ACTIVE READING

•More efficient•Involves critical thinking•More learning

…. AND KEEPS YOU INTERESTED!!

ACTIVE READING

Your goal affects the way you read:

• Different strategies for different purposes

Textbooks

Research

Analysis

Disciplines as systems of thought.

• Scientific thinking forms a large scale system of thought. It also contains subsystems (physics, chemistry, biology, physiology)

• Science has agreement of the most basic principles of scientific thought.

All disciplines are systems of thought

• But in the Humanities , some systems within a discipline are in conflict with each other.

• Philosophy, psychology and economics contain multiple conflicting schools of thought.

Reading in the Sciences and the Humanities

• To be an effective reader in science, your task is master the system and see how they support each other.

• To be an effective reader in the Humanities, your task is to master the system by exploring how they conflict with each other as well as overlap.

o Survey (do an overview). o Question (who? what? where? when? why? how?)

o Read (actively to answer your questions)

o Recite (by reading questions and answers aloud)

o Review (by considering questions and answers)

o Relate (by connecting the concepts to something else)

The SQ4R Active Reading Approach

Creating Effective Annotations

• Highlight only the most important information• When applicable, number lists, parts of a

definition or argument• Identify key words in the margins• Indicate which words you’ll need to look up• Write questions

Creating Effective Annotations

• Give your own examples• Integrate information from other classes or

outside sources• Provide Personal reflections/comments• Summarize/ outline/ present information

graphically.