Reading

Reading

1. Proven benefits of reading

   • Reading helps your writing
   • Reading helps you learn
   • Reading exposes you to different sources
   • Reading helps your critical thinking
   • Reading helps you pass your classes

2. When to read

   • Before lectures so that you have a working knowledge
   • before tutorials so that you can raise any questions you have
   • for assignments to help you find an answer

3. What to read

   • depends on the context
   • See our Study Smart guides
     • General note-taking
     • Note-taking techniques
     • Organising your reading
   • have some pen and paper or a note-making app ready before you start reading

4. How to read effectively

   • Pre-reading
     • Survey
       • A survey gives you a general overview of the work
         • What is the text about?
         • Who wrote it, and why?
         • How recent is it?
         • Is it useful for my purpose?
     • Skim
       • Skimming the work helps you get an idea of the outline of the argument
       • decide that the book or article isn’t relevant to your purpose after all
     • Scan
       • helps you determine which of the sections are most relevant to your topic or purpose
         • What’s relevant depends on why you are reading
           • if you are getting background information before a lecture
             • you may need to read the whole text
           • if you are answering a pre-tutorial question
             • you might need to find just one bit of information
   • Reading
     • Selective reading
       • you read only the parts that are particularly relevant to your purpose
     • Active reading
       • doing something with the text, either physically or intellectually
         • The physical options include
           • highlighting
           • underlining
           • writing notes
         • Being active intellectually might include:
           • asking questions in response to things you read
           • writing summaries of the key points
           • practising paraphrasing ideas or passages from the text
           • looking up unfamiliar words or phrases
           • practising critical thinking
     • Critical reading
       • using your critical thinking skills on the text you are reading
         • Some of the things you might think about include
           • the writer’s purpose (are they trying to persuade you of something?)
           • the writer’s stance and any biases
           • how what you’re reading fits with or challenges your own views and ideas
           • the evidence being cited
           • the language the writer is using to make their case
   • Post-reading
     • you might want to read it again
       • the first read-through helps you get a general sense of the topic
       • then the second read-through is where you really get to grips with the main ideas
     • some options for general reading
       • Test your memory and write
       • Read over your notes
       • Draw a mind map
       • Note any gaps in your knowledge
       • Answer any pre-class questions
   • Extra tips, or things to try when you get stuck
     • Difficulty following the argument
       • You need to work out the controlling idea
       • The main ideas of the text support the controlling ideas
       • Highlight main ideas in a particular colour
       • write them in your own words as dot points on a sheet of paper
       • start to look at how these relate to each other
     • Difficulty with complex sentences
       • reading slowly and read the sentence more than once
       • Identify the main clause and then the supporting clauses
     • Difficulty with new vocabulary
       • try to work out the meaning from context alone
       • n have a look at the word itself and see if it looks like any other word you know
       • o look things up in the dictionary
       • try not to turn to the dictionary first and instead take the time to see if you can work out the meaning yourself