Reading is not solely about reading the words on the page. There are many different aspects to the reading process, as illustrated in the box below. To be successful in your studies, you will need to enhance your reading skills so that you can tackle the different types of reading required on your course. This chapter offers advice on how to do this.

PREPARING FOR ACADEMIC READING

To be able to read academic texts you will need to have well developed linguistic, visual and auditory skills. Most adults have developed their linguistic skills over a lifetime and will not need to have these checked out. However, if you have not had your eyes tested for some time it is advisable to do so as undiagnosed poor eyesight can have considerable negative influence on your reading ability. Also, it may be advisable to have your hearing tested as this can affect your listening skills and note-taking ability which in turn will have an influence on how you read and revise your notes.

When you begin to prepare yourself for academic reading, it is useful to be aware of the different aspects of the reading process. These are listed in the box below.

USING READING LISTS

On most courses you will be presented with a reading list. Do not rush out and buy all the books on the list as it can be expensive and in most cases is not necessary. Ask your tutor which are the key texts and which will be the most useful on your course, then make a decision about what you want to buy.

If your tutor has given you a long reading list, don’t be daunted by the number of books. Some tutors will include a greater number than necessary because they realise that students may have difficulty getting hold of books in the library, or the list offers a wider variety of themes and ideas.

Use reading lists carefully. Ask your tutor which are the important books. Find out if your tutor has a suggestion for starting your reading – are some of the books easier to read than others? Should some be left until later, when you have begun to understand some of the ideas and concepts?

If you have difficulty getting hold of any of the books, speak to your tutor. They will be able to recommend alternatives or offer suggestions about where a copy might be obtained. You can also use the bibliography of relevant books to find other books that may be of use.

DEVELOPING YOUR ACADEMIC READING

For successful reading to take place the reading matter needs to be appropriate, relevant and suited to your individual style and interests. As an adult you have enrolled on a course in which you are interested, so this will help you to read and understand books relevant to your course. However, if you have no experience of a particular course, or of a particular academic style of writing, you may find it harder to understand what you are reading.

This is a problem faced by many students – reading complex academic texts is a new experience that can be daunting. What you should remember is that for successful reading to take place practice is essential, and with adequate practice you will soon understand what you are reading.

As a student you will not only be reading for meaning and accuracy, but you will also be reading for thought. What you read will help you to develop your own ideas about the subject. This means that the reading process also involves your own personality, experiences and imagination. Reading is not passive but is an active process in which you draw from your own experiences, develop your own thoughts and learn to evaluate and critique the thoughts and ideas presented within the text.

You can develop your academic reading skills by considering the following points:

• Do not put off your reading. Begin as soon as you start the course, if not before.
• Do not ignore books aimed at someone younger or at the lay person – they might help to explain something with which you are struggling. You can move on to more complex texts once you have grasped the general idea.
• Learn how to use contents pages and indexes carefully. You will not have time to read every book from cover to cover, and on most courses this is not necessary. Think about the key issues or topics needed for your course or assignment and read sections of books that are relevant to these issues.
• Before you begin your reading, write down what information you want and the questions you wish to answer. This will help you to focus your reading and stop you becoming distracted on irrelevant material. When you’ve finished reading a section, see if there are any questions that remain unanswered.
• Read introductions and summaries to find out whether the book or chapter is relevant. If it is not relevant, discard it for something else.
• Try to understand and evaluate what you are reading. Do not read page after page without understanding the material. If you don’t understand a text, discuss it with other students or with your tutor, or try another text which might explain the concepts in a better way. There are additional techniques you can use when faced with complex data and figures (see Chapter 6).
• Take notes as you read.
• Set manageable sections for your reading. With time you will begin to understand your own concentration levels. Work within these levels – if you read for too long you will find that you are unable to retain much of your reading or take in new information. Always have short breaks within your reading sessions to refresh your mind.
• Always keep your purpose in mind when reading.

IMPROVING YOUR READING SPEED

On some courses you may appear to have so much reading to complete that you feel completely overwhelmed. However, you should not let these feelings put you off your reading. You will be surprised how much reading you can complete on your course, especially if you consider the points outlined below:

• Reading speed improves with practice. The more you practise the faster you will read.
• Reading speed improves with comprehension. As you become more familiar with your subject and the technical jargon used, you will find that you read faster. You will spend less time reviewing what you have read in an effort to understand the material.
• Reading speed improves with interest. If you are interested in what you are reading you will find that you read faster, especially when you are intrigued to know what happens next.
• Reading speed improves with motivation. If your motivation levels remain high you will find it easier to read at a quicker pace and take in the material.

There are several reasons why people read slowly. It is not advisable to force yourself to read more quickly without addressing these reasons as you may simply begin to read more quickly but not improve your understanding of the material. Table 4 below outlines possible reasons for slow reading. The second column gives suggestions for solving the problem and hence improving reading speed without losing comprehension.

Although it is desirable to increase your reading speed, to be successful in your studies you will need to know when to adjust your rate. You will encounter some situations when it

Table 4. Improving reading speed

is important to slow down your reading, as the following list illustrates:

• Unfamiliar terminology that needs exploring.
• Difficult sentence or paragraph construction that needs unpicking.
• Detailed technical instruction that needs clear understanding.
• Unfamiliar or abstract concepts that need extra attention.
• Ideas that need retaining.

On the other hand you can rapidly increase the speed of your reading when you encounter the following:

• Material with which you are familiar and are being told nothing new.
• Irrelevant case studies, examples, illustrations or tables.
• Too much detail or elaboration that is unnecessary to your purpose.
• Broad generalisations of ideas that have been previously stated.

TAKING NOTES FROM BOOKS

Taking notes from books is a personal process and as your course progresses you will find a method that best suits you. However, there are a few points you should note from the start of your reading as this will make it easier to review your notes and prepare for examinations and essay writing:

• Make notes which will aid your understanding and help you to review and revise what you have read.
• Do not copy chunks of text from the book. Read the relevant sections, think about what you have read and make a few brief notes written in your own words. This will help you to make sure that you are not using the sentences of others in your written work.
• If you come across a useful quotation, write it down exactly, word-for word. Check that you have copied it correctly if you intend to use it in an assignment. In your notes, write ‘quotation’ in the margin, or use quotation marks so that you are clear it is a quotation. Make sure that you note the page number, the author of the book, the title of the book and the place and date of publication. It can be time-consuming and frustrating trying to locate quotations that you wish to use at a later date.
• Organise your notes. File your notes with other notes on the same topic. This will make it easier to find the relevant information when you need to revise or write an essay. Some students find it useful to write the main ideas onto cards and file them in a card index.