Basic Skills

1. Questions on the Text

The phrases in bold letters can serve as a checklist:

Questions:

Read the question(s)!
Does the question relate to only a certain (given) passage of the text?
Mark keywords in question, look up unclear words!
What is asked? What are you looking for? Decide what information you need before you read the text again – e.g. do you look for reasons, stylistic devices, facts/quotes that help to write a characterization?

Textwork/Reading: Mark / collect material from the text that will help you to answer your question

Read the text one section/paragraph at a time to maximize your concentration.
Stop at the end of the section/paragraph and ask yourself: “What is important – what helps to answer the question?”
Mark the passages that help to compose your answer AFTER reading a paragraph and before moving on.
Annotate by writing e.g. the number of the question or a short tag on the margin of the text.

Writing

Structure your material (related ideas/arguments, order of importance ...)
Tense used in the question ==> Correct Tense of your answer?
Have you gota good introductory sentence? It is a sentence that states what question you answer/refers to the question and gives the reader a basic idea of the structure/direction your answer takes. (Question: What problems does the author see for big cities? - Your introduction: The author believes that big cities have two main problems related to traffic and housing.)
Answers include: introductory sentence ==> parts of answer (1 paragraph each; do you have to give lines/quotes?), incl. explanations [==> conclusion]?
Are the paragraphs linked well ==> is the line of argument/order o.k.?
Does the answer really answer the question?
Are the promises from the introduction kept? (e.g "There are three reasons ..." - Do you give three?)