Author: Tom Polk

As we have written throughout this semester, many challenges that students encounter with writing stem from difficulties with reading.  These difficulties range across disciplines, but each discipline might face its own set of challenges.  The problem many faculty in the sciences experience, writes Laura Davies in her article on teaching reading in science courses, is that often “students regard scientific texts as collections of facts.”  Thus, Davies says, students engage articles purely for content and can overlook how that content engages in broader disciplinary conversations and practices, which are often critical for entering into a disciplinary community.  So, how do we help students read for more than facts?

Earlier in the semester, we shared some resources that focused on using annotations and other strategies to support reading.  The general intent of these strategies is to prompt students to engage more deeply and mindfully with their reading.  In our post on “mindful reading,” we mentioned that effective readers often read for specific purposes that shape the way they engage the texts they are reading.  For instance, if readers want to gain a general understanding of a text, they might skim it by noting the title, reading the introduction and conclusion, and browsing the main sections.  But what if we have a different purpose?  What if we are engaging a text not for its content but for its structure?