Turning Reading into Questions

Learning Objectives

• Distinguish an author's claim, supporting evidence, and your own interpretation.
• Write questions that help you explore a passage further.

Key Concepts

A claim is a judgment the author wants the reader to accept. Evidence consists of observations, material, or reasoning supporting that judgment. A question identifies what remains unclear.

Public example: the passage below was written to demonstrate YYNotes reading, language switching, and annotation. It does not quote an actual study.

Main Content

Start with a Short Passage

Passage: “During a group discussion, asking everyone to write down their ideas before sharing them in turn can make more perspectives visible.”

Restate it in your own words: the passage recommends independent thinking before discussion. Then record what it claims separately from what it has not yet established.

Reading layer	Record for this passage
Author's claim	Write independently, then share
Expected outcome	More perspectives become visible
Missing evidence	Which groups, which tasks, and which comparison method
Questions to pursue	How long should writing take? Does sharing order affect the outcome?

Keep Your Own Questions

A useful question can name specific conditions: “In a ten-minute group discussion, does writing ideas for two minutes first make participation easier for everyone than discussing immediately?”

This is a question to explore, not a verified conclusion. A reading note can preserve that distinction and avoid presenting speculation as fact.

Summary

Record restatement, evidence, and questions separately. A note does not need to eliminate every uncertainty; it can preserve a starting point for further thinking.