Final answer:
To determine what is important in a reading, students should engage deeply with the text through multiple readings, annotations, inferences, and tracking patterns. These strategies enhance understanding and allow for critical analysis beyond the surface level.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question 'One way to determine what is and what is not important in a reading is to:' deals with strategies for effectively engaging with a text. Among the choices provided, 'read everything' is the most grounded approach. However, a more nuanced strategy can include reading the text multiple times, highlighting, annotating, making inferences, asking questions, and tracking patterns. These techniques allow students to gain a deeper understanding of the material and to actively engage with it, facilitating the identification of the key points, themes, and important details within the reading.
It is important to engage with the text in a meaningful way by highlighting and annotating, which can lead to a deeper analysis and the development of critical thinking skills. Making inferences based on details provided in the text is also a vital part of understanding, as it involves drawing conclusions that go beyond mere guesswork. Lastly, identifying patterns and symbols can reveal thematic elements and enrich one's comprehension of the reading material.