What to Do After Reading

Just like reading doesn’t begin when you open the book, it doesn’t end when you close it! After reading, a successful reader will make time to engage and evaluate what they just read. This section covers several strategies for what to do after reading, such as paraphrasing, summarizing, analyzing, and synthesizing. Click on one of the areas below to learn more.

Paraphrasing: Learn how paraphrasing is different from quoting and summarizing, and how to paraphrase what you read so that you can check your understanding of what the author says and improve your memory of it.

Summarizing: Learn how summarizing is different from quoting and paraphrasing, and how to summarize what you read so that you can check your understanding of longer texts and remember the main ideas.

Analyzing: Learn how to read critically by analyzing what you read.

Writing Patterns: Learn how to identify the patterns used by writers to organize their ideas. This will help you anticipate how a text will develop an idea and improve your own writing.
Evaluating an Author’s Intent: Learn how to evaluate an author’s intent by reading critically to discern point of view, purpose, intended audience, and tone.
Evaluating an Argument: Learn how to evaluate the arguments you come across as you read in order to uncover biases and logical fallacies.
Evaluating a Website: Learn how to evaluate websites for reliability, accuracy, and relevance.
Creating a Timeline: Learn how to create a timeline to organize and remember the information you gather from the texts you read.
Creating an Outline: Learn how to make an outline of what you read so that you can understand how ideas are organized and related in the text.
Creating a Concept Map: Learn how to create a concept map to visualize the main ideas in a text.
Creating a Story Map: Learn how to make a story map to improve your understanding of narrative-based texts like novels, short stories, and histories.