Active Reading Strategies

Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review (SQ3R)

"Survey, question, read, recite, and review" describe the steps in a study/reading method that promotes an active attitude toward learning. When you clear your mind for the task of studying, you are alert and centered. You make yourself ready to learn and remember.

Previewing or Surveying

When reading course materials, can you anticipate what the subject matter of the text might cover? Can you anticipate what might appear on your next exam? Active reading involves specific critical thinking skills that help you examine the meaning behind the words and conceptualize concepts. In essence, you engage in an internal interview about the material.

Think back to when you were a child and you were assigned a book to read. Did you do things like count the number of pages or look at the size of the print? Did you look for pictures and read the captions before you started reading the text? If you did, you were previewing or surveying the material.

Previewing is learning about the text before actually reading it. Looking at the number of pages or the pictures is probably not enough to truly help conquer reading assignments at the college level. Practicing effective previewing techniques will help you to maximize your learning from reading.

The first step in previewing is looking over the reading material as it relates to the class you are taking. Here are some additional tips for previewing a reading assignment:

Survey -- in this step, you gather the information necessary to focus and formulate goals.

• State your purpose for reading the material. Ask yourself the question, "what is this reading about?" Try to make predictions about the content. Write your prediction down as a reminder as you read.
• Read the title. This helps your mind prepare to receive the subject matter.
• Notice each boldface heading and subheading to organize your mind before you begin to read and build a structure for thoughts and details to come.
• Read captions for the pictures and graphs.
• Skim over graphs, tables, charts, etc. and see how they support and explain the text.
• Read the introduction and summary and pick out the chapter's main points.

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Reading the Text: Contextualizing

Contextualize -- looking at texts from a historical, biographical, and cultural context. Most readers interpret material based on personal experiences. If you are reading an English novel written in the 1800's from your 21st century perspective, you may not understand the context - such as the class system in the 1800s. Contextualizing helps you think about the author's point of view as it relates to your reading of the text.

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Brainstorming Questions

Question - helps your mind to engage and concentrate

After you determine the context of the material you are reading, brainstorm questions to which you will expect to find answers in the text. Frame questions - perhaps variations of the headings, sub-headings, or topic sentences - which you make into your personal questions. For each chapter or section in the text, ask yourself questions such as, "what questions are likely to be included on an examination about this material?" Write those questions down.

Ask yourself your brainstorming questions as you read. Questions should be clear and concise. Relate questions directly to the text rather than asking abstract or general questions. View the text as holding a variety of possibilities and more than one concept or idea. Don't develop questions that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" response.