Whether they're project documents, trade journals, blogs,
business books or ebooks,
most of us read regularly as part of our jobs, and to
develop our skills and knowledge.
But do you ever read what should be a useful document,
yet fail to gain any helpful information from it?
Or, do you have to re-read something several times to get
a full understanding of the content?
In this article, we're looking at strategies that will
help you read more effectively.
These approaches will help you get the maximum benefit
from your reading,
with the minimum effort.
Think About What
You Want to Know
Before you start reading anything, ask yourself why
you're reading it.
Are you reading with a purpose, or just for pleasure?
What do you want to know after you've read it?
Once you know your purpose, you can examine the resource
to see whether it's going to help you.
For example, with a book, an easy way of doing this is to
look at the introduction
and the chapter headings. The introduction should let you
know who the book is intended for,
and what it covers. Chapter headings will give you an
overall view of the structure of the subject.
Ask yourself whether the resource meets your needs, and
try to work out if it will give you
the right amount of knowledge. If you think that the
resource isn't ideal, don't waste time reading it.
Remember that this also applies to content that you
subscribe to, such as journals or magazines,
and web-based RSS and
social media news feeds – don't be afraid to prune these resources
if you are not getting value from some publishers.
Know How Deeply to
Study the Material
Where you only need the shallowest knowledge of a
subject, you can skim material.
Here you read only chapter headings, introductions, and
summaries.
If you need a moderate level of information on a subject,
then you can scan the text.
This is when you read the chapter introductions and
summaries in detail.
You can then speed read the contents of the
chapters, picking out and understanding key words
and concepts.
(When looking at material in this way, it's often worth
paying attention to diagrams and graphs.)
Only when you need full knowledge of a subject is it
worth studying the text in detail.
Here it's best to skim the material first to get an
overview of the subject.
This gives you an understanding of its structure, into
which you can then fit the detail
gained from a full reading of the material.
(SQ3R is a good technique for getting a deep
understanding of a text.)
Read Actively
When you're reading a document or book in detail, it
helps if you practice "active reading"
by highlighting and underlining key information,
and taking
notes as you progress.
(Mind Maps are
great for this).
This emphasizes information in your mind, and helps you
to review important points later.
Doing this also helps you keep your mind focused on the
material,
and stops you thinking about other things.
Tip:
If you're worried about damaging a book by marking it up,
ask yourself how much your investment of time is worth.
If the book is inexpensive,
or if the benefit that you get from the book
substantially exceeds its value,
then don't worry too much about marking it. (Of course,
only do this if it belongs to you!)
Know How to Study
Different Types of Material
Different types of documents hold information in
different places and in different ways,
and they have different depths and breadths of coverage.
By understanding the layout of the material you're
reading,
you can extract the information you want efficiently.
Magazines and
Newspapers
These tend to give a fragmented coverage of an area. They
will typically only concentrate
on the most interesting and glamorous parts of a topic –
this helps them boost circulation!
As such, they will often ignore less interesting
information that may be essential
to a full understanding of a subject,
and they may include low value content to "pad
out" advertising.
The most effective way of getting information from
magazines is to scan the contents tables
or indexes and turn directly to interesting articles. If
you find an article useful,
then cut it out and file it in a folder specifically
covering that sort of information.
In this way you will build up sets of related articles
that may begin to explain the subject.
Newspapers tend to be arranged in sections. If you read a
paper often,
you can quickly learn which sections are useful, and
which ones you can skip altogether.
Tip:
You can apply the same strategies to reading online
versions of newspapers and magazines. However, you need to make sure that you
don't get distracted by links to other, non-relevant material.
Reading Individual
Articles
There are three main types of article in magazines and
newspapers:
News Articles – these are designed to explain
the key points first,
and then flesh these out with detail. So, the most
important information is presented first,
with information being less and less useful as the
article progresses.
Opinion Articles – these present a point of
view.
Here the most important information is contained in the
introduction and the summary,
with the middle of the article containing supporting
arguments.
Feature Articles – these are written to
provide entertainment or background on a subject.
Typically the most important information is in the body
of the text.
If you know what you want from an article, and recognize
its type,
you can get information from it quickly and efficiently.
Tip 1:
Nowadays, you probably read many articles online. You can
easily save links to these in a bookmark folder to reference later. Make sure
that you title folders so that you can easily find the link again. For
instance, you could have separate folders for project research,
marketing, client prospects, trade information, and
professional growth.
Or, it might be helpful to title folders using the
website or publication name.
Tip 2:
Remember that there are many online articles and
electronic documents
that weren't originally designed to be read on a screen.
(This will also include documents that are emailed to
you.)
If you find it hard to read these on screen, print them
out.
This is especially important for long or detailed
documents.
Make Your Own
Table of Contents
When you're reading a document or book, it's easy to
accept the writer's structure of thought.
This means that you may not notice when important
information has been left out,
or that an irrelevant detail has been included.
An effective way to combat this is to make up your own
table of contents before you start reading. Ask yourself what sections or
topics you are expecting to see in this document,
and what questions you want to have answered by the end
of the text.
Although doing this before you start reading the document
may sound like a strange strategy,
it's useful, because it helps you spot holes in the
author's argument.
Writing out your own table of contents also helps you
address your own questions,
and think about what you're expecting to learn from the
text.
Use Glossaries
with Technical Documents
If you're reading large amounts of difficult technical
material,
it may be useful to use or compile a glossary. Keep this
beside you as you read.
It's also useful to note down the key concepts in your
own words,
and refer to these when necessary.
Further Reading
Tips
The time when you read a document plays a role in how
easy the reading will be,
and how much information you'll retain.
If you need to read a text that is tedious, or requires a
great deal of concentration,
it's best to tackle it when you have the most energy in
the day.
Our article, Is This a Morning Task? , helps
you work out when this is,
so that you can schedule your reading time accordingly.
Where you read is also important. Reading at night,
in bed, doesn't work for many people
because it makes them sleepy (which means that you may
not remember the information).
Everyone is different, however, so read in a place that's
comfortable, free of distractions,
and that has good light – this is important even if
you're reading from a screen.
It can be helpful to review the
information when you've finished reading.
When you're done, write a paragraph that explains, in
your own words, what you just learned. Often, putting pen to paper can help
strengthen your recall of new information,
so that you retain it more effectively.
Key Points
If you want to read more effectively, identify what you
want to learn from each resource you read, and know how deeply you want to
study the material.
And, consider "active reading" by making notes
and marking-up the material as you go along.
It's also useful to know how to study different types of
material.
Making your own table of contents before you read
material,
and using glossaries for technical resources, are other
useful reading strategies.
Remember that it takes practice to develop your reading
skills – the more you use these strategies, the more effective you'll become.
Tip:
For more on how to select the most appropriate reading
strategy in a specific situation,
take our Bite-Sized Training session Read Smarter!
http://www.mindtools.com/rdstratg.html
You can TCR specialist and language dictionaries
that are spontaneously accessed.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve
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A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
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Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
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just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”
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