Final answer:
Comprehension and the ability to analyze are key when reading a textbook. Using strategies like reading the material more than once, taking notes, and actively engaging with the text can enhance understanding and critical thinking skills.
Step-by-step explanation:
When reading a textbook, comprehension is crucial for you to be able to understand the content. Comprehension involves being proactive, such as looking up unknown words, taking meaningful notes, asking questions about the text, and understanding its rhetorical situation. Improving your skills to analyze or evaluate texts critically and write about your understanding is equally important. Developing context and learning background information can greatly help in understanding texts on unfamiliar subjects. Strategies like reading assignments twice, before and after class discussions, and annotating texts can speed up the learning process.
Becoming familiar with the text and building a good general knowledge of the subject matter are invaluable. Active engagement, such as keeping a reading journal, summarizing plots, and asking questions about the text helps in better absorption and preparation for writing tasks and tests. For critical reflection, it may be necessary to read the material more than once, moving quickly through the first reading to understand the flow of the argument, and identifying key claims.