How to Improve Your Reading for Understanding

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Introduction

Reading is a two-way conversation between the author and the reader, between someone who knows more about a subject, with someone who is trying to learn about it. Reading is considered "the primary source for obtaining knowledge and information", and a "gateway to success in education." Regular reading becomes a habit only when the act of reading is persistent, constant and done critically. As reading and learning are linked, reading strategies can help in achieving success in learning. Positive reading attitudes lead to positive reading experiences and good academic performance.

To be actively involved in reading, an individual must be critically engaged with the text, understand the intention for reading, stay focused and mentally committed as the reading is a process that requires motivation, interest, purpose and strategies. Active reading is defined as "reading with questions in mind and search for answers." It is a skill and a process that needs to be developed and it requires effort. Because active reading is cognitively demanding, an individual need to do it when they are at their best mentally.

This article will offer a summary of learning on how to read more effectively.

Levels of Reading

The following is Mortimer Adler's classification of reading:

Elementary Reading

• Level of reading taught in elementary schools
• Converting alphabetical notation and symbols into sounds that are combined to form words and sentences

Inspectional Reading

Inspectional reading is considered a deeper reading experience. It is divided into systematic skimming and superficial reading.

Systematic skimming: a quick check to decide if the reading material deserves more time and attention. The following steps must help with this decision:

1. Reading the cover and the preface
2. Reading the table of contents
3. Checking the index and glossary of terms to familiarise yourself with the language
4. Finding core chapters and reading a few paragraphs from them
5. Reading last pages to get a summary of the author's arguments
6. Listening to an interview with the author, if available, to learn what the book is about

When the decision was made that the material is worth reading, the superficial reading is the next step in the process of reading. The superficial reading is considered a first step towards analytical reading and is characterised by the following:

• Reading the text from start to finish, relatively quickly
• Getting a sense of the overall structure of the text

Analytical Reading

Analytical reading is a critical reading of the text. It is a thorough reading and one that engages the reader's mind. Following four steps are included in this reading:

Step One: Categorise the book. Example: is the book instructional, theoretical, or practical?

Steps Two and Three: Determine the overall structure of the book or its blueprint by the following:

• Describe what the whole book is about
• List the major parts of the book in order
• Relate book parts to each other

Step Four: Define the problem the author is trying to solve

Syntopical Reading

Syntoptical reading is the reading skill that allow the reader to synthesise knowledge from several books (or reading materials) on the same subject. Completing the following five steps allows for a broad understanding of a subject:

1. Finding the most relevant passages from each book through inspectional reading
2. Providing a unified vocabulary for all presented concepts to explore the topic
3. Identifying the questions that the book should provide the answer for
4. Defining the issues with multiple answers
5. Analysing the discussion and establishing an informed opinion

Why and How to Read More

Reasons to Read More

Reading widely helps to:

• Appreciate the topic under study
• Identify the main authors whose opinions is important for the study
• Gain a better overview, or scope, of a topic
• Generate more, and better ideas

Commit to Reading

Committing to reading is about making the time to read. It can be accomplished via the following:

• Listening to books via audiobooks or text-to-speech features built into apps
• Listening to podcasts featuring relevant authors in the field
• Setting up the environment so that reading is easier to do than watching TV
• Setting aside time to read by including “reading time” in the daily schedule
• Removing the temptation to fill the time with passive entertainment, like streaming apps on the phone
• Getting into the habit of carrying a book at all times
• Staying away from reading books that are not helping to move closer to the chosen learning objectives
• Avoiding interruptions while reading

Reading Journal Articles

Reading journal articles requires different skills and approaches that reading books or text books. It typically involves inspectional reading of an article and extracting only what is needed.

You can find an overview of different approaches to reading journal articles in this series of articles published by the British Medical Journal.

Taking Notes While Reading

Note-taking during reading is a crucial step to improve reading for understanding as reading and writing are linked to the task of learning. The following elements are part of this activity:

• Interaction with the author or authors of a text through active reading
• Text annotation with questions and comments
• Adding the annotations and additional information into the notes

On Paper vs On Screen Reading

Practical implications of on paper or on screen reading are the following:

On paper reading	On screen reading
It engages more deeply and actively with the author	It changes the way the text is read, possibly because of the difficulty navigating digital texts
It facilitates a more active approach to reading	It can be more distracting, as authors often include hyperlinks that take the reader away from the central text
It feels easier to skip around meaningfully	It facilitates interruptions with notifications from other apps and services.
	It enables searching for information, making it easier to find concepts, chapters and notes within the text.
	It allows to export the annotations to other apps, making it simpler to work with the text in different places.

Conclusions

1. Active reading is an essential part of a person's learning practice
2. Active reading is a skill that can be improved
3. The first step in reading a text is knowing why it needs to be read
4. Elementary reading is sufficient for reading news or entertainment
5. Inspectional reading should be considered when reading material contains the learning topic
6. Synoptical reading allows for analytical approach across different texts before an informed opinion on any topic is established
7. Different levels of reading can be utilised when reading the same text.

Resources

1. Kleon, A. How to read more. Austin Kleon blog, 2019. Available from https://austinkleon.com/2014/12/29/how-to-read-more/. Austin Kleon blog.
2. Mayes, R. (2018). Reading strategies for research students. Available from https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbEaFQBOoGwSwOx7OvTdlMritByL9AEM5
3. Mewburn, I. Beware the couch. Reflections on academic reading. The Thesis Whisperer blog, 2019. Available from https://thesiswhisperer.com/2019/05/01/beware-the-couch-reflections-on-academic-reading/
4. Rana, Z. You are what you read, 2017. Available from https://qz.com/1104238/you-are-what-you-read