When done by itself, simply opening an assigned chapter and reading is not an effective or efficient way to study. When students try active reading strategies — exploring texts to learn more about what’s in their professor’s slides, for example — they learn, and they save time. Explore this section to learn strategies for actively engaging with and learning more from your textbooks, e-books, and other materials.
Click the links below for more on how to learn more from reading.
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Active Reading
When you read without first thinking about what you need to learn, you retain very little. But when you pre-read things like notes, slides, or chapter review questions first, then read only the text needed to help you understand them, you can learn more effectively — often with less reading. Doing activities to get your brain thinking with and about the text is called active reading, and it works.
Check out these links for more tips and strategies on getting the most learning out of your reading.
Ways to Stay Focused
Staying focused when you read is easier when you use the text to help you try to do something, like explaining what’s on your professor’s slides or a textbook illustration. It also helps to break the reading down and work little by little, reading in short bursts with breaks in between. Try finding ways to make the text easier for your eyes to focus on: break text into smaller chunks (or narrower columns, if you can adjust the margins), slowing your reading speed down, and even tracing the lines of text with your finger as you read.
Check out these links to see more tips and strategies for staying focused when you read.
Reading Math Texts
Math texts require different strategies. When we read to learn how to do something we are working on, we process what we are reading much better. With math, first try skimming the text, just to get an idea what it’s about. But don’t study the examples. Instead, try solving a practice problem. Use the examples to help you. Your brain will process the information better.
Check out these links for tips and strategies on how to learn from math textbooks.
Reading Social Sciences
Social sciences challenge you to think critically about what the author is saying. Activate your criticality by approaching your reading looking for specific things, e.g., What is the author’s main argument? Do the points support their argument well? Are there counter-arguments, or better ways of making the case? Make notes on your questions, reactions and opinions.
Check out these links for tips and strategies on how to learn from social sciences texts.
Make Notes When You Read
Note-taking is not just for studying later. It is an active learning strategy. Taking notes to condense and structure what you are reading gets you to think more closely about the ideas present in the text. As you make the notes, your brain reads them back so that you can reevaluate and make better sense of them. All of this information processing results in better understanding and memories that last longer.