College Reading

1
College Reading

• Of all the skills necessary to succeed in
  college, the two most important are
• Reading the intake of information
• Writing the production of information
• In this presentation, we deal with how to make
  your reading skills work for you

Read it! Process it! Use it!
2
Take Charge of Your Reading

• Before all else, if you dont like to read,
  accept the importance of the skill and work on
  it. This is CRITICAL to your success!
• Commit to reading goals
• Plan time and space to concentrate
• Capture and connect
• Know how to read primary and secondary sources.
• Preview and Review

3
Commit to Reading Goals

• Stay positive, reading can be enjoyable.
• Make the author your companion.
• Pace yourself according to difficulty level.
• Take breaks.
• Read other sources if the reading is confusing.
• Keep building your vocabulary.
• When necessary, skim readings for key points and
  terms.
• Make understanding the material of prime
  importance.

The need to read is great indeed!
4
Plan Time and Space to Concentrate

• College reading takes a great deal of
  concentration.
• Schedule time to read in a place where you wont
  be interrupted.
• Find an environment in which you can concentrate
  best.
• If you must read in a noisy environment, consider
  wearing headphones with familiar instrumental
  music just loud enough to block distractions.

5
Capture and Connect

• Capture the supporting details connect them to
  the main idea.
• Capture what you dont know and connect it to
  what you do know.
• Elements of Your Reading Plan
• Preview
• Skimming
• Active Reading
• Analytic Reading
• Review

6
Know How to Read Primary and Secondary Sources

• Primary Source - material written in some
  original form more difficult reading level.
• Autobiographies
• Speeches
• Research Reports
• Government Documents
• Scholarly Articles

• Secondary Source - summarizes or interprets
  primary sources
• Magazine Articles
• Textbooks

7
Developing Your Vocabulary

• Consider the context around new and challenging
  words.
• Jot down unfamiliar terms and find the meaning
  using a dictionary.
• Analyze terms to discover the most meaningful
  part of the word.
• Take the opportunity to use new terms in your
  writing and speaking.

Learn to read outside the box!
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A Readers Glossary
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Preview
This is a lot of work! Who needs it?

• Scan the material to see what lies ahead.
• Consider the context for the assignment.
• Consider the length of the reading assignment and
  estimate how long it will take.
• Consider the structure and features of the
  reading to help you digest the material.
• Consider the difficulty and plan your time
  accordingly.

wrong!
10
Reviewing

• Review to remember the main points of the
  material.
• Test yourself on your comprehension.
• Some ways to review
• notes
• study questions
• flash cards
• visual maps
• outlines
• Make reviewing every week a study goal.

Reviewing is an excellent memory aid.
11
Skimming
Skim!!!
Skim!!!

• Skimming covers the content at a general level.
• It involves reading at about twice your normal
  rate.
• Focuses on introductory statements, topic
  sentences and boldface terms.
• Provides the chance for you to see what kind of
  information the assignment contains
• Enables you to gather the surface ideas if you
  dont have enough time to read deeply.

12
Active Reading
Right! Get involved in reading!
Read us the story about the wolf

• Use it to avoid empty readingreading then
  realizing that no information has come across.
• Identify yourself completely in what the author
  is trying to say throw yourself into his mind!
• Focus on identifying the main ideas and on
  understanding how supporting points reinforce
  those ideas.
• In other words, get really interested involved!

13
Analytic Reading

• Reading at a more intense level.
• Involves breaking ideas open and digging
  underneath their surface.
• Enables you to try to spot flaws in the writers
  logic.
• Promotes a comparison of the work to other works.
• Should involve questioning the author and
  yourself.
• In other words, active skepticism with a purpose

analyze!
realize!
synthesize!
criticize!
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Tips for Improving Reading Ability
Take a book to lunch this week!

• Find a quiet study location.
• Read in 50-minute blocks with breaks in between.
• Take notes, recite key ideas or jot down
  questions in the margins.
• Experiment with your reading rate.
• Focus on key issues in the text.

Show them were a regular bunch this week!
Make books your buddies...
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Highlighting Text
emphasize recognize!

• Highlight
• Topic sentences, Key words, Conclusions
• But watch out!
• Highlighting too much can cause you to re-read
  everything because you dont know whats
  important.
• Highlighting doesnt show you why you
  highlighted something
• You need to have the entire text with you to
  review.

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Important Points About College Reading
Take that! Unworthy adversary of reading!

• Instructors do NOT always cover the reading
  material in lecture.
• You are expected to read the material and
  understand it on your own.
• Successful students complete assigned readings
  before class to help them understand the lecture.
• Connections and overlaps between lecture and
  reading reinforce learning.
• Also, reading ahead prevents you from being
  embarrassed when you are called on to discuss
  what youve read!

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A Summary of Strategies to Improve Reading

• Practice a positive attitude.
• Make the author your companion.
• Pace yourself according to difficulty level.
• Take breaks to restore concentration.

• Shift gears when you do not make progress.
• Read other sources if the reading is confusing.
• Build your vocabulary.
• Work on reading faster.
• Increase your accountability for reading.

Great readers make great students!