Mortimer Adler taught the concept of Key Terms. Inside a chapter, and even throughout a book, an author will state a key term or you will see a term repeated often. Some authors will state a key term and then will use supplementary terms to explain, clarify, narrow, expand, or define that term. And depending on how they’re arguing or explaining, they may state a key term, then explain it with supplementary terms and phrases to clarify their definitions for an argument. They create the rules for their playground.
I suggest deliberation with key terms Engage with those terms early and work through them. A common reading insecurity is believing we need to retain the subject matter perfectly, and if we don't then we believe ourselves as a dunce or a time waster. As a result, when we read we come across a term, then come across it again, and then when we come across an author's explanation for that term it feels like we should have known what it meant. We feel like we missed something. Then…
