48 Study Skills Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Active Reading Active reading is processing the words, phrases, and sentences encoun- tered while reading. It is a complex task involving concentration and deter- mination to understand and evaluate the reading and its relevance to your needs. Active reading requires the reader to use strategies to understand the material so comprehension is possible. To comprehend means to grasp, or understand. If you do not grasp what you read, you will not learn what is presented. In order to be successful in school and your career, you must be able to comprehend material you read. You can self-monitor, or person- ally reflect on, your progress and access your comprehension by taking the following actions. • • Consider the writer’s purpose for writing. Is the writer comparing and contrasting information, criticizing an idea, or explaining informa- tion? Identifying the purpose helps you absorb the message and under- stand what is being presented. • • Relate what you read to your prior knowledge. Prior knowledge is experience and information a person already possesses. • • Be able to summarize what you have read. Once you are finished read- ing, mentally summarize, or briefly state, the main points of the mate- rial. Writing a one-sentence summary about each paragraph is an effective way to demonstrate that you understood what you read. • • Create a reverse outline. This involves creating an outline by writing the topic of each section and briefly explaining how it advances the overall topic of the reading. If the topics in the outline are clear to you, it is a good indication that you comprehended the material. If there are unfamiliar words, stop and look them up on the Internet or in a print dictionary. Read a paragraph again if you read it and it does not make sense. Evaluate information both as you read and after you read to ensure understanding. Consider the questions and comments you think about as you read. Reading Skillfully Most people take reading skills for granted. When reading skillfully, however, you derive meaning from written words and symbols and evaluate their accuracy and validity. The approaches of skimming, scanning, and reading for detail can help you become a more skillful reader. First, skim until you find the portion of the document likely to contain the information you seek. Next, scan to locate the specific piece of information. When you find the information you are looking for, read for detail. Skim to Get an Overview To skim is to quickly glance through material to get an overview. Skimming is also known as prereading. You might choose to skim a chapter in a text to see what is in it before you actually read it. When skimming a document, notice headings, key words, phrases, and visual elements. The goal of skimming is to get a sense of the main ideas and scope of the content. Skimming is especially useful when you want to do any of the following: • •• read for general information •• review the general coverage or content •• preview something you must later read in greater detail • locate a specific section of a long document Always have a pen ready when reading to make annotations. Minerva Studio/Shutterstock.com