Seven Strategies for Reading
Difficult Material
Adapted from Study Guide, University of
St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn.**
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Read the table of content and an outside source to provide context. Now decide if you have enough background to begin reading. Get a grasp of how the material is organized. If you need more background, get an additional source.
Look for main ideas. Look for titles, headings, and subheadings. Pickout rules, standards, tests, exception and hypothetical. Utilize graphs, charts, and diagrams. Look up words. Look up words whose meanings are important to your understanding of the material, but you cannot discern from the context. Monitor your comprehension. Periodically stop and ask yourself, "What have I learned?" Connect this to what you already know. Reread. If your are not comprehending an idea, go back and reread. Restate difficult ideas in your own words. Read to the end. Do not get discouraged and stop reading. Ideas can become clearer the more you read. When you finish reading, review to see what you have learned, and reread those ideas that are not clear. Write while you read. Underline, make notes, and/or write summaries that help you concentrate while you read. Adapted by Bob Nelson from the book College Reading and Study Skills by Nancy V. Wood, Holt Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1991