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Student Community & Leadership Development

Reading Strategies

Academic Reading

Academic reading requires much more than “just reading”. In fact, academic reading IS learning, and requires a complex skill set. These resources have been designed to help you build the skills needed for effective academic reading.

  • Be an active reader – Being an active reader means setting reading goals, having a personal purpose for reading, developing an understanding of the organization of the reading, reading selectively, reading to link key ideas to important details and with a view to connecting ideas to a context, and reading thoughtfully and critically.
  • Use a strategy – If you choose not to subscribe to any particular strategy, use the principles that underlie them: previewing for an overview, questioning, summarizing, recording ideas in key word form, reciting ideas, reflecting about what was read, reviewing learning regularly.
  • Skimming and scanning processes have specialized applications for reading – The process of skimming is helpful for establishing general awareness about the contents of a specific reading. Skimming the structural elements of a reading (headings, sub-headings, topic sentences etc.) is a common way to preview a reading. The process of scanning is used to identify the organization of a reading and then to locate specific information quickly and accurately. Finding a number in a phone book is an example of scanning.
  • Record the ideas you find important – in your readings and reflect on and review these regularly. Taking notes provides us with a fairly permanent, abbreviated record to return to so that we can continue to process and think about the ideas we have read. Reviewing these notes regularly helps to keep us thinking and helps support our memory of the knowledge we have encountered.
  • Apply questions to what you read – Reading is a tool of thinking. Questioning at various levels moves you to thinking at those various levels. When we ask only the most basic questions, we think only the most basic thoughts. When we question at deeper levels, we think more deeply.

Effective Reading Strategies

What does it mean to read actively?

Reading actively means to read with a purpose, setting goals as you read, and deeply engaging with the text. Often times, students will read passively, focusing on completing the reading without critically thinking about the material they are engaging with. An active reader will read to understand and identify key ideas and supporting details so they can attach these ideas to a framework of meaning.

Active reading can involve using the structure of your reading strategically to develop an understanding of the material and set goals. Text books, for example, usually contain chapter titles, introductions, headings, sub-headings, bold face or italicized type, and conclusions. They may also contain chapter learning objectives, review questions, summary sections, application sections, and key words in the margins.

Active reading is “thinking intensive”

Understand first, memorize later! Active reading involves thinking about what is read rather than simply trying to memorize it, leading to a better long-term understanding of concepts you read about. Active reading can also apply to that time just after a reading has been done, during which time we should be asking analytical and critical questions about what we have read which enables us to think beyond repeating the author’s words.

If you haven’t read well enough to summarize you won’t be able to think about the reading — active reading is a way of approaching reading which goes beyond the bare minimum and engages you in the material in way which perks your interest and drives your curiosity. In short, active reading assists you in doing what you came to university to learn how to do — think deeply about issues of importance to us in our society.

PREVIEW – the chapter/section to create a “meaning framework” and get an overview before you read. How much can you can learn about the contents and subject area, without reading the chapter/section yet?

QUESTION – to help you concentrate and focus on what’s important, as you read

READ – Actively to fill in the information around the questions and meaning framework you’ve created. Retrain your mind to concentrate and stay engaged as you read

RECITE – rephrase the information out loud; write in your own words

REVIEW – refine your mental organization and begin building memory

Additional Resources

ResourceDownloadDescription
Connecting a Reading to Course ObjectivesPDF
Word		Worksheet for connecting ideas from your reading to major themes in your course objectives.
Critical Reading StrategiesPDF
Word		Worksheet for identifying the structure and important information about your readings.
Personal Response To A ReadingPDF
Word		Worksheet for reflecting on your readings with a few simple questions.
PQ3R GuidePDFHow to get the most out of your readings using the PQ3R Reading Strategy.
Effective Reading StrategiesLearning Skills Workshop
Academic Reading Video (11 min) Learn from Learning Skills Specialist on how to become an active learner.