Transcript klkl - Leeds University Library

Reading faster, reading more
We will:
•
•
•
•
Consider efficient selection of reading material
Measure reading speed
Acquire some techniques to practice
Assess distractions and concentration
What are your concerns? What do you read and why?
Discuss in your groups:
• What are your concerns about reading at
University?
• What different kinds of materials do you have to
read and how do you select them?
Before you read: ask yourself…..
• Why am I reading this?
• What do I already know?
• What do I need to find out?
Getting the information you need
• Think about how you would reduce a
pile of 20 books to the 6 most useful.
• What strategies would you use?
A strategic approach:
Read the front and back covers, inside flaps,
contents, index and bibliography
View chapter headings and sub-headings, pictures,
graphs, cartoons, tables, images
Eliminate the (parts of the) book that you don’t need
Alternative approaches:
• Is it highlighted in your reading list?
• Ask your lecturer – where should I start?
• Choose the most worn books
• Read reviews on Amazon
• Start with books in the high demand collection
• Start with introductory books, textbooks
• Eliminate older books
Preparation helps focus and concentration
• Jot down some notes (key words) about the
subject
• What do you want from the book?
–Background?
–Specific information?
Seek and you shall find
• Look round the room for
everything red.
• Only look for red objects.
• How many different
shades of red are there in
the room?
So what did you notice?
• If you know what you are looking for, you’ll find it
• If you haven’t primed yourself beforehand, you
miss things
• If you know nothing about a subject it is almost
impossible to remember what you read
Passive vs active reading
• Skim the pages at the rate of a few seconds per page
• Look for words that stand out
–Names
–Technical words
–Words in bold or italics
• Look at the language, is it accessible?
Scanning
Looking for specific information, and then stopping
•
•
•
•
Phone number in a phone book
Henry VIII’s third wife
A useful equation
A particular word
Skimming
• Don’t stop until you want to
• Gain a general impression of the text
Skimming for facts
•
•
•
•
•
•
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How?
What’s important?
Skimming for opinion
• However…
• …, but…
• Yet…
• On the other hand…
• Nevertheless …
• Furthermore…
What does the author think?
Activity: test your reading speed
Read for one minute, starting from the beginning.
When the timer goes off, stop reading and mark the
last word you read. What number line was it on?
Try this at home with an online stopwatch:
http://www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch/
Line
WPM
Line
WPM
Line
WPM
Line
WPM
7
88
15
187
23
289
31
395
8
100
16
204
24
304
32
410
9
113
17
214
25
317
33
424
10
131
18
227
26
331
11
145
19
233
27
344
12
150
20
247
28
357
13
162
21
261
29
368
14
175
22
275
30
381
What do the numbers mean?
–
–
–
–
100-200 slow reader
200-300 average reader
300-400 good reader
400-500 above average reader
– 1000-1200 World Championship standard
Key pointers to speed-reading
 Clear purpose: plan your outcome
 Familiarity with subject matter / language
 Active reading: pay attention
 Determination
 Practice
Vocabulary
• Unfamiliar text slows you down
• Puzzling over meaning loses the flow
• It can result in losing thread and having to go
back to beginning of text
• Skim for difficult words and look them up first
• Keep a notebook of new words
• Understand the roots
Vocalising
• How fast does the average person speak?
– And what has this got to do with reading speed?
• Do you read as if you were speaking aloud – one word
at a time?
• Do you read aloud, move your lips, sub-vocalise?
…this can slow you down
Try these at home
Chunking
– Read 3-4 words at a time
– Be aware of what’s on the line below
– Use a pointer to encourage your eyes forward
Use a pacer
– One line at a time
– Two lines at a time
– Zig zag across the page
– Pull it down the middle of the page
E
E
H
Speed reading tools
• http://www.spreeder.com/index.php
• http://www.eyercize.com/practice/bm_read/
Other things to try…
Use the newspaper
–
Narrower columns make it easier to read inchunks
and more than one line at a time
Use a metronome
–
–
Or time yourself
Set it slightly faster each time
Use your peripheral vision
And try this…
• Outside walking, look straight ahead
• Without looking sideways, what is in your
peripheral vision?
• Articulate as you go along
• Now sit down and read
• Use your pacer
• Chunks of words
Obstacles and distractions
Free up your space
• Clear your desk except for the books, notes etc
you actually need
• Have what you need to hand
– Pen, paper, post its etc
• Have strategies for dealing with
– email
– noise
– other people
• Turn the phone off
More housekeeping
•
•
•
•
•
Are you sitting comfortably?
Is the lighting appropriate?
Do you wear glasses/lenses?
Had your eyes tested lately?
Blinking re-hydrates the eyes
Tired eyes? Eyerobics and other strategies
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Straight ahead
Look up
Look down
Look left
Look right
Top left, top right
Bottom left, bottom right
Squeeze eyes shut
Rest your eyes (without kipping!)
• Unfocus – imagine you are staring at the sea
• Close your eyes
• Palming
– Comfortable
– Warm hands
– Exclude all light
Comprehension and learning through effortless reading
Your brain reads faster when
–
–
–
Something is easy
Something is already known
Something is less relevant
Your brain reads slower when
–
–
–
Something is new
Something is complex
Something is important
Reading complicated things
•
•
•
•
•
•
Try reading without trying to understand
Read as fast as you can without stopping to think
Read the text several times
What have you learned about the subject?
Which things do you still not understand?
Read it more slowly, in particular selecting the
things you understand least well
When to stop reading
•
•
•
•
•
•
Information starts to repeat itself
You’ve covered the core material
You’ve answered the research questions
You are coming across information not relevant
to the research question
The information does not offer anything new
You’ve lost your concentration
Concentration problems?
• Try a brief meditation:
–
–
–
–
Count silently to yourself from one to 26
Notice when your concentration starts to wander
Now try it including the alphabet so 1=A, 2=B, 3=C
Fluent? Try it backwards!
• Write down all those “to do” items, then get back to your
reading
In summary: Practice makes Perfect
• The best way to improve your reading speed is to read
more often.
• Observe the times when you read fast and when you read
slow.
• Try reading for 15 mins a day every day for 30 days
Resources
Tony Buzan (2003) The Speed Reading Book. London:
BBC Worldwide
Stella Cottrell (2013) The Study Skills Handbook. 4th ed.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
G & S Fairburn (2001) Reading at University. Maidenhead:
OU Press
Tina Konstant (2000) Successful Speed Reading. London:
Hodder & Stoughton
Richard Palmer (1996) Brain Train. 2nd ed. London: Spon
Gordon Wainwright (2007) Read Faster, Recall More. 3rd
ed. Oxford: How to Books
Evaluation – did we achieve our aims?
•
•
•
•
Consider efficient selection of reading material
Measure reading speed
Acquire some techniques to practice
Assess distractions and concentration
Reference
El Ansari W. et al. Feeling Healthy? A Survey of Physical and
Psychological Wellbeing of Students from Seven
Universities in the UK. International Journal of
Environmental Research and Public Health. 2011;
8(5):1308-1323.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.