Reading Strategies Using Reading Efficiently by Reading Intelligently

Academic reading is not easy. Part of learning to use reading strategies is to try out new and different ways of reading. Good reading strategies help people to read in a very efficient way. Using them, people aim to get the maximum benefit from their reading with the minimum effort. In order to reach it, people should have this three different strategies, knowing what you want to know, using active reading, and reading whole subject documents.

            The first is knowing what you want to know. The first thing is to ask yourself: why are you reading the text? Are you reading with a purpose or just for pleasure? What do you want to now after reading? An easy way of doing this is to look at the introduction and the chapter headings. The introduction should let you know what it seeks to achieve. Chapter heading gives an overall view of the subject.

            The second is using active reading techniques to pick out key points and keep your mind focuses on the material. When you are reading a document in details, it often helps if you highlight, underline, and annotate it as you go on. Doing this also helps to keep your mind focuses on the material and stops it wandering. This is obviously only something to do if you own the document. For example, if you own the book and find that active reading helps, then it may be worth photocopying information in more expensive texts. You can then read and mark the photocopies.

            The last is creating your own table of contents for reviewing material. When you are reading an important document, it is easy to accept the writer’s structure of thought. This can mean that you may not notice that important information has been omitted or that irrelevant detail has been included.  A good way of recognizing this is to compile your own table of contents before you open the document. You can then use this table of contents to read the document in the order that you want.

            In conclusion, the strategies in getting the maximum benefit from reading with the minimum effort are knowing what you need to know, using active reading techniques, and creating your own table of contents for reviewing material. Even professors read, think, write, reread, puzzle over ideas. No one get in the first time. Successful students learn how to read effectively and remember what they read.