Final answer:
Surveying material before reading and taking notes is crucial for establishing a general understanding of the text, helps in selecting the most useful content for one's objectives, and allows for a more efficient and focused analysis and writing process.
Step-by-step explanation:
It is important to survey material before reading and taking notes because it helps in building a general knowledge of the subject, which is critical to understanding and interpreting the work. By surveying the material, you become familiar with the context, main arguments, and the overall structure of the text, which aids in selecting the most useful material for your specific writing assignment or study objectives.
Surveying also prompts you to ask yourself questions about your own response to the text, which contributes to a deeper critical analysis. This process of previewing the material should involve checking your own understanding, assessing weaknesses, and identifying any new, strange, or important concepts. By doing so, you establish a foundation that makes your subsequent close reading, annotating, and writing more focused and efficient.
Finally, considering the broad nature of survey texts, it's clear that entire books or courses could delve into what's presented in a small part of your survey material. Therefore, taking time to initially peruse these texts allows you to better grasp which sections or ideas might warrant further exploration or closer examination, potentially inspiring you to dig deeper into the topic at hand.