Questioning

Learning Objectives

  • Use questioning as a reading strategy

Questioning

Active reading involves engaging with the text as if you’re having a conversation with the author. In a real conversation, you listen, think about what the other person is saying, and respond with your own ideas or questions. Similarly, when you read, you should mentally “talk” with the text—consider the author’s points, question their ideas, and form your own opinions.

Key Takeaway: Questioning

Questioning involves actively engaging with the author’s ideas by asking questions and forming your own thoughts. This strategy promotes critical thinking, clarifies concepts, challenges assumptions, and helps connect the text to your own knowledge or experiences. Asking questions is an excellent way to think critically about a text and to be an engaged reader.

Questioning can occur at any point in the reading process: before, during, or after.

Before Reading

a man reading

Figure 1. Asking questions about a text helps you to stay engaged with the reading material.

Before beginning to read, you may ask:

  • What is your purpose for reading?
  • What do you predict the text will be about?
  • How do you feel about the topic?
  • What biases might you have about the topic because of your feelings towards it?
  • What do you already know or think you know about the topic?
  • What do you need to know about the topic?
  • What do you want to know about the topic?
  • What do you predict the text will tell you about the topic?

During Reading

While you read, you may construct questions using one of these six basic question types: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

For example, you might ask:

What does the author mean by _____?
How does this relate to _____?
Why is this _______?

Or you may make statements such as:

I don’t understand_____.
I was confused by _____.

After Reading

After reading, ask yourself some questions to help you process and reflect on the material. Here are some questions that you can use to help you reflect on what you read. Write down your answers to these guiding questions and reread difficult passages with these questions in mind.

  • What did I learn?
  • Who can I ask for help if there is anything still unclear?
  • Where did I find the author’s style persuasive? Why or why not?
  • Why do I agree or disagree with what I read?
  • How does this connect to other things I am learning about?
  • When I have read anything on this topic before?

Watch It

You may have your own list of questions that work for you. This video gives an overview of the types of questions you should ask while reading.

You can view the transcript for “Questioning” here (opens in new window).

Try It