Mental note-taking is a very effective tool which you can utilize to help you read more actively. Mental note-taking does not mean that you try to memorize every single detail in a reading passage. Instead, it requires you to ask questions and to reinforce key ideas in a passage. Mental note-taking involves:
Here is a short reading passage, followed by sample mental-notes.
| In England, the period between the Gothic and Renaissance styles is known as the Elizabethan age. It reached its peak in the late 1500s, toward the end of the long reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and is often considered the last phase of the long-lasting Tudor style. Although the Elizabethan age produced a certain amount of characteristic sculptures and paintings, the Elizabethan style can best be seen in the period's literature. Many great writers and poets were alive at this time, including Edmund Spenser, Sir Walter Raleigh, and William Shakespeare. The Gothic period preceding the Elizabethan age was based on religion, but the authors of the Elizabethan age wrote extensively about personal conflicts and personal relationships, and so a new style of writing emerged during this period. Some scholars argue that this new style of writing was the impetus for the rebirth of scholarly interests, which ultimately led to the Renaissance, which had it's roots in the classics of art, religion, science and inventions, philosophy, and humanism.
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