Reading Effectively
Lengthy reading lists for courses and essays can be frightening, particularly when the subject is unfamiliar. What appears to be an impossible task becomes possible when you start asking yourself questions about what you need to find out, and then select reading that relates to your questions.
People have different beliefs about reading depending on their experience. Some believe that they must read a book from beginning to end, or read and understand every word. However, others start at the end to see if they will like the book, or read the most exciting bits!
For most people, tertiary study demands a great deal of reading, and new skills need to be learned in order to cope with the workload. If the thought of all that reading is daunting, don't hesitate to ask a lecturer or study skills tutor to help.
BEGIN WITH YOUR OWN QUESTIONS
Work out what you already know about the topic you are reading. To do this, you could:
- Talk over your ideas with someone.
- Jot down what you know.
- Make up a diagram representing your ideas.
It is vital to begin with your own ideas and experience if the reading is to make sense. This will stimulate questions and highlight where to begin your search for information. If the topic is new to you, its language might be littered with confusing jargon.
First, read quickly to get the general idea, and then read more carefully a second time to get a better idea of the meaning.
When reading material that is difficult to understand, the following ideas might help:
- Begin by reading a basic or general introduction.
- Jot down new, recurring terms. Make sure that you spell the new terms accurately.
- Look up the meaning of these terms in a dictionary or reference book.
- See if you can state the meaning in your own words. Check with someone else if you are still unsure.
SHORTCUTS
There are many efficient shortcuts to finding the information that you need. If possible, select a book or article from your reading list that gives an overview of the topic.
Here are some other tips for finding information more quickly:
- Use the contents page first. Does this mention what you are looking for? It may raise more questions.
- Go to the index at the back. Does this include the key words or names you need to follow up?
- Skim through the first chapter. To skim is to move quickly from paragraph to paragraph, reading only the key sentences. You may have to skim through several books before deciding what you want from each.
Instead of reading the whole chapter, simply:
- Read the first and last paragraphs and ask yourself what they are saying
- Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph.
From this, you can gain an overall view of the content and the author's opinion, enabling you to decide on the relevance of the book to your topic.
Record details of author, title, date and place of publication now so that finding the book again when preparing your bibliography is easy. For your own future reference, note down brief comments about the book.
THE READING PROCESS
Readers make sense of what they read when they are able to link the ideas expressed by the author to what they already know. Reading becomes interesting if it contains information that the reader wants to know.
When you read, you use your knowledge of:
- The world
- Sentence structures of the language
- the letter-sound relationships of that language
to help you find and construct meaning. If all of these are familiar to you, then you will be able to read quickly with little attention to detail.
When any of the three are not what you expected, and you need to know the material, then more careful reading is required.
It takes energy to be an efficient reader, but far more is learnt and retained by using this active approach.
SEARCH THE CATALOGUE
The Online catalogue is available via the LLC website. To find LLC resources on reading effectively use these key terms:
- Reading
- Reading comprehension
- Reading practice
If you need extra help, ask a librarian! You can do this in person, over the phone (9279 2428), or send email to LLC.
