Reading

• You’re just looking at something to see if it would be useful for a research paper

• You only need to get a general sense of the material before discussing it in more detail in class

• The text is covering something you’ve already learned, and you’re just reviewing

On the other hand, deep reading is necessary if:

• You are using the reading for your research paper, and need to fully understand it

• You are going to be tested on the material

• The text covers something new or complex

Shallow reading and deep reading don’t require radically different methods. Basically, deep reading builds on the things you can do to read shallowly. The steps outlined below start shallow and go deeper. You can stop at any step depending on how deeply you need to understand the material. Even if you know you need to read something deeply, starting with the shallower methods is helpful because they give you some foundational awareness of the text that makes understanding its details easier.

1. Don’t highlight anything until you’ve read and understand the entire section/chapter

   • You need to understand a section overall in order to identify its key points, so focus on comprehension first, then go back and highlight the essential parts

   • If you’re worried about going into passive reading mode, don’t hold anything in your hands while you read; only pick your highlighter up when you've finished the section and understand it
     

2. Have a system that you use throughout the text

   • Rather than just highlighting things that seem like they could be important, develop some rules ahead of time based on why you’re reading the text: if your instructor is going to be testing you on terminology, for example, you might plan to highlight key terms and their definitions in your text; if you’re reading an article for a research paper, you might highlight material that relates to your topic

   • If you need to know several types of information in the text, like theories and terminology, use different colours for each

   • Having a plan in place ahead of time forces you to think through why you want to highlight something (meaning you need to understand it) and connect it to your purpose for reading
     

3. Combine highlighting with another reading strategy, like taking notes or annotating

   • Taking notes, either in the text itself (annotating) or another document, requires a greater level of understanding than highlighting, so it can ensure you’re reading deeply

   • Having a system for the combination can help too: for example, you might use your notes to summarize major theories, and then highlight examples of each theory in the text

1. Annotate your text

Doing a close reading is not the same as reading a novel or poem for pleasure. The point of close reading is to examine how all of its parts fit together rather than just to appreciate the storyline. As you read, make note of things like figurative language and changes in tone, and also record your reactions.

2. Try to identify patterns

Look for patterns or repetition in word choice, figurative language, themes, and so on. Try to mark them consistently so that you can group them together later.

3. Ask questions

Write down any questions that come up as you read. These questions can be about things you don’t understand, but also try to focus on “how” and “why” questions about the text. Developing a habit of questioning the texts you read will help you avoid simply summarizing the story in a discussion or analysis paper.

1. Physiology

• Our eyes tend to get tired faster when we’re reading on a screen compared to paper. The light emitted from a screen can be tiring, and when reading on a screen we’re often focusing on a monitor that is further away than we’d place a book, or we're trying to read off of our relatively tiny phone screens.

2. Distractions

• When we read digital material we’re typically doing it on a computer or our phones, both of which present multiple distractions, like notifications, that break our focus. Because these notifications often have a visual component, they draw our eyes away from where we were in the document.

3. Habits

• Most of the reading we do on screens is surface-level: we check emails and chats, read the occasional news article, skim the first three sentences of the conspiracy theory our weird uncle shared on Facebook, and so on. Because we are so used to doing surface reading on a screen, we often unconsciously slip into that mode when reading things we want to read deeply, too. We are also more likely to overestimate how well we understand what we’ve read because our typical standard for comprehending digital material is lower.

4. Perspective

• When we read something on paper, we’re able to see the entire page even if we’re focusing on a few words at a time. Many people associate information they read with where it is located on the page, which can help them recall it later. Because we tend to scroll through digital text, that sense of place isn’t there and navigating a text can feel more difficult.

• Make sure you know how to use the reading platforms you have (for e-books, pdfs, etc.)

• In particular, make sure you know how to:

  • • highlight

    • add notes

    • move around in the document

    • save your work

    • export your notes and highlighting (if possible)

• If your platform lets you bookmark sections, you can use them to create your own table of contents for key sections

• Alternatively, you can add brief notes to the margins to make it easier to spot key ideas (try to use a feature that doesn't require you to open each note to see what it says)

• Even if you don’t use multiple coloured highlighters (or highlighters at all) when reading on paper, consider developing a system for your digital readings

  • • marking different types of information (like definitions, names, theories, etc.) in different colours helps you find what you’re looking for faster (and, as discussed above, having a system for your highlighting helps you avoid surface reading)

• If your platform allows you to export your notes and highlighted sections, you can essentially create a summary of the reading