New Student Orientation Resource Book
INTENSIVE
READING TECHNIQUE
I. The intensive
Reading Technique is reading for a high degree of comprehension and
retention over a long period of time.
II. Intensive Reading
is basically a "study" technique for organizing readings which will
have to be understood and remembered. One may have good comprehension
while reading line-by-line, but remembering is what counts!
III. Intensive
Reading is not a careful, single reading, but is a method based on
a variety of techniques like scanning, the surveying techniques of
planning your purpose, and others.
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PRINCIPLES
OF INTENSIVE READING |
| O |
Overview |
|
S |
Summarize |
| P |
Purpose |
|
T |
Test |
| Q |
Questions |
|
U |
Understanding |
| R |
Reading |
|
|
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These seven procedures
cover the method for very effective reading for detailed comprehension
and long retention.
A. OVERVIEW: We have
two methods to obtain and overview - surveying or skimming. Both are
concerned with reading only the more important parts. With either we
would start with the summary, if one existed. We would next read the
title, the beginning, headings, and endings, and note illustrations.
Where headings are missing or inadequate or where unfamiliar material
demands a more complete overview, we would resort to skimming with
its greater attention to topic and summary sentences, and other cues
within the paragraphs. As you get an overview of a long section, you
may only survey part and skim the sections that are hard to understand.
From this you should get the general theme and main ideas from the
important topics and questions discussed and the major conclusions.
The principle to guide you is to spend the least amount of time and
effort required to secure these elements and only these elements
The advantage of an
overview is its aid in organization. Also when we read the material line-by-line
later on, the important points are familiar to us and thus easier to understand
and remember. This is what is meant by "double exposure".
B. PLANNING PURPOSE:
Planning your purpose means to take a few seconds before you begin
your reading to formalize or clearly state to yourself what you wish
to get from the reading. This will give us the most useful "mental
set" for getting the information we need.
We need to know:What
information we need;
How detailed the
comprehension should be; and
Whether the emphasis should be placed on ideas,
Sequence, specific facts, etc.;
How long we need to retain this information - only
Until a test the next day or for the rest of our lives;
How we use the information - to think with, to write a report, to take a
test.
All of these aspects
of purpose will influence what we are looking for in our reading. Remember,
if we have in mind what we are looking for, we are much more likely
to find it.
What details do we need
to remember and for how long is particularly important for guiding note
taking or summarizing in a later step.
C. QUESTIONS: A
good time to record questions is after your overview and planning purpose.
The question should be in the same sequence as they appear in the material,
if possible. This does not prevent adding new questions, but it does
prevent forgetting about an important question that occurs to you during
the overview. Ideally, the headings can be converted into questions
which will provide a suitable outline of the important information
in the selection. Where this is not the case, the basic interrogatives
or who, what, when, why, and how, frequently supply aid in suggesting
important concepts in almost all reading selections.
But at this point,
we may ask the question, "Why go to all this trouble ... why not just
read the selection two or three times?" If we begin with a careful
line-by-line reading and then a re-reading, we find that comprehension
and retention are not increased; research has shown us that reading
with questions in mind and knowing we are going to test ourselves later
on (as we do in intensive reading), is superior to reading and re-reading
and is less time-consuming. The only time you should re-read is when
you have no review notes, and when, at a much later date, you need
to remember information that you cannot recall. However, re-reading
of parts on which you cannot answer in the testing step
of intensive reading is always a good idea. YOU HAVE TO RESPOND TO
LEARN.
D. READING: The
most familiar technique and the heart of intensive reading is to read carefully and thoughtfully.
Reading here means
not only the familiar line-by-line reading, but line-by-line reading
that is guided by our purpose and questions. Also be sure and read
the material you covered while obtaining an overview.
Also remember that with
any technique and purpose, the rate of reading is varied, depending upon
the difficulty and familiarity of the material. Speed may be reduced by
the thought given to organizing the information, but except for this and
the time out to summarize, the rate is like any careful line-by-line reading.
The rate must be adjusted so that the desired comprehension is taking place.
E. SUMMARIZING:
An important part of summarizing is organizing the ideas and supporting
points. This organizing should begin in the reading but should be finalized
and expressed in notes. Generally, each paragraph will have one or
two ideas or important concepts. Also in summarizing, it is important
to state in your own words and aloud, the points you wish to
remember. The most effective type of summarizing which lends itself
to both organizing and testing is an outline of questions reflecting
major ideas and concepts. The subpoints are indented so as to show
clearly that they are related to the main point in a supporting role.
By using questions as
headings, the outline can be started before reading on the basis of
the overview. It allows the answers to the questions guiding the reading
to automatically be summarized as a few brief points. A topic that
does not lend itself to the question style can be included as a statement.
To provide answers
to the questions, you should write cues (hints) to remind you
of everything you need to remember. Don't write down every point; just
cues that will bring the points to mind.
There are other techniques
you may use. One is underlining. However, its faults tend to outweigh its
value. You may tend to underline too much or you probably won't organize
the thoughts expressed in the different key sentences as you go along.
The key concepts may be implied but never stated in such a manner where
they can be underlined with efficiency.
If you must underline,
restrict yourself to clear, concise definitions or statements.
Another technique
is making marginal notes and questions. You may (with practice and
discretion), elaborate, raise questions, and relate and organize certain
important concepts or points in this manner.
The hazard to be
avoided with both these techniques is over doing it! By over
doing it, you waste time, generally confuse the key issues, and hinder
(rather than facilitate) your learning.
F. TESTING: The
next step is testing yourself. It is vital that you recall rather
than just recognize the answers. This means that you test yourself
with an essay or a fill-in-the-blank type test. This simply means you
must "produce" the answer; just as you often have to in class. This
testing seems to "set" or "fix" the information more firmly in your
mind so that you will retain it better. Re-reading and other forms
of recognition do not produce as high a level of retention.
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