Active readers are involved in what they are reading. They think and ask questions as they
read, looking for the author’s main points and the support for those points. After—or
as—they read, they take notes and use an effective study method to help them master
those notes.
Active readers are the opposite of passive readers (such as the light-haired girl pictured
in this Peanuts cartoon), whose minds do not really pay attention to what they read.
In this final lesson, you’ll learn how to deepen your active reading by including writing
and study.
Here in a nutshell is what you should do to read actively:
Ask yourself, “What is the point?” and “What is the support for the point?”
Pay close attention to titles and other headings, and also mark off definitions, examples, and
enumerations.
An active reader, besides asking the two basic questions, “What is the author’s point,
and how does he support his point?”, writes out the answers to those questions.
The very act of writing helps an active reader study and master and remember the material.
These are the basics of a study system that really works:
Read the material, looking for the main points and supports. Very often the clues to important
ideas will be titles, enumerations, definitions, and examples. Note that it helps to have your
pen in hand so you can mark off material as you read.
Take written notes on the main points and supports. As you read, look for (and mark
off) important ideas, and then take notes on those ideas. The very act of note taking—of
writing ideas out on paper—will help you study and master those ideas. What many students
do not realize is that taking notes on a subject can help in thinking about and understanding
the subject. Writing is thinking.
Now let’s look at a more detailed study system.
There are a variety of very similar “textbook study systems.” One of these systems is
called PRWR. This system directs you to study what you read by taking four steps.
The first step is to preview the chapter to get a general overview before you start reading.
Note the title, which is probably a summary of what the whole chapter is about, and quickly
read the first and last paragraphs of the chapter, which may introduce or summarize
main ideas in the chapter.
Step two is to read and underline or otherwise mark what seem to be the important ideas in
the chapter. In particular, look for and underline definitions, and mark examples of those definitions.
Also look for enumerations— major lists of items, which may already be numbered 1,
2, 3, and so on, or which you can number yourself.
The third step is to write (or type into your computer) study notes on the chapter. Actual
writing and note taking is a key to successful learning. In the very act of deciding what
is important enough to write down and then writing it down, you begin to learn and master
the material.
Step four is to recite your study notes until you can say them to yourself without looking
at them. It helps to put key words in the margin of your notes. Key words can give you
a way to test yourself. Look at just the key word and recite the information related to
it. Once you can do that, go on to the next key word. After you have mastered a new key
word, go back and retest yourself on all of the previous key words. It is impossible to
be passive in your study if you continue this strategy of repeated self-testing.
To summarize, in this lesson you learned what it takes to be an active reader as opposed
to a passive reader:
Active readers think and ask questions as they read. Active readers ask, “What is
the point?” and “What is the support for the point?” Active readers also pay close
attention to titles and other headings, as well as definitions, examples, and enumerations.
Active readers often have a pen in hand as they read so they can mark off what seem to
be the important ideas.
Active readers often use a reading study system. In a nutshell, they preview a selection first;
then they read and mark off what seem to be the important ideas; next, they take written
notes on that material; and finally, they recite their notes
until they can remember them.