Use an efficient approach

Having an effective reading and notetaking strategy is important. Time spent thinking and planning
can save unnecessary work. If you are short of time, ask your tutor if there is any area of the work
that you can skip over or read less thoroughly. Then, when you are reading through your study
material.

 make sure you know why you are reading - what are you going to get out of this text?

 quickly scan the material for an overview of what it contains

 then settle down to read it thoroughly.

Know why you are reading

Make sure you think about what you want to achieve and keep the purpose in mind as you read. Is
it for an assignment (if so, have the assignment question to hand). Is it for an exam? If so have you
mapped out which areas of the curriculum you will focus on? If you are simply working your way
through your study materials, check your module guide to see if there are any guiding questions
or statements for that particular piece of reading. You may also check the learning outcomes you
are expected to achieve for that week (Tashman et al, 2011).

Quickly scan the material

Before reading in any detail, scan through the materials quickly, simply to get a general impression
of it. The aim at this stage is not to get to grips with its detailed arguments, simply to understand
how many sections it has, which of them require careful reading and which you can read through
quickly, etc. Check the contents pages to see how many sections there are. Check headings, images
and summaries (see 'Scanning and skimming' below). Keep in mind what your purpose is.

Read more thoroughly

Once you have an idea of what you are trying to achieve and a general overview of the material,
read it in more detail.

 Take notes, add margin comments or highlight sections.

  Pay attention to the structure of a text to help you to understand the writer's purpose and
argument. Take notice of headings and sub-headings, of opening and closing paragraphs
and of other signposts the writer has provided.

 Try to understand what you are reading, rather than simply memorising what you have
read. Consider whether you agree with the content and think about how it compares to any
other reading you've done on the same topic. This effort to understand is itself an aid to
memorising.

 As you work through module activities, jot down a record of your work. You'll then avoid
the need to work through these activities a second time for assignment questions and
revision.

Keep a dictionary or your module glossary to hand and look up any terms you don't understand.
Accept that sometimes you need to re-read in order to check your understanding, reconsider
particular points of interest and to add to your notes.

Be prepared to read in different ways depending on your purpose. Sometimes you might quickly
skim and then you can slow down and grapple with the detail to improve your understanding of
the topic.

If you find the material boring or frustrating the reading task becomes harder. The best way to
handle this is to be actively critical. Ask yourself what makes it unsatisfactory. Consider why
you've been asked to read it. See if others are having the same problems with that particular text.

Re-reading for assignments and exams

When you are faced with an assignment and you go back to a book to look for something specific
(say, a reference to a particular theory) try simply scanning the text for the key words and phrases
you are looking for. Also, re-read your original notes and apply the same techniques to those.

Scanning and skimming

Fast reading techniques help you to browse text and extract the key points. Once you have the
hang of them you can get through a substantial amount of reading in quite a short time.
Scanning - handy when you're looking for a particular word or phrase within a text or when you
want to get an idea of the layout of the text (how many sections, where certain topics are covered).
Run your eye quickly over the text to locate specific words or phrases that are of interest. You can
scan :

 headings and subheadings

 images and artwork

 the body text for authors' names

 the contents page itself

 the index for specific words.

This will help you decide whether you should read further, and how useful the document might be
for your study (Tashman et al, 2011).

Skimming - a useful first step before reading more deeply. Here you are reading the words quickly
to get a feel for how something is discussed. If you think that the text will be useful to you, you
can slow down and read in a more focused way. Read quickly to get an overview prior to in-depth
reading. Although you may still need to read the entire text, by scanning first you can decide where
you want to concentrate your time. Skim the text quickly to

 get an indication of the scope and content of the text

 read the first and last paragraphs to get the main points

 look at the first sentence of each paragraph to see where the content of the paragraph will
lead

 note the key points in the summaries.

Try using coloured overlays or tracking rulers to reduce the glare from white pages (suppliers
include Crossbow Education and Dyslexic.com.)

There are a range of study skills booklets available to students. If you're not already signed in, sign
in to see them all including Reading and taking notes which gives you further information on this
subject.
Critical reading techniques

You will probably find that there is a lot of reading required for your module. Like many students,
you might find that you are time-poor and you will, therefore, need to be speedy and efficient in
your reading. This section will help you become an efficient reader and information processor.

Reading university texts requires a more strategic approach from that used when you read for
pleasure. When you read for university you need to know why you are reading something and how
to actively extract information.

Making notes is an essential part of the reading process. If you read lots of material without making
notes, you'll only forget what you have read and waste your time. Having said that, you should not
dive straight into reading and notetaking, instead you need first to stop and think about what you
are doing. You need to adopt an efficient approach (Morris et al, 2007).

Make sure you are comfortable

Finding the right space and time to read in is important

 Find a comfortable and quiet place to read, where you will not be disturbed or interrupted.

 Study in short chunks. Most people can only concentrate for about 15-20 minutes in one
go. So read for short periods and complete other study tasks in between.

 Pause for thought occasionally. Sometimes you need to check that you understand what
you are studying and revisit any parts you have found difficult.

 Work with other students. If you are not confident that you have understood something,
discuss it with other students in tutorials, self-help groups and module forums.
How to take notes

Taking notes is a skill that you develop with practice. There is no right or wrong way. You just
need to find a method that suits you, such as using bullet points, mind maps and diagrams,
highlighting, annotating or underlining significant words.

You are probably thinking 'Why talk about taking notes' when this section's called "Critical reading
techniques"? Well, it's because making notes is an essential part of the reading process. It helps
you internalise difficult ideas by putting them into your own words and can help you be more
focused during exam revision. You are more likely to remember material you have thought about
and made notes on than material you have read passively (Morris et al, 2007).

Many people find it effective to take notes in two stages.

 First writing down the main points.

 Then summarising, condensing and organising the notes so that they can be used when
writing assignments or revising for exams.

In general, your notes should be brief and to the point. Take time to think about

 what is expected of you, by reviewing the learning outcomes listed in your module
materials

 what each assignment requires you to do

 how you learn best, so you can choose the most effective techniques.

If you are given a handout before or during a face-to-face session, use this as the framework for
taking notes.

Revisiting your notes helps you learn the material and prepare for assignments. It helps you 'pull
together' all the different ideas you have recorded, so you can make cross-links with earlier study
(Morris et al, 2007).
What to avoid when taking notes
 Don't attempt to write everything down, just reflect the main themes. Aim to get the gist of
the topic or the main points.

 Try not to get flustered if you miss something out or come across something you don't
understand. Use a question mark to highlight the point in your notes and come back to it
later.

 Don't lose track of your purpose in making the notes in the first place - keep focused.

 Don't be concerned about whether anyone else could make sense of your notes, you are the
only person who needs to read them.

 Don't try to remember everything you read or heard in a tutorial session, it can't be done.

 Don't forget to revisit and organise your notes and get them systematically arranged so that
you can find the information you need when you want it.

 Don't forget to check you have complete references when you revisit your notes, this will
save you a lot of time later on if you want to cite particular sources of evidence.

 Don't be afraid of trying different ways of taking notes - try lists, colours, bullet points,
underlining, highlighting and mind-mapping. Experimenting with various methods helps
you discover the technique that suits you.

 Don't take notes all the time - spend some time at tutorials engaging with the tutor and
other students or just thinking about what you're doing.
 Reference list

Tashman, C. S., & Edwards, W. K. (2011). Active reading and its discontents: the situations,
problems and ideas of readers. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2927-2936).

Morris, M. R., Brush, A. B., & Meyers, B. R. (2007). Reading revisited: Evaluating the usability of
digital display surfaces for active reading tasks. In Second Annual IEEE International
Workshop on
Horizontal Interactive Human-Computer Systems (TABLETOP'07) (pp. 79-86). IEEE.