1.1 Reading and Writing in College

Improving Your Comprehension

You have blocked out time for your reading assignments and set a purpose for reading. Now comes the challenge: ensuring you understand all the information you are expected to process. Some of your reading assignments will be fairly straightforward. Others, however, will be longer or more complex, so you will need a plan for handling them.

For any expository writing—nonfiction or informational writing—your first comprehension goal is to identify the main points and relate any details to those main points. Because college-level texts can be challenging, you must monitor your reading comprehension. You must stop periodically and assess how well you understand your reading. Finally, you can improve comprehension by taking the time to determine which strategies work best for you and putting those strategies into practice.