Hints for Effective Reading
- - Do you run out of time when reading in class? Have trouble remembering or understanding what you read? Then put down that book and press play to learn how to improve your reading speed and comprehension today!
- - Reading faster is possible, even if speed reading isn't always the best way to go about it. Watch this video for 5 methods you can use to read more books in less time.
The goal of a textbook is simple: inform and educate.
The goal of the Harry Potter books is very different. Novels tell stories. Textbooks communicate ideas through explanations of information. Because of this, you need a different strategy for reading textbooks. Follow these four easy steps to get on your way.
Don’t read front to back (aka, read backwards)
Reading a textbook chapter front to back ensures that you will waste time.
Want to try this strategy? Try reading your textbook chapter in this order:
- Go to the questions at the end first. Read them, answer them to the best of your ability, and then begin your actual reading strategies. This will sort of “prime the engine” of retention.
- Read the final summary of the chapter. This will give you a general background as to the Big Ideas in the chapter.
- Look at the headings and subdivision of the chapter.
- Read the chapter introduction.
From that point you can then work through the chapter from front to back. By taking this out-of-order strategy, you are focusing not on the chronological order, but rather connecting the ideas found in the chapter together. This is infinitely more important than reading things in the order they were written.
Read for big ideas
In textbooks, Big Ideas are easy to spot because they are often in bold print or section headings. Look for the complete sentence thought that summarizes and drives each subdivision and you’ll have identified the Big Ideas.
Read for key details
While this looks different in each subject, they should be relatively easy to pick out. Key people, places, and events often make up the key details in history books. Grammar rules are the important details frequently in grammar books. For languages, vocab are some of the most important key details of the chapter. Check your notes against the questions at the end of the chapter. If they reflect the same key details, you know you are barking up the right tree.
Read the book once but your notes multiple times
You should never have to read a chapter more than once (in theory). If you’ve done your reading well and taken notes as you read, you have a record of the thoughts being communicated.
Know what you want
Before you start skimming, ask yourself what you want to get from the book or article under your nose. Think of two or three terms that describe what you want to know, and as you skim, keep an eye out for those two or three terms. Aimlessly skimming with no particular purpose can cause drowsiness, and eventually, sleep.
Think like the author
Every article, book, and Web page is written to make a point of some kind, and if you can detect the author’s strategies for making their point, you can separate the important from the unimportant material in the course of your reading. You can focus on the original, meaningful material and skip over the material that just supports the author’s argument without advancing it.
Detecting the author’s strategies requires you to put yourself in their place. Besides noticing the material on the page, notice how they preset the material. See whether you can recognize how the author places background material, secondary arguments, tangential information, and just plain frippery.
Try to detect the main idea in the introductory paragraphs
The introductory paragraphs usually express the main idea, argument, or goal of an article or chapter. Read these paragraphs closely. They tell you what the author’s aim is, which can help you decide early on whether the article or chapter is worth reading in detail.
Read the first sentence in each paragraph
The introductory sentence of each paragraph usually describes what follows in the paragraph. When you skim, read the first sentence in each paragraph and then decide whether the rest of the paragraph deserves a read. If it doesn’t, move on.