All academic study requires a lot of reading. Competent readers adapt their mode of reading to their reading purpose. Reading a novel for entertainment, for instance, is different from reading a philosophic treatise, and looking only for a specific bit of information in that treatise is different from trying to completely understand it. For that purpose it is useful to distinguish skimming from scanning and intensive reading as three modes of reading that serve different aims in reading.
We must also understand that the meaning of a text
is not an ‘objective commodity’ that can be taken out of it like physical items
can be taken out of a basket. A reading that leads to understanding is a process
of active knowledge construction
by the reader. Depending on their age, pre-knowledge,
and reading aims different readers come to view and understand the same text
differently.
Depending on the purpose of their reading, readers choose between either of three modes of reading: skimming, scanning or intensive reading.
Skimming is a mode of fast reading which is used to get a rapid general impression of what a text is about. In this mode of reading, if the text you are reading is a non-fictional text, you may first look at its table of contents, the summary, and subject index. You may next leaf through the text and focus attention on subtitles, headlines, content keywords, or prominent text features (passages printed in bold type, or colour, or with illustrations). Writers often use such features to highlight what they want to say.
If, however, the text which you want to get a first impression of is a fictional text, you may decide to first read the opening scene and the beginning or ending of chapters. Skimming helps you decide if you like a book, its characters and story, its topics and style of writing. It may or may not be followed by some more intensive reading.
Scanning is a mode of fast reading which you use if you start with a predefined set of keywords and want to find out if a given text provides information on them. You leaf through the text and search for passages which contain your keywords. If you hit on pages which contain your keyword or semantically related words, it frequently is useful to note the page numbers for later intensive reading or for making abstracts.
Skimming and scanning are modes of fast reading which can be practised by training in high speed reading. For an understanding of meaning to occur in speed reading, it is necessary to read in ‘chunks’. Estimates are that readers’ eyes must scan about 400 words a minute. High speed reading is mostly sustainable for short bursts only. The mind needs pauses for evaluation and assimilation of information (time to think and digest).
Intensive reading is
a mode of reading in which readers focus on a fairly comprehensive understanding
of a given text. There is, of course, a difference between reading fictional
or non-fictional texts. The first generally allows more freedom of imagination
than the second. Note, however, that for both types of reading processes it
is true that a reader’s understanding of a text can be divorced from his pre-knowledge,
age, and purpose of reading. Each of these factors contribute to the construction
of the meaning and may lead to partially different interpretations of the given
text. All reading for understanding requires the interaction of two types of
cognitive processes, namely top-down processes and bottom-up processes
in the construction of meaning.
Top-down processes start from the reader's general knowledge of the world and the given topic. They activate a reader's contextual knowledge which is then used for interpreting the information coming in 'bottom up'. Top-down processes may be triggered by, for example, the title/ topic of a specific text and what the reader knows about that already. This preknowledge creates certain expectations which are then matched, in bottom-up processes, against the information which comes in with each new sentence and paragraph. Understanding thus is the joint product of an anticipation of meaning and its confirmation or refutation by the literal study of the textual document.
Good readers try to be critically aware of what they contribute to the construction of meaning. When reading an essay they do two things in parallel: They first try to identify its topic, that is which questions the authors sets out to answer, and the critically compare his answers to their own understanding of the issue which may be modified by what the author has to say on it. With regard to reading for study purposes this often means that it is no use complaining that the author does not focus on what the reader is presently interested in or or would have wished the author to focus on. From this results a trivial but true statement:
The purpose of a writer is one thing – the purpose of the reader is another.
It would be no good reading strategy, for instance, to sit back and let your eyes glide over the lines of a book trying to take in everything, hoping that inspiration will come over you if only you read the text diligently line by line from beginning to end. It will not! Understanding is no objective commodity that can be taken out of a book like things can be taken out of a box. If we do not activate the knowledge we have and bring it productively to bear on an understanding and interpretation of a given text, no understanding will be the result.
Good readers, therefore, ask before embarking on a lengthy reading process: Why do I read this? What do I know about the topic already? What do I want to find out? How does that which the text presents relate to what I knew before? Good readers know that viewing people or things from different perspectives gives us a different view of them, looking at texts from different perspectives may also change our image of them. Our image (understanding) of a specific object changes if we view it from a different angle. Readers should keep in mind, too, that texts provide answers to questions which their authors had, but those questions may not be the same that a specific reader has (or would have liked the text to answer). A trivial but true statement is, therefore:
Other questions, other answers!
This does not mean that it is impossible to view a specific topic or object from the perspective taken by another person. On the contrary, understanding means trying to view things from a different perspective, and that is essential for enlarging and improving our knowledge.
With regard to reading for academic purposes and the use of publications which may not directly address the questions that we are interested in this means that readers should critically ask themselves what the aims of their reading is and what aims the author had in mind when writing the text. They should critically compare the two and also consider what other authors say on a given topic. The ‘golden rule’ therefore is:
|
Be
an active reader!
Use all the knowledge you have and can get access to. |
Keeping that in mind we can now turto two well-known methods of reading that spell out in some detail the skills needed for reading. They are known as theSQ3R method, and the MURDER scheme. In effect they amount to much the same and do not represent two mutually incompatible approaches to reading.
|
The
SQ3R Reading Method
Survey - Question - Read - Recite - Review |
| Survey | • Survey the
text before you start reading it from the first to the last page. • Consider its title, and headings and subheadings of chapters. What do they tell you about the content of the text? • Read introductory paragraphs and summaries of chapters. • Look for pictures, maps, graphs, charts illustrating meaning. • Check if the text has a subject index / glossary which may help you find specific information. |
| Question | • Do not try
to cram into your head everything. Focus attention and what seems relevant
or important. • Ask yourself: 'What do I already know about this topic?' • Ask yourself: 'Why do I read this text and what is my task in the seminar paper I am preparing?' • Ask yourself: 'What is important information for me?' • Ask: 'What is the context in which the author puts the text?' |
| Read | • When reading,
focus first on what you do understand, do not first pick out and be taken
aback by passages which you do not understand. • Reread passages which are not clear; use contextual clues and inferencing procedures for understanding them. • Look up words which you do not know in a dictionary but do so only for words which you feel are essential for understanding the text. • Read for meaning, relate what you read to what you know and ask yourself if it makes sense. |
| Recite | • At the end
of a chapter summarize, in your own words, what you have just read. • Take notes from the text and underline/ highlight important points you have just read. • Ask yourself how the content of one chapter relates to that of another and why the author arranged them in that sequence. • Make notes of what seem to you open or controversial issues. |
| Review | • Learning is not possible without reviewing. Repetition is essential. Go over the notes you made or re-read a book or article after some time has elapsed. • Make notes of important points and create your own order. |
The so-called MURDER-scheme is similar to the SQ3R-method. MURDER stands for: Set the Mood to study - read for Understanding - Recall the material - Digest the material - Expand knowledge - Review effectiveness of your reading.
| Mood is a keyword which reminds us that readers must put themselves in the right mood for reading and understanding because otherwise they waste their time, reading many words but not taking in their meaning |
| Understanding must be the aim of reading, not a stupid memorizing of meaningless phrases or 'dead facts'. This requires a willingness to understand, including an openness of mind and readiness to consider points of view diverging from ones own. Understanding is not possible without making meaningful connections of new information with stored knowledge (what a reader knows already). |
| Recall, of what the text said, is necessary because without it we would not be able to do it justice or learn from texts. Storing complex information in neural networks is easier if it is stored in meaningful chunks and not by brute rote-memory learning. |
| Digesting a text and integrating what it says with what we know and feel is important because otherwise reading would be without consequences. |
| Expanding of knowledge is the aim and result of reading for understanding, recall and digesting. It widens a person's horizon and opens up new possibilities. |
| Review is necessary lest we forget what we read (see 'review' under SQ3R). |
When reading it helps to make notes of passages that contain information relevant to your task and topic or other questions you have. We discuss the skills of note-taking and note-making in a separate chapter. When making notes, however, be selective! Try to keep them as close to your ‘final product’ as possible. Clarify the purpose of your reading is early as possible. Do not be surprised, however, if as a result of your reading your understanding changes and the focus of your attention shifts to different points. This is a common phenomenon and generally reflects a more complex understanding of the issue. You should be careful, though, not to lose sight of your original task and topic.
Time Management
A final word may be added on the issue of good time management. It is an important aspect of good study skills. Your work will be more efficient if you do things in the right order! It generally saves time if you systematically look for information and compile your own bibliography before you delve into reading one specific book only. Consulting articles in handbooks helps to get to know “the state of the art”. Reading recently published articles in journals discloses new developments. And using skimming and scanning as reading strategies helps fast decide which texts you want to read more intensively. This allows a preliminary but realistic calculation of the time it takes to read these texts, and a realistic calculation of the work you can do in a given period of time is essential for success in your studies.
