Organizing Outline for Reading Comp

[jodylongo]

Hi- I'm struggling with an efficient organizational method for outlining reading comp passages. Do you have any visual representations of efficient organizational methods/approaches that have worked for others (i.e. literal examples of what is appropriate for a paragraph by paragraph summary and how the outline should be structured?)

[Adam Tyson]

We have a lot of suggestions for notetaking, jodylongo, but none of them are really about "outlining" the passage in the traditional sense. Outlining is typically doing too much work in RC, when time is of the essence and it's an open book test. Instead, think of it as creating a simple, shorthand map of the passage, just noting where certain key things can be found, like the location of various viewpoints and how the passage is structured.

How you do this is up to you, so we wouldn't want to show you any one particular method and say "this is the right way." What might work well for you might not work for someone else, and vice versa. Instead, consider just a few general ideas, such as focusing on the purpose of each paragraph, and noting the presence of key indicators that will likely lead to questions, such as the presence of a list (like "there are three main theories, the first of which...") or the mention of dates or numbers. Keep your notes short and purposeful - don't paraphrase the passage or write full sentences, and don't note something down just because it seems important in terms of the subject matter. Take notes that are designed to help you quickly locate the kinds of things that you will be asked about, like arguments made by opposing parties, or recommendations made by the author or others.

If you have our RC Bible, or are one of our course students, you can find a lot of information in those materials about our suggested note-taking strategies. Play with them to see what works for you!