Reading Strategies
Reading Efficiently by Reading Intelligently
Good reading strategies help you to read in a very efficient way. Using them, you aim to get the maximum benefit from your reading with the minimum effort. This section will show you how to use six different strategies to read intelligently.
Strategy 1: Knowing what you want to know
The first thing to ask yourself is: Why you are reading the text? Are you reading with a purpose or just for pleasure? What do you want to know after reading it?
Once you know this, you can examine the text to see whether it is going to move you towards this goal.
An easy way of doing this is to look at the introduction and the chapter headings. The introduction should let you know at whom the book is targeted, and what it seeks to achieve. Chapter headings will give you an overall view of the structure of the subject.
Ask yourself whether the book meets your needs. Ask yourself if it assumes too much or too little knowledge. If the book isn't ideal, would it be better to find a better one?
Strategy 2: Knowing how deeply to study the material
Where you only need the shallowest knowledge of the subject, you can skim material. Here you read only chapter headings, introductions and summaries.
If you need a moderate level of information on a subject, then you can scan the text. Here you read the chapter introductions and summaries in detail. You may then speed read the contents of the chapters, picking out and understanding key words and concepts. At this level of looking at the document it is worth paying attention to diagrams and graphs.
Only when you need detailed knowledge of a subject is it worth studying the text. Here it is best to skim the material first to get an overview of the subject. This gives you an understanding of its structure, into which you can fit the detail gained from a full, receptive reading of the material. SQ3R is a good technique for getting a deep understanding of a text.
Strategy 3: Active Reading
When you are reading a document in detail, it often helps if you highlight, underline and annotate it as you go on. This emphasizes information in your mind, and helps you to review important points later.
Doing this also helps to keep your mind focused on the material and stops it wandering.
This is obviously only something to do if you own the document! If you own the book and find that active reading helps, then it may be worth photocopying information in more expensive texts. You can then read and mark the photocopies.
If you are worried about destroying the material, ask yourself how much your investment of time is worth. If the benefit you get by active reading reasonably exceeds the value of the book, then the book is disposable.
Strategy 4: How to study different sorts of material
Different sorts of documents hold information in different places and in different ways. They have different depths and breadths of coverage. By understanding the layout of the material you are reading, you can extract useful information much more efficiently.
Reading Magazines and Newspapers:
These tend to give a very fragmented coverage of an area. They will
typically only concentrate on the most interesting and glamorous
parts of a topic - this helps them to sell copies! They will often
ignore less interesting information that may be essential to a full
understanding of a subject. Typically areas of useful information
are padded out with large amounts of irrelevant waffle or with
advertising.
The most effective way of getting information from magazines is to scan the contents tables or indexes and turn directly to interesting articles. If you find an article useful, then cut it out and file it in a folder specifically covering that sort of information. In this way you will build up sets of related articles that may begin to explain the subject.
Newspapers tend to be arranged in sections. If you read a paper often, you can learn quickly which sections are useful and which ones you can skip altogether.
Reading Individual Articles:
Articles within newspapers and magazines tend to be in three main
types:
If you know what you want from an article, and recognize its type, you can extract information from it quickly and efficiently.
Strategy 5: Reading 'whole subject' documents
When you are reading an important document, it is easy to accept the writer's structure of thought. This can mean that you may not notice that important information has been omitted or that irrelevant detail has been included. A good way of recognizing this is to compile your own table of contents before you open the document. You can then use this table of contents to read the document in the order that you want. You will be able to spot omissions quickly.
Strategy 6: Using glossaries with technical documents
If you are reading large amounts of difficult technical material, it may be useful to photocopy or compile a glossary. Keep this beside you as you read. It will probably also be useful to note down the key concepts in your own words, and refer to them when necessary.
Usually it is best to make notes as you go. Effective ways of doing this include creating Concept Maps or using the Cornell Note Taking System.
Key points:
This section shows six different strategies and techniques that you can use to read more effectively.
These are:
Using these descriptions, how would you read the following? Match the different types of reading with the categories below. Decide which one requires you to skim or to scan the text. Which one needs detailed Intensive reading? What type of text do you read Extensively - for pleasure?
Check your answers.
The correct answer is: Scanning
The correct answer is: Extensive (or Intensive for revision, perhaps)
The correct answer is: Skimming, Scanning for specific information, Intensive if we find it.
The correct answer is: Intensive
The correct answer is: Extensive
The correct answer is: Scanning
The correct answer is: Intensive
The correct answer is: Scanning
The correct answer is: Intensive
The correct answer is: Skimming for interest, Scanning for particular resort, Intensive for detail.
You might have had other answers, but you can see there are different ways in which we take in written information.
Now, what use is this to us? - It can help to save us time.
Learn which material needs which skill and you can get through more work.
Copyright © 2003–2008, The University of Sheffield
ACE 1757.A.06.1
Skimming and Scanning
Skimming refers to the process of reading only
main ideas within a passage to get an overall impression of the
content of a reading
selection.
How to Skim:
* Read the title.
* Read the introduction or the first paragraph.
* Read the first sentence of every other paragraph.
* Read any headings and sub-headings.
* Notice any pictures, charts, or graphs.
* Notice any italicized or boldface words or phrases.
* Read the summary or last paragraph.
Scanning is a reading technique to be used when you want to find specific information quickly. In scanning you have a question in your mind and you read a passage only to find the answer, ignoring unrelated information.
How to Scan:
* State the specific information you are looking for.
* Try to anticipate how the answer will appear and what clues you might use to help you locate the answer. For example, if you were looking for a certain date, you would quickly read the paragraph looking only for numbers.
* Use headings and any other aids that will help you identify which sections might contain the information you are looking for.
* Selectively read and skip through sections of the passage.
(From College Reading and Study Skills and
Academic Reading and Study Skills for International Students)
the four types of reading skills used in every language:
Skimming - used to understand the "gist" or main idea Scanning - used to find a particular piece of information Extensive reading - used for pleasure and general understanding Intensive reading - accurate reading for detailed understanding
Skimming
Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information, or 'gist'. Run your eyes over the text, noting important information. Use skimming to quickly get up to speed on a current business situation. It's not essential to understand each word when skimming.
Examples of Skimming:
Scanning
Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information. Run your eyes over the text looking for the specific piece of information you need. Use scanning on schedules, meeting plans, etc. in order to find the specific details you require. If you see words or phrases that you don't understand, don't worry when scanning.
Examples of Scanning
Extensive reading
Extensive reading is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books. Use extensive reading skills to improve your general knowledge of business procedures. Do not worry if you understand each word.
Examples of Extensive Reading
Intensive reading
Intensive reading is used on shorter texts in order to extract specific information. It includes very close accurate reading for detail. Use intensive reading skills to grasp the details of a specific situation. In this case, it is important that you understand each word, number or fact.
Examples of Intensive Reading
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