There are a variety of different strategies that an individual can use to read a particular piece of material, but it is important for an individual to find the best strategy for the type of resource that the individual is using. There is a wide range of different written materials that an individual may have to use in order to study for an exam, interview, or other similar purpose and each type of written material requires a different reading strategy in order to use that resource in the most effective way possible. One of the strategies that an individual can use if he or she is reading a novel, short story, or other work of fiction is known as element mapping. Element mapping is primarily used when an individual needs to break down a work of fiction into its component parts especially if the individual is preparing to write a book report or studying for a literature exam.
This method requires an individual to search for five different literary elements while the individual is reading the particular fictional work that he or she is studying. First, the individual should make a list of all of the characters that are involved in the story and attempt to identify which characters are main characters and which characters are secondary characters. Second, the individual should write a brief description of the setting, or in other words, the time and location where the story takes place. Next, the individual should write a brief description of the conflict that is taking place in the story, which is simply a phrase that describes the problem that the main characters are facing. Next, the individual should list all of the events in the story that are linked to the conflict. These events may be attempts by the main characters to solve the main conflict of the story or they may be events caused by outside forces that actually escalate the main conflict. Finally, the individual should identify the climax of the story, which is the "turning point" in the story where the conflict of the story is resolved. It is important to note that the point at which the conflict of the story is resolved is not necessarily the point at which the story ends, but rather the point at which the conflict is no longer a concern.