In this section:

General beginning questions

Setting a purpose by surveying a chapter

Guiding yourself through the reading

Making notes, highlighting, and summarizing

After the reading is done

General beginning questions

One logical way of starting out is to pose a few simple questions from the list below as you begin any new reading. Depending on the kind of reading or the context of the reading, you might not always ask all these questions. Soon, however, the questions you ask regularly will become part of the way you approach all readings. The following questions are worthwhile to consider:

1. What do I know about this author? Has anything been mentioned so far in class or in other readings which gives me a hint about what to expect from this author?

2. When was this piece of text written? Does that time suggest any contextual information which will help me understand the material or think critically about it. (For example, a title such as "Equality in the Workplace" might be interpretted one way if were written in 1967 and possibly suggest different issues if it were written in 1995.)

3. At what point in my course does this reading come? What might I expect this reading to contribute to the development of the main concepts or themes in my course? Why am I reading this? Is it for class discusion? for an essay? to review for an exam?

4. What structures can I rely on: introduction, summary, chapter goals, headings, sub-headings, key words, glossaries, graphs, charts, photos and other visual aids.

Setting a purpose by surveying a chapter; the S and Q of SQ3R

As was mentioned in the introduction, having a purpose is another way of saying that you have set goals for your readings. Setting a purpose is intended to give you an awareness of how to be selective in your reading of the material. In many cases a survey of the material which includes the various structures mentioned above will allow you to gain a general understanding of the material. You will identify which areas you already have some knowledge of, set approximate time limits on portions of the reading, and activate whatever knowledge they have about portions of the reading. Also, you will decide which parts to read with special emphasis. These decisions constitute the purpose a reader can use to direct himself/herself through a reading. Usually due to a fear that they will miss essential parts of the material, students are reluctant to be selective as they read. As a result, they choose to read everything as though it has equal importance to the focus of the course or to their own curiosity or needs for learning. This more thorough reading is necessary sometimes, especially when the content is something the reader has never encountered. Very frequently, however, this more thorough reading is unnecessary and costs time and may even reduce comprehension and recall for the reading.

In a sense, setting a purpose is choosing a reading process: are you intending to read to learn? to skim through to identify key concepts? scanning for something specific? The purpose or process you choose for reading changes the way you encounter the text. For example, if you were reading the newspaper you would probably not want to read it in the same way you would read portions of your text book. Likewise, if you were searching for a specific word in a dictionary, say the word "recall" you wouldn't begin by reading every word listed under every letter from A to Q in order to find it. Reading to learn, skimming, and scanning are all processes of reading which accord with a different purpose. Adjusting your reading to these various processes can make your reading both more effective and more efficient. In fact, the skills of skimming and scanning are two skills taught in courses on "speed reading" to assist in the identification of passages that should be read more thoroughly and intensively.

When doing a survey of a chapter, it is advisable to set a short time limit on the first pass through the passages you intend to read. For example, you might want to limit yourself to around ten minutes to do a brief preview of a chapter of about thirty pages where there are clear headings, sub-headings, and bold-face type. Stretching the preview beyond this point will usually not improve its quality and it may waste time. (Of course as you first use this strategy or if you are using it for pariticularly difficult or complex material, you may wish to spend a little more time, say up to fifteen minutes.) Again, the preview is done by reading through the various structural elements of a chapter, interpretting them briefly, and then considering how the ideas might fit together, which ones will be areas of focus, which ones might be read through less intensively, and how long the sections of the reading will take.

Some questions which can help direct the setting of a purpose follow:

1. What parts of this reading do I want to learn about and at what level do I want to know them.

2. If I read through the structural elements without the intervening text, what overview do these elements give me?

3. What are the main ideas this reading explores? How do they relate to other course related information? Are any already familiar to me? Are any completely foreign to me?

If we apply these questions to our heading in this section, which is "setting a purpose by surveying a chapter; the S and Q of SQ3R", we might set our purpose as the following:

1. I want to learn how to set a purpose and how it will help my reading.

2. This heading tells me I am conducting a survey of a chapter.

3. The part about surveying was touched on briefly in the opening part of this handout. I am not sure what the "S and Q of SQ3R" part means at all. To understand this section I'll need to figure out what "S and Q of SQ3R" means.

Essentially the survey allows you to prepare your mind for reading by giving you a brief look at the text you will encounter. Based on this brief encounter, you will have choices to make which can assist you in making sense of your reading. The survey is the first step in a reading/study strategy called SQ3R. SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. First introduced by Francis Robinson in 1941in the book entitled Effective Study, the strategy has been around a long time. Since that time many other aconyms have been developed to represent similar strategies for reading (eg., PQ4R, PQRST, OK5R, and Super 6Rs (Pauk, 1990)). All of the strategies share the initial step of becoming familiar with the contents of a text before beginning to read through. The other strategies maintain all the parts of SQ3R and add in notions of reflective and critical thinking along the way. In the way we will describe how to use SQ3R, you will encounter these other elements too.

SQ3R (Robinson, 1961)

Survey.

Skim and scan introduction, headings, sub-headings, topic sentences, summary etc. to get an overview of the reading task.

Question.

Turn headings into questions to direct your reading and thinking.

Read.

Search for answers to your questions and select main ideas.

Recite.

To ensure your recall of the material, make sure you can recite key ideas and important details.

Review.

It is essential to review the ideas that you have read so you can continue to think about them.

The Q part of the strategy, again, means Question. Sometimes you may feel that a question is not required because the headings are clear. At other times, like with the heading of this section of the handout, you might have asked "what is SQ3R" intuitively. Changing the heading into a question is perhaps the most direct and simple way to complete the questioning phase. The kinds of questions you build will depend somewhat on the extent to which you understand a particular heading. Those headings which contain unfamiliar material will probably be questioned in such a way as aims to clarify what they mean. For those headings which contain familiar material, however, a series of questions which aim to understand, examine, analyze, or critique the content may be used. For example, and once again using the heading above, you might ask "why will I want to survey" or "what steps are invovled in doing a correct survey" or "do I really need to survey all the time". This question phase establishes an important opportunity for reading for clear understanding in that the questions we develop help us sharpen our concentration and focus and permit us to read with the purpose of answering them.

How can this strategy save you time?

In addition to focussing your reading of the text, these two steps can save you time when it comes time for you to study for exams. If you have approached texts using these two steps, repeating them can go a long way to bringing back to mind the material you have read and get you started testing yourself with the questions you have prepared. Instead of wasting time mechanically rewriting notes or, worse, rereading entire chapters, you can be reviewing the material directly and focussing your attention on those areas which need more substantial review. In this way you can save time both at intitial reading and at review time. The few minutes you spend now surveying and questioning can literally save you hours of work later in the term.

Guiding yourself through the reading: the first R of SQ3R

By generating questions, we are usuing the structures of a text placed by an author to guide us to specific information about the main ideas of the text. At this stage our main focus is to find the material which answers our questions; in other words, we are aiming at understanding and organizing the ideas we find in the reading. Though these strategies we are discussing will assist you in making sense of your readings, there will be some readings which are difficult and complex that will require further thinking and sometimes re-reading before we will fully grasp their intended meaning. (For some readings, it may even be necessary to go to another source altogether in order to find material at a level we can deal with more easily before we continue.) The focus at this point is not to make the process of reading effortless; the purpose of these strategies is to give you some level of control over how to proceed with the task of reading so that you can be effective.

As we read it is important to monitor how effectively we are constructing the meaning of the text for ourselves. Monitoring is a chief part of any strategy because it gives us important feedback about how to adjust our efforts to reach our goals, and this is especially important when we feel like we are off course. For example, if I have posed a few questions to guide myself through a section of text and I am becoming frustrated and confused, it is a good idea to stop briefly and try to figure out why. Sometimes we can adjust (say, by asking different questions) or we can decide to mark a particular section as an area of difficulty to return to later. In some cases we will find that text subsequent to the section which got us bogged down will clarify that section. To monitor our progress we want to know a little more than just how many pages we have covered. The questions below can serve as a good beginning:

1. How well do I understand this reading?

2. Have I been able to construct a reasonable meaning for this reading?

3. What questions do I have regarding parts that are unclear?

4. What are my difficulties? where can I go for help? what could correct this situation?

5. What is different about the structure of this reading and about what I want to learn?

6. Once you feel you understand, ask what is the relationship of this material to other materials or the relationship among parts of this reading.

An additional strategy to think about at this stage is to attempt to discover or describe the organizational pattern that the author is using to convey the information in the text. For example, how would you describe the organizational pattern of this part of the handout? Many would begin by saying that it is broken down from headings into sub-headings. Though this is correct, that answer misses the point entirely. The organizational pattern used in this part of the handout is someting like "a description of the steps involved in a strategy". As a consequence of identifying this organization feature, you could key into the fact that the main points of this part of the handout involve understanding in a detailed way the steps of the strategy SQ3R. Other organizational patterns exist and can be used to discover the primary focus of a part of a text. (Note that many organizational featurescan be mingled in one text and so it is probably most appropriate to say that you will be keying into the primary focus of a section of the text.) Other organizational features include:

The classification pattern where objects, areas, plants, animals, or materials are categorized in groups and sub-groups according to structure, function, composition or some other category.

The process/description pattern which explains how something works by providing an order or sequence that comprises a system.

The factual statement pattern where a "fact" is considered to be any statement that defines or explains something and which, so far, has not been disproved. Facts may be used to clarify and define, to compare and contrast.

The problem solving pattern whereby the author describes or recounts how a question was answered through experimentation. Be sure you know the basic question being investigated, the kinds of observations made to answer the question, and how (or whether) we know that the question was answered.

The experiment/instructions pattern in which an experiment is to be performed exactly as prescribed with observations and explanations of what happened. A combination of some or all of the above patterns.

Note that other organizational patterns may be used by authors in your discipline.

These patterns take some practice to identify, but once you have learned how to identify the way in which a reading is organized, you will be better able to focus in on the main ideas the author is presenting and learn the information in the way the author intended you to.

In any case, there is little chance of missing the point of the writing. Sometimes the headings foster certain questions which are not answered by the text and sometimes when we read through the text, we find that some things are empahsized which were not in the headings. In these two specific cases we will need to be flexible and note these occurences. Any questions which remain unanswered can be used to begin discussion in a study group or tutorial or they can be the focus of a partial rereading of the text. When we meet up with content which is not in the headings, we can adopt a very powerful thinking strategy to avoid confusion and frustration: as we meet with new content, we can assume that there is a question to which this material is the answer and we can ask ourselves "what is the question I need to ask to get this information as the answer?"

Now, some readers get bogged down in a reading and become frustrated to the point that they want to quit reading altogether. Sometimes this has to do with a weak background for the information of a course. Sometimes, however, the reading itself is just plain difficult. Perhaps the ideas are quite manageable, but the text is written in such a way as presents a challenge to most undergraduate readers. Readings such as these include works from original source authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Kierkegaard, John Stuart Mill and many others. The passage which follows is one such passage: On Liberty John Stuart Mill, 1859

...The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means used be physical force in the form of legal penalties or the moral coercion of public opinion. The principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. There are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil, in case he do otherwise. To justify that, the conduct from which it is desired to deter him must be calculated to produce evil to some one else. The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.

How did you find it? Difficult, eh? Maybe even dull? Take a look below at the way we have used the structures of the sentences to assist ourselves with reading this difficult piece. Notice that certain phrases have been left out to give a beter sense of the flow of the main clause of the sentence? Notice what the first sentence says and how this idea is expanded upon through the rest of the paragraph? Using your knowledge of how sentences and paragraphs are constructed, or developing this knowledge, can be of great help in reading text which is written with great precision through long sentences. If you've ever said, "Why doesn't the author just come out an say what he means" this strategy will make a lot of sense for you to use. Once the passage starts to become clear to you, you may even find that your interest in the topic of the reading returns, making the reading more enjoyable. And, incidentally, authors write this way for a reason: the writing is meant to conveythe thoughts of the author with precision. It may help to remember that you, your TA, and your prof. will read this passage and expect to get something out of it. As you develop your sophistication with the issues involved, you will come to appreciate the depth and precision of what may seem, right now, wordy language.

On Liberty John Stuart Mill, 1859

...The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle... The principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted...in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection... to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because... to do so would be wise, or even right. There are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him... The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself... the individual is sovereign.

Making notes, highlighting, and summarizing

The Problem

As you proceed along through a reading, you may have developed strategies to identify, mark, and summarize information you find of importance. The most popular way of identifying or marking key information is to highlight the text or underline passages so that you can return to them later. In general, the process of marking the text so that you can return to important information is a very important one, and one I don't want to discourage you from doing. However, some students have made a fine science out of colouring their text in an attempt to avoid having to deal with the content. Have you ever seen (or been ) one of those readers whose texts are marked by four different colours of highlights? These students proclaim that one colour is for main ideas, another colour for examples, another for details, and yet another for material they either don't understand or agree with. These are often the same students who highlight or underline such vast tracts of their texts that what stands out is actually what this student found was not important. The process of colouring the page can become quite a time trap. Often too, students highlight while they are reading. As soon as they notice they are reading something important, they will pull out the coloured pens and begin marking. It can get to the point where students have not actually even read and processed the material they are highlighting because of the promise to go back a look at this material later. Going back often doesn't happen because the volume of material highlighted makes students feel overhwelmed at the prospect of having to re-read huge portions of their material.

AFew Really Helpful Suggestions

A few really helpful suggestions can save you from this time trap. First, read an entire section between headings before highlighting. In this way you can see the development of the whole idea and maybe even encounter a point at which the author restates his or her points more concisely. Second, instead of underlining or highlighting across the page, make a vertical mark in the margin the length of the number of lines you want to make note of. This allows you to continue to read without as much interruption to your thinking on the material while still allowing you to capture those thoughts for later consideration. Third, using you own words to make a brief note of the idea or its importance or relevance to your reading purpose in the margin is usually superior to using the words of the author. Rephrasing ideas into your own words often forces you to think the idea through and process its meaning. In this way, your later reviews of the material are actual reviews, rather than the first real opportunity to understand the material.

Whether you make notes in the margin of the text or on separate paper, remember to try to be concise. The purpose of making notes on readings is to select and organize material for subsequent review. Try not to let yourself become overwhelmed by the mass of details you will encounter in some readings. Strive to select the important elements and organize them in a manner that makes sense to you. Your goal is to integrate and synthesize the information into a comprehensible and memorable whole.

After the reading is done: the final two Rs

The final two Rs in the SQ3R model stand for Recite and Review. These are typically thought of as "study" techniques more than "reading" techniques, but I want to emphasize that reading does not take place in a vacuum. Reading, after all, is done as part of our process of learning. For this reason, recitation and reviewing, these final two Rs, are two very important facets of our reading strategy.

You might remember the process of reciting from your early public school days when you had to recite a poem for the class or you had to recite multiplication tables aloud in class. Chances are that these things you've recited intensively remain with you as part of your base of knowledge. In fact, they have probably become such an integral part of your knowledge that you don't even think of them as things you have to remember; instead, you just "know" them. This is what the purpose of rectiation is in the process of reading too. It isn't that I suggest you know everything inside and out, but doing a little of this kind of work helps to strengthen the learning you do at the time you first do it and assists you in determining how much more work you might need in order to feel confident about your ability to remember this material in an exam. Recitation can be done aloud or in written form. And, if you have prepared to read using questions as we've suggested above, you are ready to recite almost without effort. Reciting can be a little difficult, but once you are reciting your material with skill, you will be in terrific shape for an exam.

Reviewing literally means "see again". This interpretation of the word review is very important because it suggests that you have worked with the material before. The purpose of review is two-fold. First, by reviewing you keep the ideas that you have encountered in your courses fresh in your mind. Regular review, which is ideally cumulative and regularly spaced throughout the term, keeps the many ideas of your course cycling through your mind. This assists you when it comes time to study because you don't have to face the daunting task of looking over notes that no longer make sense or which are very remote from your thoughts. This takes time to adjust for -- usually more time in total than reviewing regularly would. Even so, it is a surprise that many students choose not review. The second purpose of review is to bring ideas into collision in such a way as fosters your thinking about how they are related. All the ideas in your course are related to the all the other ideas in some form or fashion. But often, the way in which we study separates these ideas and treats them as individual, unconnected throughts. By regularly reviewing your material, you give yourself an opportunity to see how the ideas of your course fit together. As we will discuss in the next section on Critical Thinking, regular review also gives you an opportunity to think about what you think about the ideas in your course.