Reading Skills

The following list is to aid you in finding relevant educational resources on the World Wide Web on Reading Skills.

Being a Flexible Reader (by Gail Kluepfel)
Before you can learn to read faster, you need to establish your reading rate. Take out your watch. See how many pages an hour you can read in each of your courses (times vary, depending on the material). Once you have an accurate estimate of your reading rate, you can better plan your reading time.
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/FlxRed3.htm

Defining of Note Taking
What is Note Taking? - Note Taking is the written recording of important ideas from texts or lectures.
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/NotTak1.htm

Defining Text Reading
What is Text Reading?
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/TxtRed1.htm

Graffiti for ESL Readers (by Brent Buhler)
roviding language support within content-based instruction requires the use of articles written within a professional community that are often beyond ESL/EFL students' normal ability. Enabling these students to incorporate the material is a process of reducing anxiety and increasing top-down reading skills...
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/Techniques/Buhler-ContentBased.html

Guidelines for Note Taking (by Pat Grove)
A. General Guidelines - 1.Take note of special vocabulary terms. Underline difficult words in your notes, then go back later and place questions for them in the Question Column. These are words whose meanings you should know so that the material makes sense to you.
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/NotTak2.htm

How To Improve Your Reading Skills (By Ms. Paula Y. Arons)
Much of what you learn in school comes from the pages of a book. Some kids find it frustrating to be told to read and summarize, or read and answer questions when they are not even sure...
http://www.bmpub.com/hh22.html

How to Read Nonfictional English Texts Faster and More Effectively A 'Standard Reading Exercise' for ESL-Students (by Helmut Stiefenhöfer)
Introductory remarks:With the 'flood' of written information available,either in the traditional way, i.e. on paper, or via the 'World Wide Web' fast and effective reading (in English) has become a (foreign) language competence equal in importance to speaking competence...
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/Techniques/Stiefenhoefer-FastReading.html

How To Read University Texts or Journal Articles
Choose a section preferrably not longer than 25 or 30 pages – perhaps one chapter, or a section of a chapter – that you can handle at one sitting.
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/readtxt.html

The Love Clinic: Using Advice Columns in the Classroom (by Richard Humphries)
The purpose of this activity is to improve students' reading and speaking (i.e. clarifying, relating a problem, offering advice, etc.) skills, and to offer an arena for cross- or intercultural exploration and to achieve this in an entertaining forum. The procedure has been used in mostly in college classes (occasionally in company classes and community center ones) and has always been enjoyed by the participants...

Marking & Underlining
Definition Tips on Marking & Underlining Texts Additional Resources
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/MrkUnd1.htm

Note Taking
Definition Guidelines for Note Taking Guidelines for Creative Note Taking Additional Resources
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/NotTak.htm

You have studied outlining and summarizing, two skills to make your reading Active. In this lesson you will learn two more active reading skills: elaboration and rereading.
http://www.kidzone.com/ecc/ssmart13.htm

Reading and Understanding Texts
Much of the material we have to learn at university is presented to us in written form, most commonly in texts and readings from journals. Students may have problems
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/read.html

Reading and Writing through Neuro-Linguistic Programming (by Tom Maguire)
A three minute introduction to "Neuro-Linguistic Programming" would go like this: Ladies and Gentlemen, to be successful in life you only need to remember three things:
1.Firstly, know what you want; have a clear idea of your goal in each situation.
2.Secondly, be alert and keep your senses open so as to know what you are getting.
3.Thirdly, be flexible enough to change your behaviour until you get what you want.
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/Techniques/Maguire-NLP.html

Reading Books
1.Does the book have information on the inside cover?; 2.Does the book have a Glossary?
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/readbk.html

READING TO COMPREHEND AND LEARN
Reading A Paper or Chapter: PSQ5R is a formula that stands for the basic steps in learning from reading in an efficient manner. The P stands for Purpose, the S for Survey, the Q for Question, the 5 Rs for Read Selectively, Recite, Reduce-record, Reflect, and Review...
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/psq5r.html

Seven Strategies for Reading Difficult Material
1.Preread: Read the title and the first paragraph and decide if you have enough background to begin reading. Get a grasp of how the material is organized. If more background is needed, get some from another source.
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/TxtRed2.htm

Smart Study
Study Smart is a comprehensive and systematic approach to school success. The program is divided into 24 separate lessons presented in a consistent format. The purpose of Study Smart is to identify, describe and demonstrate effective school success study skills.
http://www.kidzone.com/ecc/ssmart.htm

Speed Reading
Speed Reading is a method of improving a reader's reading ability, improving both the speed at which a text can be assimilated, and the level of understanding of the material.
http://www.mindtools.com/speedrd.html

The SQ3R Reading Method
Survey! Question! Read! Recite! Review!...
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/TxtRed3.htm

Text Reading
Definition Guidelines for Text Reading The SQ3R Reading Method Additional Resources
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/TxtRed.htm

Textbook Reading, Part 1 (Lesson 10)
In the next two lessons you will learn text reading skills that you can use to learn more as you study. Reading well leads to greater understanding of main points and may be the most important skill for success in school. Good reading is also important for success in nearly every other activity.
http://www.kidzone.com/ecc/ssmart10.htm

Textbook Reading, Part 2 (Lesson 11)
This is the second lesson on using Systematic Study to read and learn more from textbooks. In the first lesson you learned to Prepare to read by reflecting, reading introductions and summaries first, surveying topic markers, and predicting what you will read and what you will need to know.
http://www.kidzone.com/ecc/ssmart11.htm

Tips for Comprehension and Retention for Flexibility in Reading (by Gary Parilis)
Here's a strategy that's useful when working with students who need to be stronger readers, particularly students who have to read long difficult chapters or articles that aren't broken down into sections and sub-sections. A good way to teach students how to use the strategy that follows is to guide them through it. Ask them to take out the text and demonstrate it. Make sure that they're aware that their task is not just to get through the reading, but to learn it. Exams and papers don't measure what you've read; they measure what you've learned!
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/FlxRed2.htm

Tips for increasing reading speed
As our eyes move across the page they make a series of jerky movements. Whenever they come to rest on a word that is called a fixation. Most people fixate once on each word across a line of print.
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/rdgspeed.html

Tips for Studying Difficult Test
The "MURDER" Study System; 1. Mood: Set a positive mood for yourself to study in. Select the appropriate time, environment, and attitude
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/FlxRed4.htm

Tips on Marking & Underlining Texts
1.Read a section first, then mark and underline it selectively; 2.Circle and/or box special vocabulary and transitions...
http://www.stthomas.edu/www/lab_http/sgs/MrkUnd2.htm">

Two More Active Reading Skills
Reading well involves using many skills. As you learned in the past two lessons, to be the best reader you must be active and systematic. An important challenge is to choose the skills that will help you be most successful...
http://www.kidzone.com/ecc/ssmart12.htm

Using reading strategies to read more quickly and effectively
When we are young we are taught to read to a level of basic competence. Unfortunately teaching stops before moving on to the advanced skills which can significantly increase the speed at which we read.
http://www.mindtools.com/rdstratg.html