Effective Reading
Your course at university is likely to involve a lot of reading, both to gain overall
knowledge and understanding of your subject, and to research specific aspects of it
as you undertake assignments. It is therefore important to plan and carry out your
reading efficiently, using the most appropriate techniques.
‘Surveying’ or ‘skim’ reading is useful for forming a general impression or
overview, finding core information or identifying one or two specific points.
‘Jumping in’ at any point of a text in order to sample it, can be useful when
undertaking an initial exploration of a topic.
‘Everyday’ reading (reading everything with equal concentration all the way
through) is useful if you are reading a core text to underpin your understanding
of a topic/discipline and will aid you in researching it.
Thorough reading and analysis of relevant passages and chapters is
commonly associated with academic assignment research. It involves cross-
checking information, looking up terminology, definitions and concepts, and
exploring different viewpoints or explanations.
Effective reading is a process in which you will: 1. clarify your goals; 2. select
your sources; and 3. read selected material in detail.
1. Clarify your goals
Before you commit time to reading, spend a little time thinking ahead:
What particular issues do you expect to find? What are you looking for
specifically?
Think about precise issues that your assignment requires; or those that were
not covered in earlier reading, or that remain unclear. This doesn’t prevent you
finding other areas of interest, raising new questions or enjoying the challenge
of thinking about unexpected issues as you encounter them.
Have an agenda
Having an ‘agenda’ has three advantages:
Your selection of reading material will be improved.
Your receptivity to information will be enhanced.
Your reading will build speed.
2. Select your sources
Take a strategic approach to your reading. Use reading lists carefully and selectively,
identifying core material, less important material, and material that is specialised but
relevant – perhaps short journal articles on relatively narrow topics. You should aim
to start with core reading to build up your knowledge and confidence. Once you have
a good grasp of the subject, move on to more specialised material.
Reading Proportion of reading material
Type of material
sequence used in an academic task
Initial reading Core texts e.g. textbooks or 40►50%
essential reading identified on
reading lists. Probably book-based
material but may well include some
journal articles.
Secondary Important reading, probably a 20 ►30%
reading mixture of books and journal
articles.
Further reading Specialised but relevant. Probably 20 ►30%
journal articles, both hard copy and
electronic, and individual online
sources.
If you are struggling to understand an account of a concept or theory, see if there is
an easier source to read (e.g. an introduction to) that may provide a basic
understanding, you can then move onto more advanced reading. Please note,
although you may want to look at Wikipedia, you should never use it or any other
informal (and not necessarily accurate) source as a formal reference for an
assignment.
Finding the right material: Whilst some texts may come recommended, others you
may need to find for yourself. Finding the right book, or chapter, or journal article in
which to invest your time reading in detail, requires you to ‘survey’ likely material
beforehand. This may involve looking at a book’s contents page or index to get an
idea of the topics discussed or quickly skim-reading (described below) its introduction
(or the abstract/summary, in the case of a journal article) for an idea of the concepts
and arguments it contains.
Introductions are usually fairly succinct; skim reading them shouldn’t take more than
10-15 minutes, but it will ‘set you up’ for your actual reading task. If you get into the
habit of surveying, it will become a natural part of the reading process. It works
particularly well with book material, but can be adapted to journals and online
resources, as follows:
Books Journals Online
Title + series Editorial comments Site map
Year of publication Titles of other papers Sources
Revision/edition Abstract Sponsoring
Foreword/introduction (+Abstracts for other papers) organisation
Contents Footnotes/citations Information about
Index Charts/tables the author
Charts/tables Opening section + Date produced
Diagrams closure/conclusion (skim-read) Date revised
Maps No. of ‘hits’ (if
Illustrations available)
Chapter headings Visual material
Early sections of chapters Links to other sites
(skim-read)
3. Reading strategies
After the survey stage, ‘skim’ your selected text before you start reading more
carefully. Skim-reading is a technique that allows you to get a quick gist of what a
text is saying without getting held up by detail.
Skim-reading
1. Read as quickly and as smoothly as possible, letting your eye travel from left to
right and then from top to bottom of a page of text. Use a ruler, a pencil, a folded
sheet of paper – or your finger – to ‘pull’ your eyes across and down the page.
2. Keep going. Set aside the time (10 minutes, say, for 10 pages) to make sure you
skim read the whole text in one go.
3. Do not stop to wrestle with words or concepts that you don’t understand. Instead
put a mark against them - and anything of particular interest – to return to later.
4. Look for the key sentences in any one paragraph. Often an academic paragraph
will be based on a topic sentence followed by the evidence that supports it.
5. Quickly reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph can be a good way
to skim read a text.
6. If you feel you can’t read without taking notes, take only the briefest notes or
annotations – a few bullet-points will be fine.
Skim-reading allows you to absorb information more effectively on a subsequent
reading. So, read lightly, read quickly and keep it going, until you are ready for the
second stage.
Scan reading
Now you have an overview of the text, ‘scan’ read a few pages or sections of your
text. Read more slowly but maintain forward momentum. Take summative notes as
you proceed, but keep them brief and purposeful (note page numbers where ideas
come from). Coupled with the sense of context gained from earlier skim reading, you
will be able to gain a stronger sense of the overall meaning(s) in the text, as well as
identify and mark the most interesting and relevant sections related to your
assignment. These you can now read in detail.
If the chapters or sections of text that you have selected are quite long, break them
down into shorter, manageable sections. Of course, your understanding won’t be
instantaneous. You will need to engage with individual sections of your text,
extracting the key points and the evidence that supports them. Start at the beginning
of the text – tracing the development and exploration of its argument. Returning to
earlier parts of the text is fine, as long as its purpose is to focus on the main
narrative. However, avoid darting about and flicking through other sections (fine at
the skim reading stage) in favour of careful, systematic sequential reading – of the
chapter, passage or journal article – from start to finish.
During this process you will need to take clear and accurate notes. To avoid issues of
plagiarism make a clear visual distinction between your thoughts and the words and
ideas taken directly from your source and record the bibliographic details that you will
need if you use that source in an assignment. Use the following library guidance and
search tools to find books and resources.
Use the QR code to book appointments, view our events calendar, watch skills
videos and more…