What skill involves using clues from the text along with one's own knowledge to draw conclusions?

Inferencing is the skill that involves using clues from the text, such as descriptive details, dialogue, and context, combined with the reader's prior knowledge and experiences to draw conclusions that are not explicitly stated. This process allows readers to go beyond the surface level of the text and understand deeper meanings, intentions, or predict outcomes.

In literary analysis, making inferences enhances comprehension by encouraging critical thinking and engagement with the material. For example, if a character in a story demonstrates suspicious behavior, a reader may infer that the character has ulterior motives based on contextual clues and their understanding of similar situations from other texts or real-life experiences. This contrasts with other skills like summarization, which focuses on distilling the main ideas, or literal comprehension, which is about understanding the text at face value without reading between the lines.