Textbook Reading Strategies

When reading your textbooks, begin with the end in mind. Here are six steps.

 Step 1:

Answer the following questions:
  1.      Why are you reading this information?
  2.      What grade do you intend to make in this course?
  3.      What guidelines regarding this information were provided by your syllabus and instructor?
  4.      What do you hope to achieve?
  5.      Do you know any information about the subject matter?
  6.      How much time did you schedule to read the information and take notes?

 Step 2:

Take a few minutes to scan the assigned chapter(s). Be sure to:

a.       View chapter titles, paragraph titles, and chapter summaries to obtain an overview of the information you will cover in your reading;

b.      Turn your titles/headings into questions and record these questions;

c.       Seek to find the answers to your questions;

d.      Examine charts, tables or other tools which simplify the information being presented; and

5. Identify words which are bold, italicized, or underlined.

Step 3:

Read to answer the questions you wrote and to obtain a better understanding of the information.

Step 4:

Next, try to answer the questions you wrote while scanning and reading the chapter to identify how much information you remember.

Step 5:

Spend time reviewing your notes and creating simple ways to remember the important information identified.

Step 6:

Test your knowledge on the information read.