READING EFFECTIVELY
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Increasing your reading speed and comprehension requires practice. It
is possible to increase your reading effectiveness in a month by practicing 15
minutes a day.
Here's a simple daily exercise. Read a passage of something you enjoy
(book, magazine, newspaper) for 10 minutes. Write a brief summary. Now;
read the passage again for 5 minutes (get as far as you can) and notice what
you missed. After two weeks, do the 10 minute reading and summary, but
then read the entire passage in 5 minutes.
Speed and comprehension are two different things, but they go hand
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in hand. NEVER read without comprehension; it's a waste of time. If you
lose focus, stop and return to where you dropped off.
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Old reading habits, learned at an early age, can slow you down. In most
people, these include re-reading (regressing, starting again and again from
the beginning) and subvocalizing (reading aloud or hearing the words in your
imagination).
One way to break an old habit is to substitute a new one. Using a
"pacer"(a 3x5 card, your index finger, a pen) can help you break the habits
of regressing (re-reading the same thing over and over) and subvocalizing
(hearing every word in your head). The pacer helps you stay on task-maintaining focus and moving forward.
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The basic steps to active reading are getting an overview first,
reading the selection, and reviewing it.
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Repetition is very important. So is staying active.
Go over all reading assignments at least three times, actively. First, in
preview, then in reading and taking notes/marking the pages, and finally by
reviewing and summarizing.
You need to review every few days to retain what you have read. This does
not mean you need to re-read the whole book/article; rather you need to
review your notes and skim the material again.
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Learning a new subject or discipline is like learning a new language. It
requires building up a new vocabulary. Look up words you don't know.
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Remember: When you read actively, you remember. When you read
passively, you forget. Also, a break every hour helps your endurance. Study
for 30 to 45 minutes, take a short break, then review what you just studied
for 3 to 10 minutes.
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Practice scanning and skimming -- try reading in phrases instead of
word by word. Look for italics and bold face print.
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Marking methods--underlining, checks, dots, lines and abbreviations in
margin—help you review and summarize what you've read. Then when it's
time to review before a test, you use your margin notes instead of rereading the entire text.
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If you follow these steps, you will read faster and with greater
comprehension. You will understand what you read fully and correctly, AND
you will be able to remember and use it when you need it.
READING EFFECTIVELY
You all know you have a great deal of reading to do each semester. How can you get
what you need from the reading—without burying yourself under an avalanche of pages?
Pre-reading:
1. Pre-read a whole course (syllabus, reading list, books, articles) to discover
emphases, priorities, organization.
2. Pre-read each individual reading assignment—intros, conclusions, major
points, charts, graphs, and tables.
3. Pre-read and skim if you've procrastinated and time is an issue.
Skimming:
1. Skim to look for a general principle or point, or to find information necessary
to write a particular paper.
2. Skim to look for a specific fact or detail.
3. Skim ahead when you're having a difficult time; getting a sense of the larger
picture may help.
4. Skim (along with pre-reading) if you've procrastinated and time is an issue.
Summarizing:
1. Summarizing is the best kind of note-taking, showing that you've mastered
the writer's (or lecturer's) main line of argument and can put it into your own
words.
2. Summaries are the best possible basis for review, no matter how much or how
little time you have.
3. Summaries help you make relationships among readings, showing how
various writers agree or disagree, share or don't share assumptions.
Comparisons or syntheses of your summaries will often help you formulate
paper (or even thesis) topics.
Asking Questions:
1. Ask questions about purpose and intention: the professor's, the writer's, your
own.
2. Turn topic sentences in your reading into questions and read for the answer.
3. Ask yourself about assumptions (the professor's, the writer's) and, again,
answer in writing.
Remember: The most important thing is your attitude. You can read for what you
need each semester and save additional readings for more appropriate times, like over
breaks or during your placements.