Research Guides: Learning Centers: Reading Skills

Active Reading Trategies from Princeton

Choose the strategies that work best for you or that best suit your purpose.

You do not need to use them all every time you read.

Ask yourself pre-reading questions.
Identify and define any unfamiliar terms.
Bracket the main idea or thesis of the reading, and put an asterisk next to it.
Put down your highlighter. Make marginal notes or comments instead.
Write questions in the margins, and then answer the questions in a reading journal or on a separate piece of paper.
Make outlines, flow charts, or diagrams that help you to map and to understand ideas visually.
Read each paragraph carefully and then determine "what it says" and “what it does.” Answer “what it says” in only one sentence.
Write a summary of an essay or chapter in your own words.
Write your own exam question based on the reading.
Teach what you have learned to someone else!

That one should read every word.

That one reading is sufficient.

That one should not skip passages.

That the faster you read the less comprehension you have.