Reading Strategy: Ask Questions

It is important to ask questions whenever you read something that you do not understand. Sometimes you will find the answer right in the same sentence. Other times you will need to search for the answer.

Reading Strategy Ask Questions
    How to Find Answers

  • 1. “Right There” Strategy

    • • Ask the question.

    • • See if the words that answer the question are directly stated.

  • 2. “Think and Search” Strategy

    • • Ask the question.

    • • Find the answers in different sentences or paragraphs.

    • • Put the information you found together.

Strategy in Action

Here’s how one student asked questions.

Look Into the Text

Eve’s parents expected her to do well in school, plus cook, clean, and help tutor her four younger siblings. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes, the family lived on donated canned food and dry milk. “We’ve come a long, long way,” Eve says.

Why wasn’t it easy for Eve’s family?

How has Eve’s family come a long way?

“The answer is right there!”

Eve’s parents came to Minnesota in the late 1970s from Laos in Southeast Asia. After years of hard work, they own a home and run a small business.

“I‘ll get information from different sentences and put it together.”

Practice Together

Reread the passage above and ask a question. Use the strategies in the How-To box to find answers. When you read the following two news features, search for answers to your questions.