Lessons · Law foundations · Reading: holding a long passage in order
Read for the shape, not for the detail
A long passage carries far more detail than any question will ask about, and the questions that do ask about detail tell you where to look. What the questions rely on is structure: what the author is claiming, who disagrees, and what each paragraph is doing. Read once for that, and go back for facts.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by an attorney. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
A reader who tries to retain every detail finishes the passage slowly and remembers little, then answers structural questions from a blur. A reader who maps the shape finishes quickly and can find any detail in seconds, because they know which paragraph it lives in.
How to think about it
After each paragraph, say in four or five words what it is DOING -- sets up the problem, gives the opposing view, concedes a point, answers the objection. At the end, say the author's own position in one sentence. That map answers most of the questions directly and makes the rest a lookup.
Worked example
Paragraph one: states the accepted view.Usually the thing the author will complicate.
Paragraph two: gives the objection.Note whose objection it is. Attribution is asked about.
Paragraph three: the author's own position.The single most asked-about sentence in the passage.
Detail questions name their target.Go back and read those lines again rather than recalling them.
Your turn
What should you write down after each paragraph?
After each paragraph, note what that paragraph is
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Confusing a view the author reports with the view the author holds. A passage that spends two paragraphs explaining somebody else's position is not endorsing it, and questions are written to catch exactly that slip.