A reader’s memory includes long-term memory skills, remembering specific facts and events from earlier in the book, and short-term memory skills, remembering specifics about how current sections developed. Readers can develop memory skills by taking notes while reading, highlighting important sections and by self-questioning, asking themselves questions about the order of events in the story and how they came to pass. Effective memory skills help readers recall important events in a story, serving as a necessary component for effective comprehension.
Metacognitive skills involve thinking about the act of thinking used during the comprehension process. This includes forming independent reading strategies, identifying the important elements of a story and using comprehension strategies. Readers employ metacognitive skills when they read a section and decide how to relate the information from the section to information from previous sections. The metacognitive process is the reader’s ability to understand their other cognitive skills, and develop personal methods for employing those skills during the reading process to develop a deeper comprehension of the material.
Reading analysis is the process of identifying the most important elements in a selection of text, including important themes, ideas and facts about the story. After a reader isolates a few of the major ideas from a section of reading, she can begin looking for recurring themes and ideas presented multiple times in a text, often in different ways. Effective reading analysis is a crucial comprehension component, allowing readers to isolate and understand the elements of a story necessary to implement other cognitive skills, such as critical comparisons and memorization of these elements.
Critical comparisons involve a process of isolating the most important elements of a literary piece and then comparing these elements to other pieces of literature, either investigating both for similarities or identifying differences. Through a careful literary comparison, readers gain a deeper critical comprehension of the important themes and ideas of a literary work, while gaining exposure to supporting or opposing views on these elements. Through this process, a critical reader develops a deeper comprehension of the themes of the works she reads.