Reading Strategies for the WPE

Reading Strategies for the Writing Proficiency Exam

Every topic that Cal Poly uses for the Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE) contains a significant reading passage, and your essay will be graded in part on how well you demonstrate your understanding of that passage. If you simply skim the reading and then launch into your essay, you are likely to have trouble, either because your essay fails to show that you comprehend the reading or because your essay grows from a faulty understanding of the reading and therefore fails to respond appropriately to the prompt (exam question) itself. Careful reading is a critical part of all writing, including the WPE, so use the strategies below to read efficiently and thoughtfully.

1. Scan the title, the author’s name, and the publication name, if these are provided. Think about what you may know already about the topic, the writer, or the source.
2. Read the text, making notes in the margin to reflect your personal “take” on what the author is writing about. Note areas of agreement and disagreement with the author, but reserve final judgment until you’ve really thought about the article.
3. Read the text again as though you’re in conversation with its author. Be both a “believer” who is open to the author’s arguments and a “doubter” who is skeptical of those arguments. Note any ideas or comments that your inner “believer” and inner “doubter” have.
4. Underline any vocabulary words about which you’re unsure. Attempt to figure out by looking at their context, but do not use any word whose definition you are unsure of in your own writing.
5. Map the organization of the article, finding the main points and the specific details that support those points. What does the author want you to think or do? Are you persuaded?
6. Note any use of logos (logic) in the article and decide whether the logical support is effective or ineffective—and why.
7. Note any use of pathos (emotion) in the article and decide whether the emotional appeal is effective or ineffective—and why.
8. Note any use of ethos (credibility, either the author’s own or borrowed from experts and cited) in the article and decide whether the appeal to credibility is effective or ineffective—and why.
9. Jot down a single sentence that best describes the article’s main argument.
10. Write a single-paragraph summary that captures the author’s main argument and the most important support they offer for that thesis, relying on your own words and using quotations sparingly (if at all). This exercise will help to prepare you to show that you truly understand the article when you write your WPE essay.