By Marlene Challis
Speed reading can help students studying, lawyers, anyone whoneeds to take in a lot of information.
Important information that needs to stick in the brain.
What is also important, besides reading quickly, is tounderstand the information read and how to retain theinformation.
What good is a speed reader if he doesn’t understand a thing hereads?
Five Types of Reading
An efficient reader adjusts his speed and strategy to suit theneed of the moment.
The 5 types of reading are classified into:
1. Skimming
Skimming refers to reading quickly to gain a general impressionas to whether the text is of use to you. You are not necessarilysearching for a specific item because it only provides an'overview' of the text.
Skimming is somewhat like reading the morning newspaper. Youdon’t actually start at the top left corner and read everyarticle on every page.
You read the headlines, reject many of the articles that youdon’t find relevant, and read only those that interests you,sometimes in a hit and miss fashion – reading the headline, thefirst paragraph, skipping down to check out the names of thepeople.
Why Should I Skim?
Contents of most reading materials are not all important andrelevant. Some of them are simple supporting details in whichabsence of them still makes the text complete. In other words,they are only trash.
You wouldn’t waste your time reading the trash at all, wouldyou? The important items may be skimmed and ear-marked for laterreading. The critical may be skimmed to confirm that they arereally critical. What is left in the “really critical” stackwill demand intensity.
Even then, you may want to skim each one before you read indetail. Skimming on a regular basis develops your ability tolearn with this strategy. It also improves other reading ratessuch as for studying and for average reading (that will bediscussed later on this chapter).
It builds your knowledge and vocabulary base so you have thebackground to rapidly absorb these ideas as they appear in othercontext.
How to Skim
1. Read the title. This focuses your attention on the topic.
2. Read the introduction. This may be the first paragraph ortwo. It usually describes, in general, the entire selection willbe about.
3. Read the first sentence in each paragraph. Often as many as80% of the paragraphs start with a summary or topic sentence.The rest of the sentences in the paragraph simply elaborate. Youmay skip the elaboration unless it is obviously necessary suchas the definition of a very important term. When you skim, youreally are only looking for general ideas.
4. Read the conclusion. This may be the last paragraph or two.It usually summarizes the article, specifies an opinion, ormakes some recommendations based on the general content.
5. Test your comprehension. Look away from the article and tellyourself in a sentence or two what the entire article was about.
2. Scanning
When you’re looking for, say for instance, a car service phonenumber in the telephone directory, you don't read every listing,do you?
Instead, you skip over a lot of unrelated information and scanfor a visual image of the name of the company on the relevantpage. It is like looking for a friend at the basketball game.
You do not look at each individual face across every row ofseats. Because you have a visual image of your friend’s face,you scan the audience until you see him. Scanning printed wordsis similar to this.
Why Should I Scan?
You scan to locate a single fact or a specific bit ofinformation without reading everything in the whole textmaterial or even in just a chapter. Perhaps you have a list ofterms that you know are going to be on the next biology test.
You have already encountered them during the lecture in class sowhile reviewing, you just look up each word in the index, go tothe given page number, and scan for just that word. When youfind them, you read the sentence in which they appear.
If it is not yet clear to you, then you may want to read theentire paragraph.
How to Scan
1. Flip through the pages to see how the information isorganized. It may be alphabetical, chronological, topicalcategories from most important to least important, or thestandard essay format of introduction, body, and conclusion.
2. Turn to the section most likely to contain the specifieddetails.
3. Keep a visual image of the key word in mind.
4. Run your eyes over the material in a search for that keywordvisual image. Don't be tempted to stop and browse. You can dothat some other time.
3. Light Reading
Reading for leisure tends to be 'light'. Thus, the main purposeof the reader in performing this type of reading is when he/shehas ample time in such activity and no other obligationswhatsoever.
Light reading is done according to the following:
• Read at a pace which feels comfortable.
• Read with understanding.
• Skim the boring, irrelevant passages.
An average light reading speed is 100-200 words per minute. Thisform of reading does not generally require detailedconcentration.
4. Word by Word Reading
This type of reading is time consuming and demands a high levelof concentration.
According to what it’s called, such reading type is done byreading a word after every word. Some materials is not readilyunderstood and so they requires a slow and careful analyticalread.
People use this type of reading for unfamiliar words andconcepts, scientific formulae, technical materials, and thelike. It can take up to an hour just to read a few paragraphs orchapter of the text.
5. Reading to Study
The main method used in reading to study is called SQ3R. Its aimis to understand the material in some depth.
The method involves five simple steps, namely Survey,Question, Read, Recall and Review, in which the name camefrom.
• Survey: skim through to gain an overview and not key points.
• Question: devise questions you hope the text will answer.
• Read: slowly and carefully.
• Recall: from memory, write down the main points made by thechapter.
• Review: revisit and answer the questions you first raised.
Compare these to your recall and establish how well the text hasanswered them. Fill in any gaps by further reading
If you would like to learn how to speed read, visit
http://www.self-help-motivation-source.com/speedreadingcourse.html
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