Preview of: GSG_3 Reading

Reading is easy, isn't it? Quantity As a student you can find yourself reading for many more hours a week than usual. Difficulty Instead of the message slipping easily into your mind, as...

The best way to develop your understanding of the reading process is to follow the principles of the Kolb learning cycle, by doing some reading and then reflecting on your experience. To this end, Activity...

2 Getting round obstacles

Salim, Erin, Lewis and Kate all mentioned various difficulties encountered as they read the Layard article. Perhaps your experience was similar. If so, how did you respond? Was your progress held up, or...

You might also be put off by the ‘academic’ style of writing. In everyday life, what you read is usually written to grab your attention and get a message across quickly before you ‘switch channels’. By...

Salim and Lewis mentioned that they found some sections of Layard's article difficult. So did I; for example, anyone without a background in economics would have difficulty grasping the arguments in paragraphs...

It is clear from Kate's responses that from the outset she felt hostile to Layard's article and to Layard himself. As she later explained in a seminar, she felt that he looked down on people with low incomes,...

Were you held back at all in your reading by the environment you were reading in? Were you reading in bed, in the bath, sitting at a desk, on the bus, or in the park? Any of these could be a good time...

3 How quickly should you read?

Did you read the Layard article quickly enough, or perhaps too quickly? Reading speed is a persistent worry when you study. There always seems to be much more to read than you have time for, so you feel...

In order to learn you need to follow the argument as you read. With an important text, you should slow right down and take it bit by bit. Here is a student describing how he tackled a particularly challenging...

As a student you cannot afford to read at just whatever speed comes naturally. If you are trying to keep abreast of a course, you have to push yourself. However, reading speeds range from a lightning skim...

Apart from sheer speed, there is the question of how to parcel out your study time. With a two-page article you would assume a single study session, but a chapter of a book might be spread over several...

4 Reading actively

To be able to make sense of what you are reading, you need to read actively. One method that can help is to use a pen.Did you underline or highlight any words as you read the Layard article? If not, go...

Underlining or highlighting words as you read is a powerful study technique:it focuses your attention on the text;it forces you to think about what the key concepts and issues are;it leaves...

Another way to keep your mind active while you read is to ask yourself questions about what you are reading.For example, when I read in paragraph 3 of Layard's article that ‘41 per cent of people in the...

Sometimes as you read you will get stuck. When this happens, don't sit staring at the page; find a way to tackle the problem.Check the title, the contents list and the introduction to remind yourself what...

5 Reading critically

As well as making sense of what you read, you have to think about whether or not you are convinced by the arguments being presented. At degree level, you don't simply accept what you read – you read ‘critically’,...

These are the kinds of questions you need to ask in order to read critically. As a higher-level student, you don't read simply to ‘find out facts’. It is assumed that you will think for yourself and question...

6 Are you a good reader?

If you ever worry about:your rate of progress as you readhow much you understandhow much you will remember later

Some students contend with physical difficulties in reading. Here is one:

Reading is a core activity in most courses of study. The purpose of it is to enable you to learn. But learning is not a passive process, you don't just let ideas wash over you. You have to make sense of...