COLLEGE READING

SECRETS YOUR PROFESSOR

EXPECTS YOU TO KNOW

BY DR. ERIC DROWN

COLLEGE READING
SECRETS YOUR
PROFESSOR EXPECTS
YOU TO KNOW
BY DR. ERIC DROWN
The best college students will tell you, reading well is the key to college
success. If you can’t read quickly and efficiently, you will struggle. But
reading well means more than speed. You need to be able to analyze,
evaluate, interpret and use what you read. Read on to learn the reading
secrets your professor wishes you knew. Practice them and you will
perform better.

You’re Not in High School Any More

The days of being able to skim a few pages of the reading and fake it
in class are over. In college you will be required to read far more than
you may be used to, the readings will be more complex, and you will be
asked to do more with them. Failure to read up to your professors’
expectations is a major cause of student underperformance.

Reading Expectations
Reading is a primary channel of learning in college. Your professors
will expect you to be able to read and understand complex written
material, often with little guidance or in-class discussion. Further, they
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may expect you to form your own perspective on the material, draw
connections to other readings or ideas, or apply the concepts you learned
to solve problems or interpret phenomena. Because of these
expectations, you should expect your reading speed to slow down.
Whereas in high school, you may have been able to read a page in a
minute or two, college reading may take you between six and eight
minutes or more per page.

Unlike high school, you can expect to spend two hours or more
reading in preparation for each class session in every course you take. So
if you are taking 15 course-hours a week, you may need to allocate 30 or
more hours a week just for reading.

In order to get the most out of your time spent reading, you will
have to set ambitious reading goals. The table below outlines some of the
major differences between relatively simple high school reading goals and
the more complex reading goals you should have for your college reading.

Basic Reading Goals Advanced Reading Goals

Read to store and retrieve Read to be conversant – to be

information able to speak about the details
(and the relationships among
them) and general effect of a text
without referring to it

Read passively Read actively – take notes, ask

questions, make connections,
paraphrase key points

Read to absorb Read to explore, inquire,

consider, question, criticize,
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 analyze

Read to understand Read to do something to/with

the text– evaluate, synthesize,
create, write

Read for the gist Read to understand nuances

and to assess views. Read to
locate gaps in the conversation,
to find places to comment and
respond

Read each text in isolation Read texts as part of an inter-

textual dialogue or field

Read impressionistically Read systematically

Read to agree or disagree Read to understand a position

that is different from one’s own

Analysis and Interpretation

To fulfill these more advanced reading goals, you may need to alter
your reading habits. In particular you will need to take an analytical
approach to reading your sources in order to interpret them. By
interpretation we mean the process by which you come see the
significance, meaning or implications of the ideas, data, and questions
with which you are working. Analysis and interpretation are notoriously
fuzzy terms. But it’s not hard to be concrete about the process to use to
generate them. Let’s begin by understanding what it means to read
analytically towards an interpretation.
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 To read analytically is to pay attention to, understand, assess, and
comment on

1. The sequence of moves a writer uses to make an argument,

2. The relationship between claims made and the evidence and

logic used to support them,

3. The significance and implications of specific key words or

phrases a writer chooses to convey his or her view,

4. Patterns in data, ideas, methods, or perspectives,

5. Anomalous data, ideas, methods, or perspective once a pattern

has been established,

6. The explicit or tacit organizing binaries or oppositions in the

piece,

Reading analytically also means

7. To uncover and reveal the tacit values and assumptions which

anchor a writer’s perspective,

8. To understand the larger contexts in which specific data or

phenomenon are relevant,

9. To explore and reveal the implications of the data, ideas, or

methods.

Reading for College: The Process

While it may seem that reading analytically requires you to pay
attention to a lot, the following paragraphs provide you with a step-by-
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step reading and note-taking process that will maximize your chances of
reading analytically.

STEP ONE: APPROACH THE READING WITH THE RIGHT MINDSET IN THE RIGHT

ENVIRONMENT

It can be easy to check out of a reading that on first blush seems

dull or irrelevant, is hard to follow, or is on a complex subject matter.
Don’t let yourself take the easy way out! Why? Because it will make your
life as a writer considerably more difficult if you do. So, try to focus hard;
know that the work you put in
up front will pay off with time
Try to focus hard; know that the
saved, less stress, and better
work you put in up front will pay
results at the end of the project.
off with time saved, less stress,
Create a single-tasking
and better results at the end of
environment. Limit distractions
the project.
by refusing to open your internet
browser, IM, email program, or
Skype. Turn off your computer’s modem/wireless receiver. Silence your
phone. If you have to listen to music, make sure it’s music without words
(you don’t want the language center of your brain to multitask when
you’re working on new or complex material made entirely out of words).
Better yet, try playing a white noise loop through ear buds to shut out
distracting sounds.

Once you’ve created a single-tasking environment, work actively to

pay attention, understand, and respond to the material being presented.
Concentrate on understanding what is being conveyed no matter what
deficiencies the piece of writing may have. Try to connect what you’re
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reading to what you already know (through personal experience or other
reading you’ve done on the subject). Think about how what you’re
reading possibly changes what you think about the topic on which you’re
working. Assess the uses and limits of the ideas to which you’re listening
for your own writing project.

STEP TWO: USE PRE-READING STRATEGIES

Survey the reading and develop questions and interests to guide

your reading. Activate what you already know about the topics, whether
from other reading or life experiences. When you survey a text you scan
the table of contents, introduction, chapter introductions, headings, or
summaries to pick up a shallow overview of the text. From your survey,
develop a small set of initial questions or lines of thought that you’ll try
to answer or think through as you read. Also locate areas of particular
interest (topics or subtopics, but also specific page ranges) to which
you’ll give your best attention.

Before reading the text carefully, consider what you already know
(or think you know) about the topic of the text. By creating expectations
about you’re reading, you’ll notice when the writer’s line of thought
diverges from your expectations and see those moments as interesting,
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puzzling, troubling, ambiguous or suggestive, as moments with which
you’ll need to come to terms.

STEP THREE: MARK UP YOUR TEXTS

It is vital that you convert all readings about which you’re going to
write from electronic to paper format. There is no electronic substitute for
marking up a reading using a pencil. The simple act of making marks on
the page focuses your attention and promotes an active and dynamic
approach to your reading that is absolutely essential if you are to write
effectively about what you read.

In the next paragraph, I’ll describe some basic marks and types of
margin comments. But before I do, I want you to notice how they focus
your attention more on the flow of the intellectual conversation, than on
the specific pieces of information or materials the writers use to have the
conversation. Remember, you’re reading to further the conversation, not
merely to acquire and retain information. In order to participate in the
conversation, you have to be able to use the cues (words) on the page to
realize (literally, make real, three-dimensional) the exchange of ideas
embedded in the text.

How do I mark up a text?

Here are some basic marks and margin comment types that will
help you make the conversation come to life:

 Underline essential and supporting questions and label which

supporting questions go with each essential question;
 Circle key concepts, then define concepts and terms in your own
words in the margin;
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  Double-underline compelling passages and make margin notes
about how you could use them in your own project;
 Draw a Block around passages that are complicated, challenging
or hard to understand, then on a separate sheet of paper, try to
paraphrase them until you understand them;
 Jot down the ideas, examples, and lines of inquiry that occur
to you as you read;
 Draw lines or make cross-references to forge connections and
comparisons between sections of the reading, or between the
current reading and others you have read previously;
 Make margin notes about the uses and limits of particular
concepts or passages for your own work.

On the next page, you’ll find a sample of a well-marked page.

It’s particularly important to track the moves the writer is making. Is he

or she offering background? Mark it. Defining terms? Mark it. The table
below presents some common moves for which to be on the lookout.

 Offering Background  Countering Another Writer’s

 Analyzing an Example Argument
 Interpreting an Example  Making an Argument
 Borrowing Expert Authority  Defining Terms
 Extending Another Writer’s  Describing a Method
Argument  Criticizing Another Writer’s
 Presenting Another Writer’s Method
Argument  Revealing Tacit Values or
Assumptions
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Keeping track of a writer’s moves will enable you to better see the
conversation in his or her text. By understand how he or she is making

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use of his or her sources, you can distinguish between what they say and
what he or she says in response and consider your response to all the
voices in the text.

What else should I do while reading?

Keep track of your intellectual response to the reading: Are you

skeptical of some of the ideas or arguments presented? Does some way of
approaching a problem or object of analysis seem particularly interesting
or puzzling? Is something confusing or suddenly particularly clear? Write
it all down. Keep track of the questions, ideas, problems, potential
forwards/counters, personal experiences that percolate in your brain as
you read. These will be the foundations on which you come to terms with
the piece.

How often should I be taking notes?

You should probably be taking notes at least once or twice a page

(but not much more) throughout the reading.

What should I do when I finish the reading?

When you’re finished reading, immediately write a healthy

paragraph right on your printout (or on the first or last page of your
chapter, right in the book if you own it) documenting both the basic
substance of the writer’s project and line of thought and your initial
intellectual responses to it. Record the essential ideas, concepts, or
claims that you want to forward and/or counter, and explain how and
why. Describe how reading this text changed your thinking (furthered it?
nuanced it? redirected it? complicated it? confused it?).
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 STEP FOUR: TRANSFER YOUR NOTES TO A WORD-PROCESSOR AFTER READING

I recommend transferring notes only after you read, rather than as

you go, because the act of transferring your notes from the page to the
word-processor helps solidify your encounter with the text. You
remember more of what you read and develop a deeper more
sophisticated response to the text by revisiting your margin notes in the
act of transfer.

What should I transfer to the word processor?

You don’t need to transfer everything. In fact, you want to be

selective to start winnowing important stuff from trivial (even if
interesting) stuff. Transfer everything that went into your “healthy
paragraph” in step 3. Why? Because when you wrote that paragraph you
started to develop your own response to the material. You began to
integrate new ideas and information with old, and started to think about
how your own project will be impacted by engaging this particular text in
conversation.

As you revisit your notes in light of other readings and further work
on your own piece of writing, you’ll add to, revise, rethink, and respond
to this initial response (so be sure to record the date of your initial
reading, and each time you revisit your notes). By tracking the
development of your thought as you revisit and rethink your response to
a reading in light of further reading and thinking, you’ll have a history of
your engagement with the ideas and lines of thought that are the
substance of the conversation you and all the other writers are having.
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 When you write your paper you’ll rely on the
MAKE
history of your encounter with other
NOTE OF:
conversationalists to formulate your own entry
 Important into the conversation.

concepts What else should I transfer?

After transferring that first “healthy

 Thought-
paragraph,” transfer only the most important
provoking concepts (especially ones named with specialized
terms), conversation-changing insights, passages,
insights
or examples, and lines of thought you might want
 Passages to emulate or deploy in your own writing projects.
Don’t worry about capturing data or statistics—
needing
they’re on paper and easily retrievable. If you need
comment or one or two specific pieces of information, go back
and make a note on the first page of the reading
explanation
indicating where exactly in the essay the data is
 Examples (page number) and, here’s the crucial step,
explaining the meaning and implications of the
that demand
data. Unless you write down what the data means
further to you, you will surely forget what you found
interesting, useful or troubling about the data.
analysis &
Last Words
interpretation
No doubt this seem an intensive approach to
reading. It is. But remember, you’re not just
reading to understand a fact, remember it, and
select the right option on a multiple choice exam.
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You’re reading to respond to this text (and others) in writing and
discussion. You need to cultivate and record a complex intellectual
response to the text in order to read up to your professors’ expectations.

If you have any questions or comments, post them on

facebook.com/thriveatcollege, or tweet them to me @EricDrown.

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