Reading Skills

 

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How College Reading is Different

In college you're asked to read critically and analytically.
You can’t merely pass your eyes over a page, underline a few things, and consider the job done.

Critical reading involves questioning yourself and the text.

Analytical reading requires you to divide the whole into parts and think about the relationships among those items.

Here are questions you want to be asking yourself all the time you read:

  • Where am I--what’s going on in this reading now?
  • Where have I been--how did we get to this point in the exposition or argument?
  • Where am I going--what do I expect is coming next in the text?
  • What does this word mean? (Go to your dictionary as needed!)
  • Why is the writer even talking about this? Do I follow the big picture here?

This kind of reading involves having an ongoing conversation between yourself and the writer. Doing it well requires practice. It gets easier with practice.

Some of the Texts You Will Encounter

A textbook purports to cover some portion of a subject matter or discipline. The writer has not only written about the subject, but organized the material to present it to you. This is a blessing: you should note the organization of your textbooks, and consider them within the context of the organization of your class.

A professor also organizes material for you: this is what he/she puts in a syllabus and you should ALWAYS read your syllabi. Not only do syllabi contain useful information, but the professor often puts in a lot of time on them and they’re really INTERESTING. When a professor organizes a class in a way different from the textbook, you should think about why it would be reasonable to organize the same material in different ways.

A primary source is a work of basic data or evidence--articles reporting research results, historical documents, a work by the person you might be reading or writing about, a map. This definition can become confusing because one person’s primary source might be someone else’s secondary source.

The important questions for primary sources:

  • Why are we reading this?
  • Is it an example of something?
  • Does it represent fundamental area of conflict in a discipline?
  • Is it a succinct argument for an interpretative approach favored by your instructor?

Other readings and articles should be the subject of similar questions. Always ask yourself: Why are we reading this? “To make us miserable” is NOT a helpful answer. In order to decide what’s important in a reading, you need to know how it fits into the context of your course. If you can’t find a satisfying answer, ask the professor or TA. (Some TA’s participate in course design, and some don’t.)


An Ideal Model for Reading and Studying

This is a model—not a one-size-fits-all approach.
Think of small ways that you can adapt your reading and studying to this model.
Follow one small change with another over time.
Adapt the suggestions to your work habits.

1) Preview the reading.

  • Simply page through the assignment--turn every page and look at it. If it’s a textbook chapter, look at chapter headings and subheadings.
  • Ask yourself why you are reading this. How does it relate the overall course content and to the topics currently under consideration?
  • Look at diagrams and graphs. Ignore pictures unless they are the subject matter of the reading.
  • Read any summary or conclusion.

2) Before class, read the text--just read it.

  • Don’t try to understand yet. . .you don’t have the context.
  • Don’t skim, don’t underline, don’t go back, just read it.
  • You are getting something out of it, even if you feel like you’re not.

3) After class, study the material--read it again, and underline or make notes.

  • Read thoughtfully--be an active processor of the information.
  • If you have questions about the material, note them now and get them answered soon.
  • Know what terms mean and how they relate to each other.
  • If you underline more than about 10% of the page, you’ve done too much.
  • If the book/reading includes questions in the margins, or at the end of the chapter, make sure that you can answer these questions. These questions present the writer’s view of what’s most important.
  • Write your own questions. Test yourself on the reading.

This method of reading twice does take extra time--it’s worth it.


Reading Faster

The best way to learn to read faster is to practice.

Fast readers are good at picking up cues about what’s important, thus they know when they can “skim” and when not to. They have good vocabularies and are adept at discerning the meaning of words from context. Fast readers monitor their own comprehension of a reading and make adjustments as needed.

You are just learning how to do a lot of this. You can’t know, and no one can tell you, what is of primary importance in a reading. One goal of college is that you learn how to discern importance.

“Speed reading” courses and exercises can provide some help, but sometimes they recommend practices that interfere with learning to be a better reader. Almost as bad, they take time: you learn some new techniques, and THEN you have to practice them. Most students would rather just do their reading than put this much time and effort into a preparatory activity.

Useful Links

Links to Reading-related sites:

For a very comprehensive site on reading problems and solutions, go to
http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/reading.html

For suggestions to improve reading speed:
http://www.readingsoft.com