Lamb Learner Success Centre - Learning Skills

Reading strategies will help you efficiently comprehend texts. In other words, they are the tools readers use to understand what’s written. They will help you identify the most important parts of your textbooks, journals, articles, or modules.

One of the largest difficulties students struggle with is routinely missing the point when reading. After reading the text, are you able to summarize in your own words the main idea of what you just read? If not, the strategies below can help. Remember, comprehension is the goal of your reading. This is the process you go through to pull out the meaning from what you read. The process of comprehending is both interactive and strategic - - you need to know what you’re trying to accomplish before you begin.

Many students think reading simply consists of opening their books/modules and reading left to right and top to bottom. But, before choosing a strategy that is best for you, it is important to first recognize the strategy that is best for you is dependent on your purpose.

Knowing your purpose for reading will help keep you focused and engaged while reading. Think of this as your mission for reading so that comprehension can be reinforced. Knowing your purpose will help with motivation and help with concentration for those who tend to rush while reading.

Now that you’ve established your purpose, next it is important to find a place that allows you to:

• • Be comfortable.
  • Minimize distractions.
  • Set reading goals (be realistic).
  • Take regular breaks.

Additionally, be a flexible reader. Make choices about what to read and how deeply to study the material. Adjust your reading pace based on your level of understanding and comprehension.

Reading strategies is a general term used to describe planned actions that readers use to decipher print to meaning. Specific actions, for our purposes, strategies, that readers take to improve their ability to decode written information assist us with comprehension. It is important to remember that the strategy you choose is dependent on the type of reading you’re doing. While all strategies help with overall comprehension, it is important to remember that if you’re new to these strategies, try different ones to find what works best for you.

Using Prior Knowledge/Previewing.

Activate your prior knowledge by tapping into what you already know about the subject that will help you to understand the text you are about to read. This provides a framework for any new information and will aid in comprehension of the text.

Predicting.

Make predictions about the text you are about to read as it sets up expectations based on your prior knowledge about similar topics. As you read, mentally revise predictions as you gain more information.

Identifying the Main Idea and Summarization.

Identifying the main idea and summarizing requires you to determine what is important and then write it in your own words. Key to this process is making sure you understand the author’s purpose in writing the text.

Visualizing.

Visualizing while reading increases your ability to recall the information you’ve read.  Readers can take advantage of illustrations that are embedded in the text or create their own mental images or drawings when reading text without illustrations.

Teach it.

A very effective strategy to determine whether you’ve grasped the main ideas of what you’ve read. If you try to explain aloud what you’ve recently read, you’ll be assisting with the transfer of the information from short-term to long-term memory, and you will have an accurate reflection of what you do and what you don’t understand.

Skim and Scan

A technique used to quickly acquire specific pieces of information. Skimming involves reading quickly over an entire piece of writing, focusing on bold or words in italics, graphs, charts, and diagrams to get a general overview of the writing. Scanning is the process of quickly reading entire sentences to get specific facts.

The purpose of the SQ4R method is to obtain detail and a high-level of comprehension. Typically, reading consists of taking in new ideas and identifying the information to be learned. Studying, on the other hand, is a more detailed process of learning the information by organizing it in your own way and then storing the information in your memory. The SQ4R method combines reading and studying to increase understanding, concentration, and memory.

Purpose:  to understand the article, explain the information, and be able to recall the information from memory for exam preparation.

SQ4R: Survey

• Most modules or textbooks are laid out the same
• Review how the module/chapter is organized
• Read the titles, objectives, bold headings
• Review graphs, charts, maps, diagrams, or picture

SQ4R: Question

• Create questions from the titles, headings, boldface words, diagrams, charts.
• Use the 5 W’s-Who, What, Where, Why, When.
• Helps focus attention and sharpen interest in what you read.

SQ4R: Read

• Read with the purpose of answering your questions.
• Stop frequently to check your understanding.
• Mark up your book: make margin notes, circle ideas, highlight key sections.

Tips for highlighting

• Highlight AFTER you read
• AVOID over marking
• Highlighting is NOT the same as learning

SQ4R: Record

• Key ideas
• Rewrite
• Organize
• Summarize
• Use your own words
• Use point form

SQ4R: Recite

• Turn material into questions
• Use flashcards
• Use learning objective to test yourself
• Ask (and answer) questions out loud

SQ4R: Review

• Practice questions
  • Write as a test
  • Set a time limit
• Work with study buddy
• Focus on notes you made in the margins

When reading is tough…

• Read it again
• Read it aloud
• Stand up/move around
• Use your instructor
• Use your classmates
• Find a tutor
• Use another text or internet resources
• Ask: Is there something else going on?

The SQ4R method has many advantages. Most importantly it is an active learning strategy that can be adapted to each person’s study preferences. Additionally, it:

• Helps reduce the amount of information that needs to be re-learned for exams or tests.
• Helps you identify and create study materials while also reading through course materials.

It is important to remember that adjusting to any of the reading strategies identified above takes time. Patience and persistence are key as incorporating a strategy will help you become a more efficient and effective reader.