With each and every day, a typical person goes through an incredible amount of text material. Consider newspapers, email, junk mail, advertising, internet news stories, online profiles and even the occasional serious correspondence. In the context of active reading strategies, if we took a moment to evaluate at the end of any given day how much material we truly absorbed, the results could prove discouraging.



Consider way you remember from the newspaper you glanced through? Do you recall the front page headline and the caption beneath the front picture? Or do you recall the details in the text? It is more likely that the visual elements of the headline and photo have etched themselves in to your memory, rather than the actual words. It is often hard for a writer to swallow that pictures can speak much louder than words, but it is an important lesson to understand when apply active reading strategies.

Summarize And Then Write

The very purpose of all active reading strategies revolves around understanding what it is that you are reading. It is not always just about how you read it.

It is critically important for students of all ages or a particular field of study to have the ability comprehend what it is that they are reading. Understanding what you are reading is particularly important for readers when trying to prepare for something using reading material, such as an exam.

Experts in the field of active reading strategies suggest that in an effort to make the most use of active reading strategies, it is actually important to not highlight or underline text within the reading material. Using margin space or a separate notebook to write down the point you are trying to remember is more effective in the process of active reading strategies.

The act of actually writing down the information makes a reader more inclined to remember it. It is not too far from the idea that once you have driven to a location yourself, you are far more likely to recall how to get there than simply had you been a passenger in the vehicle.

An additional technique of active reading strategy exercises is to ask yourself questions. Trying to answer these questions in the space provided in the textbook will continue to foster the learning process. It is also a good hint to use mechanical pencils due to the ability to erase and the clean lines of their fine points.

Using Drawings Can Help

The use of visual cues such as acronyms and flow charts can be significant tools in order to remember key historical date information, names and concepts. Take the time to draw when possible, using decision trees or bubble charts. Writing down the main word from each bullet point and then creating an acronym is also key when apply reading strategy exercises.

A summary of each section or paragraph in one sentence or less can also condense the information in to smaller amounts that are easier for you to remember. One of the oldest but most effective active reading strategies is to simply teach what you have just read to someone else. The act of repeating what you just absorbed and explaining it in your own words to another person, is an effective way for the conceptualization of the matter.