How to read effectively and critically

Reading is one of the well-nigh of import learning activities at university that you can engage in. Reading gives you access to the knowledge and language of a field and therefore provides a foundation for participating in classes and performing well in assessments.

Have a articulate reading purpose

  • Reading to understand a topic
  • Reading to accost an assessment task

    Yous may be reading to get together ideas for an assignment. If so, keep the consignment topic and/or question close by so you can wait at it frequently to guide what yous read and how you read it. Consider writing a rough assignment plan that lays down the dissimilar sections and main ideas yous desire to include in your writing. This will help you lot to focus on only relevant readings and save you fourth dimension. Don't worry if the program is very basic, equally you can modify and refine information technology as you read.

Choose what to read

If y'all're reading to sympathize a topic, first with core and recommended readings in the subject. These are frequently comprehensive works in the field that explain the key concepts or issues. You tin can also search for electric current research on the topic using the Library website to keep yourself updated on the latest developments. Try using Library Guides for a tailored list of sources for a subject. Another idea is to ask your lecturer for recommendations of texts on a topic. If you have issues understanding fundamental concepts in a discipline, you lot may demand to go back to a more basic textbook which explains them at a more than fundamental level.

If y'all are reading to accost an assessment task, use the key words from the task to search for relevant sources. Most tasks would ask for some connection to central concepts discussed in the subject, and so information technology'southward important to use core or recommended readings alongside your own research. While theoretical readings can be a bit older, empirical papers, those that study on inquiry findings, are considered recent if their dates of publication fall within the last 10 years.

Preview a text

With any text, you will benefit from kickoff previewing its key data to speedily grasp what it is well-nigh overall. Try spending around 5 minutes reading through the title, abstract (if in that location is one), the introduction and conclusion and whatever headings or table of contents. For general understanding of a subject, inquire yourself:

  • What question(south) practise I desire to answer past reading this text?
  • Does this text comprise new and useful data on my topic of interest?

When reading for an consignment, recollect about how the text is related to the chore:

  • Can this text help me answer the assignment question in whatsoever way?
  • If yep, what part of my answer plan does it seem to fit?

Previewing a text helps you to evaluate non only the relevance of a text to your purpose but likewise its credibility. A text may appear highly relevant to an assignment only may present obvious linguistic communication problems, biases and inconsistencies. In this case, you may want to forgo engaging with the text if you can, since reading time is precious, and you may have many texts competing for your attention.

Use different ways of reading

You can read unlike texts, and even different sections of the same text, differently. How you read should depend on what you want to go out of that reading. You tin:

  • Skim a text for the main idea
  • Scan a text for particular
  • Read a text closely
  • Compare dissimilar parts of a text

    While reading, you may need to compare different parts of a text to determine the consistency and logical development of ideas. You may, for example, read the introduction and conclusion of a book together to see whether and how its aim has been met, or compare the methods, results and conclusions of a enquiry paper to see how well they align. This method will help yous to read texts more critically by linking the data presented in one function to the broader structure and narrative of the text.

  • Reflect on the text personally and professionally

Ask disquisitional questions of the text

Asking critical questions helps you to read actively and avoid getting carried abroad by the details of a text because these questions often require synthesis and estimation of the whole text. For case, you can ask:

  • What is the fundamental statement or message of this text?
  • What show is presented to support this?
  • What makes this bear witness disarming or not?
  • How does this text relate to my ain ideas/consignment programme on the topic?

Accept notes of your reading

It's crucial to take notes while you lot read, every bit it gives you a tape of ideas that yous can apply in your assignments and other study activities. If you've taken constructive notes while reading a text, you usually do not need to re-read information technology except for quick checks of details. Effective notes go beyond text highlighting and note.

Notes should exist taken:

  • In reply to your own questions of the text.
  • In your own words as much equally possible – this means more paraphrasing and summarising than direct quoting. Even if you only put down phrases in a dot point format, try to employ your own expression. Taking notes in your own words means y'all're incorporating others' ideas into your own writing from the starting time, making it easier to observe your own voice and avoid plagiarism.
  • In a format that tin can be integrated into your consignment plan or study map. Equally text annotations cannot be collated easily, consider taking notes in a separate document or on split up cards, which can then exist consolidated into a bigger writing or report structure.
  • In a way that conspicuously distinguishes the author's idea and your own idea. Reading unremarkably triggers your ain reflection and responses, which you can utilise for study tasks. Consider colour-coding your own ideas to split up them from the author's, which helps you to know which ideas to reference in your writing.
This video illustrates how to utilize your notes to turn reading into writing.

Connect multiple readings

A typical claiming with reading at university is y'all unremarkably need to read not only long and highly specialised texts but also many such texts in a limited time. You may be reading multiple sources to understand different views on a topic or to gather data for an assignment.

Apart from the above reading and annotation-taking strategies, yous also need to make connections between texts and compare them to proceeds large-pic ideas such as like and different findings on the same topic. This allows you to brand moderate, informed generalisations virtually what you read.

As you read a text, think beyond the text itself to relate it to other readings. Take notes of any links you've identified across different texts in your assignment plan or study map. Y'all can use these links to know how to put together notes from private readings. For example, y'all might want to summarise a mutual finding from three different sources to support your argument or juxtapose two contradictory findings to highlight a trouble. Here are some questions to help you navigate multiple readings on the same topic:

  • What fundamental messages are emerging from these readings?
  • What aspects of the topic do they relate to?
  • What are the similarities and differences between these messages?
  • Which letters have the strongest supporting evidence?
  • Based on these observations, what is my view on the topic?

Try jotting down your answers to these questions while reading different sources and come up back to revise them often equally y'all continue reading. This will assist y'all to keep sight of the big motion picture of your topic.

You need to exist aware of the fourth dimension y'all have for reading as a written report task. It's a skillful thought to allocate a specific corporeality of fourth dimension and specific dates to it. Having a reading schedule will requite you lot limits that aid focus your reading then you lot can move on to other tasks when reading time ends.

Ameliorate your linguistic communication skills

For readers of English as an boosted linguistic communication and people who are not familiar with bookish texts, try to discover how language is being used to develop ideas throughout the text. While complex vocabulary and grammar may be a challenge, these can exist observed and learned more hands than the way in which ideas are expressed and the cultural pregnant that often accompanies information technology.

Try the following language tips to improve your reading comprehension:

  • Pay attention to signposting language in a text – expressions such every bit The aim of this newspaper is…, The primary limitation of this theory is…, Based on these findings, we propose… can help you to follow the period of meaning.
  • Actively predict what a paragraph or section is about based on the topic sentence and/or heading. After you lot've read information technology, assess if your prediction was right.
  • Learn terms for key concepts and write down your own understanding of these based on the reading.
  • Participate in discussions of readings in class and on the LMS.
  • Take conscientious note of the vocabulary central to each subject. Apply this vocabulary in your writing and class discussions.
  • Practise your linguistic communication skills regularly and persistently.

Final tip

To read effectively and critically, yous need to appoint with texts actively through setting a clear purpose, evaluating sources, using different ways of reading, asking big-picture questions, synthesising information and taking good notes. Focus on what you're learning through reading and how you lot tin apply it to report tasks and your personal and professional life.

Explore all resource

    • Quick read

    Note taking and synthesising

    Tips to help y'all take notes and synthesise ideas from readings efficiently and finer.

    • Online learning module

    Reading strategies

    Learn different strategies you can apply to read at an optimal speed, while still maintaining comprehension. Designed for students who have lots of readings.

    • Online learning module

    Critical thinking in reading and writing

    This module will innovate yous to the concept of critical thinking and provide strategies to help you think, read, have notes and write critically.

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