Make notes as you read, beginning with where the book or story is set. Some authors will describe or name the town or at least the state or part of the country they are writing about. Sometimes they give an imaginary name to a town, but they will almost always set it down in a real state, province, or country. If the setting seems to be ethereal, as in on another planet or in an imaginary place, this may be a clue that you are reading fantasy or science fiction. Even if you doubt that the place really exists, you will still need to know its name.
Be aware of who is narrating the story. Is it the main character, speaking in the first person, using "I" and telling his own story, or is it an outside voice looking in, talking in the third person, about "them" and telling of events that happened as if you were watching a play or a movie? You will probably not be reading anything written in second person, addressing itself to "you," although if that turns out to be the case, you will certainly want to make a note of it. Write down the name of the main character even if they are not the source of the narrative viewpoint. You may have to read several pages or chapters before the main character becomes clear.
List all the characters and their part in the story, including family relationships and who their friends or enemies are (or seem to be). Especially mention the ones who have the most to lose, who have to stop what they are doing or do something different if they are to survive or get what they want out of life. Try to figure out who is the good guy (also called the protagonist) and who is the bad guy (also called the antagonist). Sometimes you won't know for sure until rather late in the book or story. This is one of the reasons that using the outline on literary elements requires that you read the assignment. Otherwise you will not be able to discuss or write intelligently about the elements of the literary work.
Draw a diagram or timeline of the main events that take place in the story. This will be the the plot, according to the outline on literary elements. Pay close attention to seminal moments, those events that cause major changes in the life of the characters. Look for births, illnesses, and deaths, as well as the important meetings and partings. Look for anything that would rock your world if if happened to you. Also look for things that seem to be foreshadowing of future events. Someone hides something that could be a murder weapon or the evidence of a theft or a secret affair. Remember at what point in the story this happened.
After you have read your assignment all the way through, go back over the outline on literary elements with a highlighter. Note words and concepts that you recognized as you read, and also those that you missed. Go back and try to find examples in your reading of such elements as didacticism, dialect, imagery, tone, conflict, foreshadowing, exposition, rising and falling action, and so on. Decide not only whether the story was told in first, second, or third person, but also whether it had an omniscient or limited omniscient narrator. Note how the story ended. Was it a cliffhanger or had you already guessed what would happen? Which characters were dynamic (changed at some point in the story) and which were static (stayed the same)? Did the story have a moral or a message? Go through the outline on literary elements again and draw out any that you have still not identified within your assignment.