Use the title for a more specific idea on the course. If it’s a history book, will you be studying World History or Early American History? What do you already know about this subject? What about the authors, publisher and publishing date? Is this an old book or is it pretty current?
Is there a glossary or a series of appendices? What about a bibliography? What types of words does the index have in it?
You can also skim to evaluate the difficulty of reading level for the text. Select one random page that is mostly text (not many visuals) and read it for comprehension. Time how long it takes you to read it.
Next, read the introduction to the chapter. This also helps your brain get ready for the onslaught of information and helps it with processing. [1] X Research source
Complete the next steps in this section using the 10 page chunk recommendation. When you’ve finished 10 pages and briefly reviewed them, begin the next 10 pages. Or, take a quick break and then resume working on the next 10 pages. [2] X Research source
Don’t stop to highlight or take notes during the first reading. This disrupts your flow of comprehension, and you may end up highlighting things that you shouldn’t. Wait until you have read an entire paragraph or a whole short section (depending on how the sections are broken up) to go back and highlight. This way, you will know what is important enough to highlight. Don’t highlight single words (too little) or entire sentences (too much). Keep it down to one or two highlighted phrases per paragraph. The idea of highlighting is that you should be able to glance at the highlighted phrases a month later and get the gist of what you read without having to re-read the whole thing. [3] X Research source
After you have read the whole assignment, you should go back and try to answer these questions without re-reading.
Writing your notes in your own words helps you avoid plagiarism if you have to write a paper, and you will be confident that you really comprehended something if your notes are not directly copied from the textbook. [4] X Research source
For instance, if you have to read 73 pages for an assignment, that is 365 minutes, or approximately six hours of reading. [5] X Research source
Read for an hour at your lunch break, an hour in the evening, etc. Try to spread it out a bit, taking into consideration how many days you have to complete the assigned number of pages and the hours it will take you to read them. [6] X Research source
Avoid reading in your bed if possible. Your brain most likely associates your bed with sleep, and it will want to do that if you are reading there. Sleep experts also say that doing “work” in bed can lead to sleeping problems, and only relaxing reading and activities should be done in bed so you don’t start having a hard time falling and staying asleep. Go to a quiet room in your house, the library, a quiet coffee shop, or a park to read. Anywhere that has little distractions for you is best. If you have a family (or roommates) or have lots of responsibilities at home, go out. If having any people around at all distracts you, but your home is fairly quiet, stay in. Whatever works for you; you may have to experiment and see where you can study best. [8] X Research source
Read these as many times as necessary to fully understand the material. If you didn’t take great notes, you may need to re-read. [9] X Research source
Form study groups with your classmates, or talk with someone at home or another friend about what you are reading. Be sure to attend all of your classes, not just on test days or days that papers are due. Most likely there are discussions or lectures happening about the textbook material, and these are extremely beneficial to your long-term learning of the readings. [10] X Research source
