. [What does unidirectional mean?] [How is TV unidirectional communication?] There to my great surprise was a famous movie star of a few years back discoursing on the evils of sugar. [Im curious. Whos the actress? Jane Fonda? Bette Davis? Probably not that far back!] The former Hollywood idol was vehement [What does vehement mean?] in her denunciation of this hexose dimer [What is a hexose dimer? If Morowitz is talking about the evils of sugar, is hexose dimer just a chemical name for sugar?] particularly in its purified and crystallized form. She denounced it as an unnatural food, [How is sugar an unnatural food?] an epithet [Epithet? If unnatural food is an example of an epithet, is an epithet just another name for something, maybe a kind of nickname?] that may well have bruised the egos of the photosynthesizing cane and beet plants. [Is Morowitz being sarcastic? Bruising the ego of sugar cane? Whats up with that?] The mental image evoked was that of a solemn judge sentencing someone in perpetuity for an unnatural act. In no time at all this great lady had me caught up in her crusade, and I kept muttering hate sucrose as I prepared an unnatural extract of coffee beans and dropped in a highly synthetic saccharin tablet. [Is there something ironic here? Dropping an artificial sweetener like saccharine into a hot drink while hating sucrose, which in the form of sugar is a more natural food?] [Have I ever been swept up in an emotional reaction to something Ive watched on TV?] [What point is Morowitz attempting to make with this example?] Hemlock: Concluding Paragraph The solution seems clear. [If the solution is upcoming, can I restate the problem Morowitz has been discussing?] When we return education to the basics of reading, writing, and rithmetic, we should add a fourth R, Reality. [What does Morowitz mean by reality? Can I define his meaning?] Starting at the first grade and continuing through graduate training we must see that students become sensitized to the
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meaning of what is said and the realization of how valid knowledge is established. [Is this Morowitzs thesis? And can I state it in my own words?] If this seems radical, it is. [In Morowitzs view, why is this solution radical?] Drinking hemlock [Can I explain what hemlock is and how it works into the essay and the title?] may be less painful than swallowing some of the drivel that comes over the TV set every day. [What drivel have I seen lately on TV? Is this drivel harmful to me or others I have observed? Do I agree with Morowitz?] Questions like these turn reading into a different kind of experience. No longer is the writer monopolizing the conversation, but rather you as a reader have joined in. Reading with questions in mind, you wont be surprised with an exam question or stumped for ideas to talk about in class or write about in a paper. Summary As you launch into the essays assigned for class reading, I hope you are getting the point about reading smart. Initially a reading strategy may seem strained and laborious, but with a bit of practice, it becomes ingrained and automatic. Once again, here are a few essential moves that define effective reading and study: Survey your text to discern, as best you can, the writers purpose, issue, and main point. Underline key ideas. Paraphrase ideas you have underlined or want to remember. Circle words you want to know, and look them up in a dictionary. Restate the writers main point after you finish reading your text. Review your marginal notes. Pose reading questions as your read that encourage comprehension and response. Reading a text smart the first time is often a better use of time than having to reread it again and again. Your grades improve, and you willperhaps surprisinglyfind yourself enjoying a conversation with a writer who has something worth sharing. Consequently, reading becomes a pleasurable activityintellectually exciting. And that excitement is what the university experience should be about.

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