Reading

 Hi,

In this blog, I will discuss my experience when reading the first two readings and I will also discuss the valuable information that I have found throughout the readings. 

While reading the very first text ‘Critical reading techniques’ I found that it was very informative and very helpful to many school-going and/or college-going students. It was very understandable and gave many tips, this will allow people to use the trial and error system to find which technique would suit them and be more beneficial to them in the future.

Each of the eight techniques that were discussed was well explained and very easy to understand this alone would benefit many people. Some of these techniques many people may have already known such as:

•Using an efficient approach e.g. reading and note-taking strategies, Highlighting, etc.

•Reading thoroughly e.g. Taking notes and adding margin comments, Trying to grab a better understanding of the text you’re trying to read.

•Re-reading for assignments and exams e.g. read over notes and apply the same techniques etc.

But some techniques would be very beneficial and very easy to accomplish some people may not have heard of such as:

•Knowing why you reading e.g. asking yourself important questions that will help you gather the important information that you need while you reading.

•Quickly Scamming the material e.g. Allowing yourself to gather some kind of idea of what it is you need to understand.

•Skimming and scanning e.g. Helps you to browse through the text and extract key points from it.

Each of the above techniques is very easy to do and also allows the person reading to grab a better understanding of why they’re reading, what they’re reading, and the outcomes they need to have when they’re finished their reading.

From reading the second text ‘Active reading’ I have also concluded that this was also a very understandable text and many readers would be able to apply many of the techniques listed to their every day/ future reading. These techniques would help those in need of guidance/ help to understand what they are trying to read especially if it was for state examinations, study or college assignments, etc.

Each of the techniques that were discussed in this text was very informative and many of them are possibly already known by many students from using them throughout school etc. I feel that many people may be in the same boat and possibly would agree that although it could’ve been a great help if they had have known these techniques while still attending second level education for learning purposes, it is still helpful to know these techniques and will be able to apply them where necessary in the future.

- Megan