Active reading is a planned, deliberate set of strategies to engage with text-based materials with the purpose of increasing your understanding. This is a key skill you need to master for college. Along with listening, it is the primary method for absorbing new ideas and information in college. But active reading also applies to and facilitates the other steps of the learning cycle; it is critical for preparing, capturing, and reviewing, too.

In college, most professors do not spend much time reviewing the reading assignment in class. Rather, they expect that you have done the reading assignment before coming to class and understand the material. The class lecture or discussion is often based on that expectation. Tests, too, are based on that expectation. This is why active reading is so important, it’s up to you to do the reading and comprehend what you read.

Note: It may not always be clear on a professor’s syllabus, but the corresponding textbook chapter for the topics listed for that week should be read before coming to class.

How Do You Read to Learn?

The four steps of active reading are almost identical to the four phases of the learning cycle—and that is no coincidence! Active reading is learning through reading the written word, so the learning cycle naturally applies.

Active reading involves these steps:

1. Preparing
2. Reading
3. Capturing the key ideas
4. Reviewing

Let’s take a look at how to use each step when reading.

Preparing to Read

Your textbook as a whole – Start by thinking about why your professor has chosen this text. Look at the table of contents; how does it compare with the course syllabus?

Your chapter as a whole – Explore the chapter by scanning the pages of the chapter to get a sense of what the chapter is about. Look at the headings, illustrations and tables. Read the introduction and summary. Understanding the big picture of the chapter will help you add the details when doing close reading.

Give yourself direction by creating a purpose or quest for your reading. This will help you become more actively engaged in your reading. Create questions to find the answers to in your reading using the headings of each section. You may also have learning objectives listed at the front of each chapter which could be turned into questions or you may have chapter review questions prepared for you at the end of the chapter.

Reading

Take the first question you have prepared and think about what you already know about this question. Jot the question down on paper. Begin to read the chapter and stop when you have found the answer.

Write down the answer in short form. Leave some space for additional notes you may want to add later and add the next question. Continue reading this way until you are done with the chapter or are done studying for this session.

Capturing the key ideas

Before you put away your textbook and notes at the end of a reading session, go back through the questions you answered and pull out key ideas and words. You can highlight these, jot them in the space you left below your answer or note them in the margins.

Reviewing what you read

For each question, cover up the answer and key ideas you have written. Can you still answer the question? Check your mental review against what you have written.

Seven Reading Principles

1️⃣Read the assigned material. I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but you might be surprised to learn how many students don’t read the assigned material. Often, it takes longer to read the material than had been anticipated. Sometimes it is not interesting material to us and we procrastinate reading it. Sometimes we’re busy and it is just not a priority. It makes it difficult to learn the information your instructor wants you to learn if you do not read about it before coming to class.

2️⃣Read it when assigned. This is almost as big of a problem for students as the first principle. You will benefit exponentially from reading assignments when they are assigned (which usually means reading them before the instructor lectures on them). If there is a date for a reading on your syllabus, finish reading it before that date. The background knowledge you will attain from reading the information will help you learn and connect information when your instructor lectures on it, and it will leave you better prepared for class discussions. Further, if your instructor assigns you 70 pages to read by next week, don’t wait until the night before to read it all. Break it down into chunks. Try scheduling time each day to read 10 or so pages. It takes discipline and self-control but doing it this way will make understanding and remembering what you read much easier.

3️⃣Take notes when you read. You may recall Hermann Ebbinghaus’ research from a previous chapter. He determined that 42% of information we take in is lost after only 20 minutes without review. For the same reasons that it’s important to take notes during lectures, it’s important to take notes when you are reading. Your notes will help you concentrate, remember and review.

4️⃣Relate the information to you. We remember information that we deem is important. The strategy then is to make what you are studying important to you. Find a way to directly relate what you are studying to something in your life. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is not. But if your attitude is “I will never use this information” and “it’s not important,” chances are good that you will not remember it.

5️⃣Read with a dictionary or use an online dictionary. Especially with information that is new to us, we may not always recognize all the words in a textbook or their meanings. If you read without a dictionary and you don’t know what a word means, you probably still won’t know what it means when you finish reading. Students who read with a dictionary (or who look the word up online) expand their vocabulary and have a better understanding of the text. Take the time to look up words you do not know. Another strategy is to try to determine definitions of unknown words by their context, thus eliminating the interruption to look up words.

6️⃣Ask a classmate or instructor when you have questions or if there are concepts you do not understand. Visiting an instructor’s office hours is one of the most underutilized college resources. I think some students are shy about going, and I understand that, but ultimately, it’s your experience, and it’s up to you if you want to make the most of it. If you go, you will get answers to your questions; at the same time, you’ll demonstrate to your instructor that their course is important to you. Find out when your professor’s office hours are (they are often listed in the syllabus), ask before or after class or e-mail your professor to find out. Be polite and respectful.

7️⃣Read it again. Some students will benefit from reading the material a second or third time as it allows them to better understand the material. The students who understand the material the best usually score the highest on exams. It may be especially helpful to reread the chapter just after the instructor has lectured on it.

Adapted from Nissila, P. (2016). How to learn like a pro! CC BY. Open Oregon Educational Resources.

SQ4R – Reading Model

Our Read to Learn model is our favored way to approach college level reading, but it is not the only model. A very similar strategy is SQ4R.

SQ4R Six Steps:

1. SURVEY: Flip through the chapter quickly to get a sense of what is covered. Look at headings and keys terms, and read the final paragraph.
2. QUESTION: Turn headings into questions to guide your reading. You can keep track of your questions by using the Cornell Method of note-taking.
3. READ: Read the chapter, looking for the answer to the questions you posed.
4. REFLECT: Think about what you have read, and relate it to other information you have learned.
5. RECITE: Without looking at the text, restate your question and formulate an answer in your own words.
6. REVIEW: At the end of the chapter look over your notes and familiarize yourself with key points.

Troubleshooting Your Reading

Tech Tools for Reading

As a student at St. Clair College, you have access to Microsoft 365 Online as well as the option to download MS Office products on to your computer and device. Microsoft has a number of tools that can help you with your reading, particularly with your reading of online material. Let’s take a look at three tech tools for reading:

• Reading View and Immersive Reader in MS Edge Browser
• Immersive Reader in other MS Office products
• Microsoft Lens

Reading View and Immersive Reader in MS Edge Browser

When on a website that includes an article or long text passage, you can strip way all the images, ads, and other visual distractions on clicking on the “open book” icon on the address bar in MS Edge Browers. You are presented with just the text formated for easy reading.

You could just read the text in this view or you can take advantage of more features in Immersiver Reader. This includes changing the font and font size, changing background and font color, highlighting parts of the sentences, and having the text READ ALOUD to you!

Instructions: Use Immersive Reader in MS Edge

Immersive Reader is available in a variety of Office products including:

• Word
• Teams
• Outlook
• Powerpoint
• Forms
• OneNote
• Flipgrid
• Microsoft Lens

While Immersive Reader can be used by all students as a productivity tool, students with learning disabilities, dyslexia, low vision and other disabilities can use Immersive Reader to ease challenges they experience with the kinds and volume of reading at the college leve.

Microsoft Lens

Microsoft Lens is a free  app available for IOS and Android devices. Office Lens is used with your camera to capture text written on whiteboards, flyers, signs, handouts and more. Office Lens can save these images to various formats and can also transform the information to editable text.

• You can capture a sign and Office Lens can translate the text to another language or read it out loud using Immersive Reader.
• You can capture a chart on a printed handout and Office Lens can save it as an Excel Spreadsheet.
• You can capture your professor’s notes on a whiteboad and save as an image or add the text to your OneNote binder for that class.

Do Quick Research

As you read, you might run into ideas, words, or phrases you don’t understand, or the text might refer to people, places, or events you’re unfamiliar with. It’s tempting to skip over those and keep reading, and sometimes that actually works. But keep in mind that when you read something written by a professional writer or academic, they’ve written with such precision that every word carries meaning and contributes to the whole. Therefore, skipping over words or ideas could change the meaning of the text or leave the meaning incomplete.

When you’re reading and come to words and ideas you’re unfamiliar with, you may want to stop and take a moment to do a bit of quick research. Google is a great tool for this—plug in the idea or word and see what comes up. Keep on digging until you have an answer, and then, to help retain the information, take a minute to write a note about it.

Adapted from Burnell, C., Wood, J., Babin, M., Pesznecker, S. & Rosevear, N. (2020). The word on college reading and writing. CC BY. Open Oregon Educational Resources.

Reading Graphics

Additional Reading Tips:

The four steps to active reading provide a proven approach to effective learning from texts. Following are some tips you can use to enhance your reading even further:

• Pace yourself. Figure out how much time you have to complete the reading assignment. Divide the assignment into smaller blocks rather than trying to read the entire assignment in one sitting.
• Schedule your reading. Set aside blocks of time, preferably at the time of the day when you are most alert, to do your reading assignments.
• Read your most difficult assignments early in your reading time, when you are freshest.
• Get yourself in the right space. Choose to read in a quiet, well-lit space. Your chair should be comfortable but provide good support.
• Avoid distractions. Active reading takes place in your short-term memory. Every time you move from task to task, you have to “reboot” your short-term memory and you lose the continuity of active reading.
• Avoid reading fatigue. Work for about fifty minutes, and then give yourself a break for five to ten minutes. Put down the book, walk around, get a snack, stretch, or do some deep knee bends. Short physical activity will do wonders to help you feel refreshed.
• Make your reading interesting. Try connecting the material you are reading with your class lectures or with other chapters. Ask yourself where you disagree with the author. Approach finding answers to your questions like an investigative reporter. Carry on a mental conversation with the author.

Want More? The Learning Portal has more ideas about how to Read college level materials.