How to Become an Active Reader

I. Skim ahead and jump back.

II. Mark up the text.

III. Make specific observations about the text.

I. Skimming Ahead and Jumping Back

Skimming ahead enables you to see what’s coming up in your reading. Page through the text you’re about to read. Notice how the text is broken down, what the main topics are, and the order in which they are covered. Notice key words and ideas that are boldfaced, bulleted, boxed, or otherwise highlighted. Skimming through the text beforehand will prepare you for what you are about to read. It’s a lot like checking out the hills and curves in the course before a cross-country race. If you know what’s ahead, you know how to pace yourself, so you’re prepared to handle what’s to come.

When you finish your reading, jump back. Review the summaries, headings, and highlighted information in the text. Notice both what the author highlighted and what you highlighted. By jumping back, you help solidify in your mind the ideas and information you just read. You’re reminded of how each idea fits into the whole, how ideas and information are connected. When you make connections between ideas, you’re much more likely to remember them.

II. Marking Up the Text

Marking up the text creates a direct physical link between you and the words you’re reading. It forces you to pay closer attention to the words you read and takes you to a higher level of comprehension. Use these three strategies to mark up text:

1. Highlight or underline key words and ideas.

2. Circle and define any unfamiliar words or phrases.

      3. Record your reactions and questions in the margins.

Highlighting or Underlining Key Ideas

When you highlight or underline key words and ideas, you are identifying the most important parts of the text. There’s an important skill at work here: You can’t highlight or underline everything, so you have to distinguish between the facts and ideas that are most important (major ideas) and those facts and ideas that are helpful but not so important (minor or supporting ideas). Highlight only the major ideas, so you don’t end up with a text that’s completely highlighted.

An effectively highlighted text will make for an easy and fruitful review. When you jump back, you’ll be quickly reminded of the ideas that are most important to remember. Highlighting or underlining major points as you read also allows you to retain more information from the text.

Circling Unfamiliar Words

One of the most important habits to develop is that of circling and looking up unfamiliar words and phrases. If possible, don’t sit down to read without a dictionary by your side. It is not uncommon for the meaning of an entire sentence to hinge on the meaning of a single word or phrase, and if you don’t know what that word or phrase means, you won’t understand the sentence.

Besides, this habit enables you to quickly and steadily expand your vocabulary, so you’ll be a more confident reader and speaker. If you don’t have a dictionary readily available, try to determine the meaning of the word as best you can from its context—that is, the words and ideas

around it. Then, make sure you look up the word as soon as possible so you’re sure of its meaning.

Making Notes in the Margins

Recording your questions and reactions in the margins turns you from a passive receiver of information into an active participant in a dialogue. (If you’re reading a library book, write your reactions in a notebook.) You will get much more out of the ideas and information you read about if you create a “conversation” with the writer. Here are some examples of the kinds of reactions you might write down in the margin or in your notebook:

Questions often come up when you read. They may be answered later in the text, but by that time, you may have forgotten the question! And if your question isn’t answered, you may want to discuss it with someone: “Why does the writer describe the new welfare policy as ‘unfair’?” or “Why does the character react in this way?”

Agreements and disagreements with the author are bound to arise if you’re actively reading. Write them down: “That’s not necessarily true!” or “This policy makes a lot of sense to me.”

Connections may arise either between the text and something that you read earlier or between the text and your own experience. For example, “I remember feeling the same way when I …” or “This is similar to what happened in China.”

Evaluations are your way of keeping the author honest. If you think the author isn’t providing sufficient support for what he or she is saying or that there’s something wrong with that support, say so: “He says the dropping of the bomb was inevitable, but he doesn’t explain why” or “This is a very selfish reason.”