6 - Reading to Learn

A Plan for Active Reading

Active reading helps you to:

• Increase focus and concentration
• Understand more of what you read
• Prepare more effectively for tests and exams

Four steps:

• Previewing
• Marking
• Reading with concentration
• Reviewing

Previewing

• Previewing is taking a first look at your assigned reading before you really tackle the content
• The purpose is to get the big picture
• Strategies include mapping, outlining, listing, and creating flash cards

Mapping

• In mapping, draw a wheel or branching structure
• Show relationships between main and secondary ideas

Outlining

• Outlining provides a step-by-step visual image
• Make an outline of the headings and subheadings in the chapter

Listing

• Effective for dealing with many new terms and definitions
• Should be set up by placing terms in the left column and filling in definitions, descriptions, and examples on the right
• Uses chunking

Creating Flashcards

Portable test questions:

• Write a question or term on the front of a small card
• Add the answer or definition on the back

Strategies for Marking Your Textbook

• Use your map, outline, list, or flash cards to guide you
• Read first without using your pencil or highlighter
• Use methods such as underlining, highlighting, and adding margin notes or annotations

Reading with Concentration

Strategies include:

• Finding a quiet place to study
• Muting or turning off electronic devices
• Reading in blocks of time, with short breaks
• Setting goals for your study period
• Engaging in physical activity during breaks
• Actively engaging with the material
• Focusing on the important portions of the text
• Understanding the words
• Using organizers as you read

Reviewing

Reviewing is looking through your assigned reading again

Strategies include:

• Considering ways to use your senses to review
• Reciting aloud
• Ticking off each item on a list on your fingers
• Posting diagrams, maps, or outlines around your living space so that you will see them often

Improving Your Reading

Evaluate the importance and difficulty of the assigned readings

Connect important ideas by asking yourself:

• Why am I reading this?
• Where does this fit in?
• When the textbook material is the same as the lecture material, save time by concentrating on one or the other

Monitor your reading by:

• Asking yourself, “Do I understand this?” (stopping and rereading if necessary)
• Reciting material aloud
• Asking yourself, “What are the key ideas?” and “Will I see this on the test?” after a section
• Trying to guess what information will be presented next after each section

Developing your vocabulary:

• Notice and write down unfamiliar terms while you preview a text
• Think about the context when you come across challenging words
• Consider a word’s parts
• Use the glossary or a dictionary
• Use new words in your writing and speaking

What to do when you fall behind on your reading:

• Add one or two hours a day to your study time
• Join a study group
• Ask for help
• Talk to your instructor
• Do not give up

Strategies for Reading Textbooks

• Read sections at the beginning of the book to learn more about the author and book structure
• Preface
• Foreword
• Introduction
• All textbooks are not created equal
• Different disciplines can differ in organization and style of writing
• Textbooks may not provide all the information you want to know
• If the textbook seems disorganized or hard to understand, let your instructor know

Math Texts

• In math texts, there are lots of symbols and few words
• Material is presented through definitions, theorems, and sample problems
• In math, you work on sample problems and exercises
• After you complete an assignment, skim through other exercises in the problem set to increase your comprehension
• Talk through the material to yourself

Science Texts

• Your approach depends on whether the science text is math-based or text-based
• Review the table of contents, glossary, and appendices
• Pay special attention to graphs, charts, and boxes
• Study learning objectives and summaries
• Skim material, and then look over the end-of-chapter problems before reading the chapter
• It is usually best to outline chapters

Social Sciences and Humanities Texts

Social sciences textbooks:

• Are filled with special terms specific to a particular field of study
• May include differences in opinions or perspectives

Humanities textbooks:

• Provide facts, examples, opinions, and original material such as stories or essays
• Ask you to identify central themes or characters

Tech Tip: Embrace the E-book

Pros:

• Portable and environmentally friendly
• Buy books from almost anywhere
• Type notes and highlight text
• Print pages with a printer
• Free access to many e-books
• Might have multimedia features and accept audio books
• Backlit screen and adjustable text size
• Might have a built-in dictionary
• Searchable and shareable

Cons:

• Expensive
• Breakable
• More likely to be stolen than books
• Can cause eye fatigue
• Harder to flip through the pages
• Limited or temporary access to some e-books

Supplementary Material

• Learn more about a topic by reading primary and supplementary sources referenced in each chapter
• Sources can include journal articles, research papers, and original essays
• Sources often refer to concepts familiar to other scholars but not to first-year college students
• Read abstracts to get the main points of a research article

If English Is Not Your First Language

• Don’t give up
• Read slowly and more than once
• Make sure you have an English dictionary and another dictionary that links to your primary language
• Take advantage of your college’s services, such as ESL tutoring and workshops