BE AN ACTIVE READER

An active readers preview, question, recite and review what they read. Good, active
reading skills can help you in all your classes. It helps you tackle difficult math problems.
It helps you decipher maps. It helps you enjoy a good book. Generally, the better you
understand what you read and remember it thus the better you will do in your classes.

Reading involve a purposeful examination of what you have read and a good place to
start is to use the question format from the section above when reading articles, as
opposed to traditional textbook material.

All methods to evaluate information usually begin with the type of reading and
purpose for reading. For example, am I reading a piece that asks me to analyze an issue
or to solve a problem? Is the reading itself one that is organized as an issue or as a
problem-solution piece?

PURPOSE FOR READING AND METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT

Purpose - An author's reason for writing is called the purpose of the selection. An active
reader recognizes an author's purpose in order to effectively understand and evaluate the
reading. The purpose of reading is to connect the ideas on the page to what you already
know. If you don't know anything about a subject, then pouring words of text into your
mind is like pouring water into your hand. You don't retain much. For example, try
reading these numbers:

09-7516324 - This is hard to read and remember.

09 -1234567- This is easy to read because of prior knowledge and structure

Similarly, if you like sports, then reading the sports page is easy. You have a framework
in your mind for reading, understanding and storing information.
Four common purposes of reading are:

• to inform--to give information/facts to the reader

• to persuade--to promote the author's point of view or argument
• to entertain--to appeal to the reader's senses and imagination
• to arouse emotion--to appeal to the reader's emotional state

SPEED READING TECHNIQUE

Use speed reading techniques –preview, survey, and skimming – when reading. If
you perform this step correctly, you will get a general picture and see the main ideas the author is
trying to get across. Knowing this ahead of time, you will be able to look for and recognize the
most important points when you do read for details. You won’t waste time stumbling through
your book and finding a starting point.

Previewing is used to assess the overall reading material . It is a technique that

the reader uses to get a general idea of the layout of the text and the location of
information. Previewing can be used to evaluate entire textbooks as well as chapters. In
this case, after looking through the textbook itself, you might want to get a general idea
of how the chapter is laid out. Glance at the outline that precedes the chapter and read the
abstract if one is provided .

Purposes of previewing :-

1. Helps to bring to mind what you already know about the topic.

2. Helps you to see how the chapter is organized.

3. Facilitates reading speed and comprehension.

4. Gives an overall picture of the content about the chapter.

There are 6 steps to follow when previewing a chapter.

1. Study the title. The title gives you the main idea or topic for the material.

2. Read the introduction. This is where the author introduces the topic and its
importance.

3. Read the subheading and relationship between them. These signposts will tell
you what information will be covered, and in what order.

4. Look at the illustrations - pictures, chart , graphs and table.

5. Read the summary and conclusion. This is where the author summarizes the
argument, restates the main points and adds final thoughts on the topic.

6. Look at the end-of-chapter aids , such as questions , study guides , and

reference aids.

The back part of the book often has the appendix (supplementary material), the glossary
(a mini dictionary), references or bibliography (often valuable if you have to write a
research paper or speech), and the index (the alphabetical listing of important names,
terms, events, etc. found throughout the textbook).

Previewing doesn’t take as long as you think it will. The more you do it, the more
efficient you get. It should be brief and take no more than 10 minutes to complete.

Skimming is used to locate main ideas during the preview stages of reading. Previewing
is not a substitute for reading. It is a technique used as a preparation for a more thorough
reading of the material. Yes, that's right. An active reader goes through the text twice in
order to have a better understanding of the information being presented. A simple way to
practice skimming is to read, as quickly as possible, the first few sentences of every
paragraph and the last few sentences of every paragraph. The more you practice this
method, the easier it will become because you will find yourself looking for key verbs
and nouns. After skimming, try to formulate a main idea sentence, right in the text, or in
your reading notebook.

REFERENCES

1. Staton, Thomas F. 1982. How to Study, 7th Edition. pp. 15-27.

2. Peter Shephard & Gregory Unsworth – Mitchell . 1997. The Speed Reading Course,
3rd Edition. pp 3-6.

2. www.wikipedia/SQ3Rtechnique

3. www.smartreader.com