How many times have you promised yourself to read more but just never found enough time?
If only you could do it quickly and more efficiently.
Effective and efficient readers learn to use many styles of reading for different purposes, which include skimming, scanning, and critical reading. Before reading, you need to identify the purpose why you’ll be doing such activity:
Are you looking for background information on a topic you know a little bit about already?
Are you looking for specific details and facts that you can marshal in support of an argument?
Are you trying to see how an author approaches his topic rhetorically?
It is crucial to know your purpose in reading as it helps focus your attention on important aspects of the text.
Before turning reading this text, take a moment first to reflect and clarify what your goals really are.
There are many ways to familiarize your self with the background of the text, and gain a useful overview of its content and structure before actually absorbing and digesting the text. Seek information about the context of the reading, its purpose, and its general content.
Look for an abstract or an authors or editors note that may precede the article itself. Read any background information that is available to you about the author, the occasion of the writing, its intended audience, and more useful information. After viewing the title and noting general ideas that are accessible to you as a reader, you can continue to browse pages and scan paragraphs in order to get the gist of what material the text covers and how that material is arranged. As soon as you finished looking over the text as a whole, read the introductory paragraph or section, noticing that some authors will provide an overview of their message as well as an explicit statement of their thesis or main point in the opening portion of the text.
Considering the background information, the messages conveyed by the title, note or abstract and the information from the opening paragraph or section, you should be able to proceed with a good hunch of the reading material’s direction. In order to become aware of your reading situation, ask yourself questions like:
What do I want (or need) to know and learn?
In which context do I want (or need) this?
Which texts could suit these needs?
What made me choose this text?
How deeply an understanding of the text do I need?
How much time have I got?
How do I want to proceed?
Consider Your Purpose
To help you determine a purpose, consider the following ideas:
Are you looking for brief information, main ideas, complete comprehension, or detailed analysis?
How will this text help you?
Is this the best material to meet your goals?
What does background or summary information provided by the author or editor predict the text will do?
Does there seem to be a clear introduction and conclusion that can be useful?
What claims does the author make at the beginnings and endings of sections?
Are there key words that are repeated or put in bold or italics to help you skim and scan?
What kinds of development and detail do you notice?
Does the text include statistics, tables, and pictures or is it primarily prose?
Are names of authors or characters repeated frequently?
If only you could do it quickly and more efficiently.
Effective and efficient readers learn to use many styles of reading for different purposes, which include skimming, scanning, and critical reading. Before reading, you need to identify the purpose why you’ll be doing such activity:
Are you looking for background information on a topic you know a little bit about already?
Are you looking for specific details and facts that you can marshal in support of an argument?
Are you trying to see how an author approaches his topic rhetorically?
It is crucial to know your purpose in reading as it helps focus your attention on important aspects of the text.
Before turning reading this text, take a moment first to reflect and clarify what your goals really are.
There are many ways to familiarize your self with the background of the text, and gain a useful overview of its content and structure before actually absorbing and digesting the text. Seek information about the context of the reading, its purpose, and its general content.
Look for an abstract or an authors or editors note that may precede the article itself. Read any background information that is available to you about the author, the occasion of the writing, its intended audience, and more useful information. After viewing the title and noting general ideas that are accessible to you as a reader, you can continue to browse pages and scan paragraphs in order to get the gist of what material the text covers and how that material is arranged. As soon as you finished looking over the text as a whole, read the introductory paragraph or section, noticing that some authors will provide an overview of their message as well as an explicit statement of their thesis or main point in the opening portion of the text.
Considering the background information, the messages conveyed by the title, note or abstract and the information from the opening paragraph or section, you should be able to proceed with a good hunch of the reading material’s direction. In order to become aware of your reading situation, ask yourself questions like:
What do I want (or need) to know and learn?
In which context do I want (or need) this?
Which texts could suit these needs?
What made me choose this text?
How deeply an understanding of the text do I need?
How much time have I got?
How do I want to proceed?
Consider Your Purpose
To help you determine a purpose, consider the following ideas:
Are you looking for brief information, main ideas, complete comprehension, or detailed analysis?
How will this text help you?
Is this the best material to meet your goals?
What does background or summary information provided by the author or editor predict the text will do?
Does there seem to be a clear introduction and conclusion that can be useful?
What claims does the author make at the beginnings and endings of sections?
Are there key words that are repeated or put in bold or italics to help you skim and scan?
What kinds of development and detail do you notice?
Does the text include statistics, tables, and pictures or is it primarily prose?
Are names of authors or characters repeated frequently?
Look for Specific Words
Scan a section for key words
Skim to the words that provide meaning and may be useful for you and your purpose. Become an Impatient Reader Speed readers are considered impatient readers. They read with a purpose and want to find answers immediately. They can’t wait to find out what the whole text is all about that they usually make predictions and guess the answers. Some readers say, "If I think ahead while I am reading, my predictions may be wrong. "The truth is, predicting is useful because all your concentration is focused on the reading and you are actually making senses of it.
Speed readers predict what the text is likely to tell them next, but they are not upset if a prediction is wrong; they quickly adjust their expectations. Different Speeds for Different Materials You do not need to read every word to understand a text; however some texts will require careful reading, so you need to know when to adjust your reading speed.
Finally, remember, skim a text, and then decide if a slower reading approach is necessary!
