English for Academic Purposes
Prof. Bauer-Ramazani

 

Academic Skills
Reading Strategies

 

A few important considerations:

  1. Reading textbooks can be boring, hard, and dry.

  2. Undergraduate students need to read about 30 pages per night (= one chapter).  Necessary target reading speed: 250 wpm.

  3. Graduate students need to read about 50 pages per night.  Necessary target reading speed: 300+ wpm

Strategies:

·        Decide how much of the information you need and adjust your reading speed accordingly:

a)      If the information will be tested later, use a CAREFUL READING technique (Use SQ3Rè Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review; use Vocabulary Strategies).

b)      If you only need to know whether this reading (article, chapter) is useful, use a SKIMMING technique (Read the introduction and conclusion).

c)      If you need to find particular information in this reading (article, chapter), use a SCANNING technique (Move your eyes quickly over the page, looking only for answers to questions—who, what, where, when, how, why; look for names, dates, locations, reasons.)

 

For academic reading (college/university classes), you should choose the CAREFUL READING Technique (SQ3R = survey, question, read, recite, review):

 

SQ3R-Reading Technique

 

  1. Survey the reading (chapter, article).  Reading and understanding will be easier if you know what you have a purpose for reading and know what you are reading about.
    • Look at and read all the headings and subheadings in the chapter.  Look for large titles, boldfaced print, titles in the same fonts and font sizes, words/titles in italics.
    • Look for and read the objectives.
    • Look for and read the study questions.
    • Look for and read the summary.

 

2.     Question as you read. 

·        Ask yourself, “Why am I reading this?  What questions should I be able to answer about this reading?” 

·        Remind yourself of the study questions.

 

3.     Read and mark.

·        Break the reading (chapter, article) into smaller segments, according to the headings/subheadings you identified in the survey. 

·        Read one section at a time. 

·        As you read, highlight (underline) all main ideas, which can be found in the thesis statement (one per section), topic sentences (main idea of each paragraph), and conclusion.  Highlight important (key) words or phrases.

·        Make outlines in the margin for a series of items: first (1), another … (2), third (3), etc.

 

4.     Recite.

·        Ask yourself the main idea of each section.  Formulate it in your own words in one sentence.

·        Write a brief summary in the margin (= annotating) or take notes on a separate sheet of paper.

 

5.     Review.

·        Reread your annotations for each section.

·        Try to answer the study questions.

·        Summarize the reading (article, chapter) into 4-5 sentences in your own words.

 

See also Joe Landsberger's Study Guide on the SQ3R Reading Method.

© 2005: Christine Bauer-Ramazani; last updated: July 09, 2017