SPARK: Student Papers and Academic Research Kit: Effective Reading Strategies

Reading in an academic context is different from everyday reading. Academic reading requires a more active, probing and repetitive strategy than does recreational reading. It is an essential skill for completing a written assignment, and an essential skill for preparing yourself for the engagment your professors ask for in class. 

Reading strategically is integral to the process of understanding your topic, finding research materials, and developing your ideas.

Academic reading involves:

• asking questions
• reflecting on how parts of the text might relate to each other
• interpreting what words, passages, and arguments mean
• making connections with other readings
• questioning what information we have grown to take for granted or have assumed is correct without exploration.