"Oh
No! Not more reading..."
One of the more daunting aspects of tertiary study is the
large volume of independent reading that is expected of
students. Lecturers compile and issue students with comprehensive
reading lists of books and articles that provide students
with material to contrast and extend that presented in lectures.
Students
must also learn to use references and extract information
about specific topics in order to write essays, reports
and other assigned work.
A
natural reaction to this is "Oh no! Not more reading..."
so, with so much to read, how is it possible to cover
all of this material?
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Reading
as a Skill
Reading is a skill and, like any other skill, it will improve
with routine practice. Start
by asking yourself "Am I a regular reader?" Although
it is difficult to put a precise value on "regular",
a regular reader would probably read about 50-100 pages of material
every day. Obviously the amount that you can read is dependent
upon the type of material you are reading; you can process more
"light" material (the newspaper, a novel, a magazine)
than "heavy" material (scientific journals, textbooks,
technical literature).
A
Word About Speed
Speed Reading is often promoted as an essential skill that will
enable tertiary students to cover large volumes of academic
reading material. However, this is misleading because speed
by itself is not sufficient to ensure comprehension. An average
reading rate is between 230 and 250 words per minute, but this
figure can be quite deceptive since the word rate for a Batman
comic is likely to be much higher than that reading a scientific
text.
Acknowledging
this variability in reading rates is important because it indicates
that we must remain aware of the type of material to be read
and our reasons for reading. What is important is developing
efficient reading strategies and speed becomes a mere by-product
of a greater overall proficiency.
A
Word About Language
In the course of your reading you will constantly be exposed
to new words and jargon. Perhaps you have been tempted to skip
any large or unknown words in the past. This may be counter-productive
because a particular word might have been included intentionally
by the author to aid your understanding. It is important for
you to increase both your common and technical vocabulary because
this will allow you to express yourself more clearly in written
and oral communication.
You
must use your best judgment when encountering new words. If
a word is central to your understanding (eg. a technical term),
then you should ascertain the meaning before proceeding. If
a word doesn't appear to be crucial then you can probably afford
to skip it and keep reading since it is often better to try
to decipher the meaning of a word from the context in which
it is used. It is also useful to keep a written glossary of
new words and terms as a reference so that you can build these
into your everyday vocabulary.
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Effective Reading
