Reading Skills

READING STRATEGIES -If we know something about a text we are going to read, our perception, interpretation, and understanding of that text will likely begin before we start to read. Even if we do not know anything about a text, our mind tries to make sense of what we are attending to We may have experienced frustration with trying to read something that we did not understand; we may have tried to tackle it, or we may have given up discouraged because it seemed too foreign, too inaccessible. A feeling or sense of difficulty or confusion when tackling something new is normal. Most people experience this feeling when confronted with new ideas, thoughts, or concepts. But with practice this would become easy.

READING FLEXIBILITY - This concept can be seen as analogous to driving a standard shift car. In driving a standard car we use different gears at different times, depending on such factors as visibility, weather conditions, etc. No one, for example, always drives in second gear. With reading, we need to "shift gears" in response to different reading situations. We need to realize that we need to read as well as understand the text simultaneously and that too in a limited time. So ,we need to practice two styles of reading that can come handy and solve our purpose. They are

o Skimming - reading rapidly for the main points

o Scanning - reading rapidly to find a specific piece of information

As an MBA aspirant ,we need to master both these techniques.

SKIMMING

Skimming is defined as the search of main ideas using only the first and last paragraphs to obtain a general view of the text. If we read a lot of passages or pieces of writing we come to realize that they are usually written in block of information grouped in paragraphs. In this case the best alternative is to read the first sentence of each paragraph. It is important to note that this technique is used not as a short cut to reading the whole text. It does not mean that we can simply read the first and last paragraphs and that we can understand everything. This technique is used to help us get an idea of what we are about to read. Skimming is like having a map before entering a city. It is less likely that we get lost if we have previous information.

In skim reading, we just scan through the material, letting our eyes catch key words. This can give a rough idea of the meaning of the material.. Skimming is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text.

Since often the first sentence of each paragraph states the main idea of that paragraph, while the other sentences elaborate on that idea, we can skim read by just reading the first sentences. In some cases, we can get enough information by only reading the first sentence from each paragraph.

Unfortunately, some writers make their paragraphs so long, that they have several ideas in them, and others stick the important sentences in the middle. In such cases, we can't use the first sentence method effectively.

With some complex reading after we get an idea of what the material is about and where it is going, we can read it more carefully. Since we often may have to work out what is stated, obviously our reading speed will not be as high as other type of reading.

Most people read one word at a time, saying the words to themselves. This is a slow way of doing the task, especially when our mind is capable of processing information at a much higher rate.

One of the primary tricks in speed-reading is to look at phrases and groups of words instead of individual words. Instead of reading word-by-word, read in chunks of information. We don't have to say the word to understand what it means.

Try reading several words, a phrase, or even a sentence at a time. A good way to practice this is to read newspaper articles by scanning down the column, digesting all the words across, instead of reading each word at a time. A newspaper column usually has 4 or 5 words per line, and we should be able to process all of them at once.

This method is one of the best for getting used to reading phrases instead of words. Just practicing reading this way should noticeably increase our speed.

If we think about reading faster, we will make an effort to pick up the pace. Reading speed is something we must work on and concentrate on until it becomes a habit.

Skimming is done at a speed three to four times faster than normal reading. People often skim when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time.

Skimming works well to find dates, names, and places.

Examples of Skimming:

• The Newspaper (quickly