Search Close

Reading strategies

Reading literature in higher education differs significantly in many aspects from reading a newspaper or fictional book. You will find tips on useful strategies here that will provide you with the best preconditions for taking in the literature both by reading and listening.

Prepare yourself properly when reading

  • Start with the book’s title and feel free to change it to a question.
    Then you will find out what you are supposed to get out of the book. Look at the objectives that can be found in the course syllabus, and try linking this to what you are reading, and you will get further clues to what you are expected to learn from the book.
  • Look for the blurb or another brief summary.
    This often states what the book is all about and it will give you a further understanding of the contents.
  • Read through the Table of Contents – preferably several times back and forth.
    That will give you an overview of all the parts of the book and a sense of how the book is structured. Try to add in a variety of different concepts and contents in your understanding. Have you heard about any of this before? Do you recall in what context? Is something related to something you have already read or studied in the course?
  • Browse through the entire book, page by page.
    Stay with each page for only a few seconds. This way you register not only the headings but also pictures, images, charts and fact boxes if any.
A younger man and a younger woman are seated in bean bags, each one of them with a computer in front of them. The man, who has glasses and light hair, looks at the woman's computer screen. The woman looks into the camera and is wearing a dark pink shawl around her head. Photo.

updated

contact

share

Contact