Effective Reading

How we read

Without practice we read in a jerky fashion, parsing maybe only 3 words before pausing and frequently flicking back to early points in the sentence. This is ineffective, instead stretch to more words and shorten your pauses. Do not flick back. Not only will reading speed improve, but you are likely understand the context of the sentence far more clearly.

To read most effective, we need to what and why we are reading. Are we reading to find out whether content is worthy of further, more in-depth analysis, or is it something we need to thoroughly comprehend. Is the text densely packed with specific and heavily loaded terms, or is it lighter and more general? The following guidelines may help:

Guidelines for effective reading

• Establish your purpose in reading
• Select appropriate material
• Scan the entire text rapidly to establish structure and coverage
• Refine your purpose - what key points/questions are of interest?
• Read relevant parts of the text at the fastest appropriate speed
• Capture your understanding by diagramming structure of arguments, highlighting text and/or note taking
• Review this against your purpose
• File your notes carefully