Final answer:
Identifying your purpose before reading helps shape your engagement with the text, guides your structure and thesis, and informs your critical evaluation. Becoming familiar with the story and relating it to personal and social factors enhances comprehension. As you read more sources and reflect on your existing knowledge, you gain clarity and critical insight.
Step-by-step explanation:
Identifying your purpose before you begin reading is critical because it shapes how you engage with the text and what information you prioritize. Knowing your goal can also guide your critical thinking process and help you structure your analysis or argument. For instance, if your purpose is to understand the plot for a literature class, you'll focus on the sequence of events within a book, poem, or play. Articulating your claim or thesis makes your project focused and can influence which media and modes to employ in presenting your point.
To reach a true understanding of the text, it is important to become familiar with the text. This means taking the time to gain a solid grasp of the story and thinking critically about its themes, characters, and motives. As you flip back through the text, consider what stands out to you and why it appears significant. Furthermore, assessing how the study of the text relates to personal and social factors, such as education and career prospects, can deepen your comprehension and make the reading more relevant and meaningful.
At the start of a research project or when evaluating a source, the questions about purpose and viewpoint might be challenging to answer. However, as you delve deeper and compare multiple sources, recognizing an author's purpose becomes clearer. This critical awareness is key in understanding how to use the source effectively in your work. Additionally, summarizing your current knowledge of a topic prior to writing can help clarify your thoughts and determine your line of argument.
Last but not least, considering your report's audience, specific formatting requirements, and available evidence types are also thoughtful steps to define your purpose when approaching a reading or writing task.