Study Tips

I love reading. I read Stephen King stories, Margaret Atwood novels, and of course, Harry Potter books with great passion. I can shoot through one of those things in a weekend. When I was in college reading wasn’t always so fun. I enjoyed Modern Literature when I got to read Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing, but really got bogged down about halfway through The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, which is tragic because the Roman Empire was a really cool topic. Key to my ability to get a degree was the ability to learn to read quickly and move forward through information.

The hard part about reading for a degree course is the fact that you aren’t reading what you choose; you are reading what they choose. There are some good survival skills you can use to get through the longer tomes of assigned reading faster. Skimming is one way to get through it. If you know the material somewhat you can always skim the chapter, which means to a surface reading picking out just a few important ideas or phrases. Some textbooks are written for skimmers and put the important ideas like vocabulary words or key thoughts in bold on the page or in a list at the end of the chapter called, “key concepts”. Remember, skimming won’t give you detailed information but will should give you enough of an overview to participate in your class discussion.

Another reading technique is headlining. Many textbooks for college courses write their information in short paragraphs with headlines about each section that describes the next few paragraphs. Read the headline and the first paragraph of each section where the topic sentence is usually located. If you feel you understand the concept and facts well enough, then go to the next section. Again, like skimming it might not tell you everything you need to know, but it will prepare you with enough background material to know what people are talking about when the discussion gets started.

Reading for pleasure is a fun and life-giving activity. Reading for grades is not, but it is a necessary part of your educational journey.