Matthew Kruger-Ross, who is currently a graduate research/teaching assistant in the Instructional Technology program at NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. His research focuses on emerging technologies and learning/teaching, methodology and pedagogy of teaching with technology, and epistemology of technology, teaching, and learning. Matthew has some great ideas for reading, so we asked him to share them with us:
Reading Strategies That Work
1. Bird’s Eye View
Lay whatever you need to read down at a comfortable reading position for you. Now, let’s get a bird’s eye view of what’s going on with the text. Asking yourself all of these questions before beginning to actually read helps your brain (and you!) prep for understanding what’s going on in the text.
2. From A to Z
Totally breaking a rule here - but go ahead and skim the first paragraph/first section of text and then the final paragraph/section of text. Now, ask yourself:
Finally - before moving on to the next step, flip through and scan the text for section titles as well as captions and titles of charts. See if they help draw a line between the introduction and the conclusion. Make a note of shorter sections, longer sections, and sections that seem ambiguous or you aren’t quite sure how they fit in.
3. So what?
Taking a break at this point in the process you need to ask yourself: What do I need to do with this text? What’s the big deal?
4. Zooming in
By now you actually should know quite a lot about the text you’re looking at. You know the title, author, time period, type, the introduction, the conclusion, the tone, and most likely the main idea - the crux of what the author(s) are trying to communicate.
Scan the first and last sentence of each paragraph (disregarding the introduction and conclusion). Ask yourself:
Make mental notes of all of these answers.
5. Take a step back.
Now you have almost mastered this piece of text! Now - double-check your scanning.
Go back and piece together what you read from the introduction as well as the main/general ideas for each paragraph all the way through to the conclusion.
6. Read carefully.
Take the sections and paragraphs that don’t make sense, seem out of order, or the one you think might be the key paragraph and read each of these very carefully. This should be no more than 2 or 3 paragraphs you will need to read.
Within that key paragraph - what is the ONE sentence that summarizes the whole reading?
7. Review.
Review all of the thoughts that have accrued in your head from steps one through six especially:
If your answer is no - go back and repeat or grab someone have them talk with you about what you are reading.
When does this work?
- What kind of text is it? Is the font big/small? How close is the text to other elements (margins, other words, diagrams)? How long is the text (estimate in numbers of paragraphs - easier to chunk than words or sentences or pages)?
- What do you notice about the text? Is it in columns? Is it right, left, centered, or full aligned?
- What types of words do you see? Are they small words? Long words? Can you easily recognize most of the words? Are there words that are bolded or italicized or underlined? Are there words that appear more frequently than other words?
- What is the text, a newspaper? A letter? An excerpt from a larger work? A piece of fiction or non-fiction? A definition or an encyclopedia entry?
- Who is the author? Do you recognize him or her? Have you read anything by the author before?
- When was the piece written? (Check for subscripts and footnotes.) How will when the text was written effect how you approach your reading? Will you need to pay close, particular attention? Will you be able to skim quickly?
2. From A to Z
Totally breaking a rule here - but go ahead and skim the first paragraph/first section of text and then the final paragraph/section of text. Now, ask yourself:
- Does this make sense? Do I know what’s going on here or what’s being talked about? Could I explain to someone else who has not read this piece before what it is about?
- What is the overall tone of the piece of writing thus far? Is it positive? Negative? Stylistically - how would you describe it?
- In what ways were you surprised by the introduction and/or conclusion? How will you revise your answers to the questions for #1 and how will that then change how you approach the text afterwards?
Finally - before moving on to the next step, flip through and scan the text for section titles as well as captions and titles of charts. See if they help draw a line between the introduction and the conclusion. Make a note of shorter sections, longer sections, and sections that seem ambiguous or you aren’t quite sure how they fit in.
3. So what?
Taking a break at this point in the process you need to ask yourself: What do I need to do with this text? What’s the big deal?
- If you are reading for pleasure or to pass the time, if your answers to some of the questions from 1 and 2 aren’t what you wanted, ditch what your reading and move on to something else!
- If you are reading for a book club or for something related to work where you are required to read something, keep going.
- If you are reading something for a class or for a test then definitely keep going!
4. Zooming in
By now you actually should know quite a lot about the text you’re looking at. You know the title, author, time period, type, the introduction, the conclusion, the tone, and most likely the main idea - the crux of what the author(s) are trying to communicate.
Scan the first and last sentence of each paragraph (disregarding the introduction and conclusion). Ask yourself:
- Does the introductory sentence make sense?
- Does the final sentence make sense?
- Do they make sense together?
- Does one logically follow the other?
- Could you make a prediction as to what is within the paragraph?
Make mental notes of all of these answers.
5. Take a step back.
Now you have almost mastered this piece of text! Now - double-check your scanning.
Go back and piece together what you read from the introduction as well as the main/general ideas for each paragraph all the way through to the conclusion.
- What doesn’t make sense?
- What seems out of order or to not belong?
- What seems to stand out in comparison to the rest of the text?
- If there were ONE paragraph that contained the crucial and most important point that the piece of text has to offer, which paragraph/section would it be?
6. Read carefully.
Take the sections and paragraphs that don’t make sense, seem out of order, or the one you think might be the key paragraph and read each of these very carefully. This should be no more than 2 or 3 paragraphs you will need to read.
Within that key paragraph - what is the ONE sentence that summarizes the whole reading?
7. Review.
Review all of the thoughts that have accrued in your head from steps one through six especially:
- Does this make sense? Do I know what’s going on here or what’s being talked about? Could I explain to someone else who has not read this piece before what it is about?
If your answer is no - go back and repeat or grab someone have them talk with you about what you are reading.
When does this work?
- Textbooks
- Websites
- Articles
- Newspapers
- Reports
- Fantasy
- Poetry
