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Strategies for Academic Reading
As ALP students complete the course's various writing projects, many find they need a tune-up in their Strategies for Academic Reading.
The following resources can be used to support college-level reading across a variety of genres and purposes and have been organized into Before Reading, During Reading, and After Reading stages.
Before Reading
Strategy #1: Priming
Just like painting primer prepares paint to stick better to a wall, pre-reading priming preps ideas to stick in your brain.
In the Priming schema pictured, you start with “Preview.” That is, before you read something difficult, scan through the whole thing for two or three minutes. Notice the title. Notice any sections or subheadings. Notice any images, graphs, statistics. Notice any keywords that jump out. And look ahead at the ending, which often summarizes the whole.
Then quickly jot down at least one Connection (aka, something you already know that relates to this subject), one Question (I sometimes use, “What am I most curious about now? What am I hoping I might learn or get the answer to here?) and one Prediction (if I had to guess, what might this reading say or be like?).
That’s it! Priming strategies like this are fast, infinitely repeatable, and effective.
Strategy #2: Comprehension Monitoring
Efficient college readers often use and re-use habitual solutions for common reading "problems," like coming across an unknown word or predicting what information might later appear on a test.
The following set of Comprehension Monitoring Interview questions, used with permission from Landmark College, can help you articulate your own go-to reading habits and compare/contrast strategies with classroom peers.
Comprehension Monitoring Interview (1).pdfDuring Reading
Strategy #3: Self-Directing Purpose
Often in college, there’s reading where your professor has told you, “Do this reading” but you don’t exactly know what you are reading FOR. You either haven’t been told what the exact purpose will be, or the purpose is something very open like, “Do this reading… and we’ll discuss what you found most interesting.”
If your teacher or assignment hasn't given explicit directions to guide your reading, then you'll need to self-direct. Here are the top three strategies ALP students advise using to self-direct "no clear purpose" reading:
Strategy #4: Reasoning Tracking
You can also use what you've learned about writing to better absorb and evaluate authors' patterns of reasoning while you read.
A guidesheet like this one, also used with permission from Landmark College, can make the process easier:
Elements of Reasoning Worksheet (1).pdfAfter Reading
Strategy #5: Ranking Your Reading
Finally, finishing a reading assignment provides a great time to pause and self-reflect. Many college students improve their reading skills over time by playing the role of teacher and self-assessing.
Ready to try ranking your reading? These two rubrics from Landmark College are both good places to solidify goals met and to set new goals for the future:
Active Reading Rubric Advanced (1).pdfEvaluating Reading Strategies (1).pdfPage updated
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