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Use this Strategy:

Before Reading

During Reading

After ReadingBefore Reading

DuriReading

Targeted Reading Skills:

Draw conclusions and make inferences based on the information provided

· Use textual evidence to substantiate textual claims

· Draw conclusions and make inferences based on explicit and implied information

What is it?

Question-Answer Relationship or QAR(Raphael,1982;1986) is a great way to to help students figure out how to go about answering questions based on the the reading.  Too often students feel that the answer is provided in the text and they spend too much time searching the reading for the "right answers" only to become frustrated when the answer is not specifically stated.   

If students learn the four basic question answer relationships they are able to  understand the different types of questions and how to effectively and effeciently answer the questions without being frustrated.  When students become frustrated during testing, they are more likely to give up and guess at the questions. 

Question-AnswWhat does it look like

Helping students to analyze the question-answer relationships will enable them to become skillful at analyzing the types of questions that they are typically asked to respond to when reading a text.  The four

Right There Questions: “Right There” questions require you to go back to the passage and find the correct information to answer the question.  These are sometimes called literal questions because the correct answer can be found somewhere in the passage.  “Right There” questions sometimes include the words, “According to the passage…”  “How many…” “Who is…”  “Where is…”  “What is…”

Think and Search Questions: “Think and Search” question usually require you to think about how ideas or information in the passage relate to each other.  You will need to look back at the passage, find the information that the question refers to, and then think about how the information or ideas fit together.  “Think and Search” questions sometimes include the words, “The main idea of the passage…”  “What caused…”  “Compare/contrast…”

Author and You Questions: “Author and You” questions require you to use ideas and information that is not stated directly in the passage to answer the question.  These questions require you to think about what you have read and formulate your own ideas or opinions.  “Author and You” questions sometimes include the words, “The author implies…”  “The passage suggests…”  “The speaker’s attitude..,”

On My Own Questions: “On My Own” questions can be answered using your background knowledge on a topic.  This type of question does not usually appear on tests of reading comprehension because it does not require you to refer to the passage.  “On My Own” questions sometimes include the words, “In your opinion…”  Based on your experience…”  “Think about someone/something you know…”

If you know the four types of questions that could be asked about a reading you are better prepared to know how to ansswer the questions.