Wise Choices in College: Reading
How to read ACTIVELY! Collect key concepts, important ideas, and supporting
details.
Before Reading
 Approach Reading with a positive
attitude
 Create a distributed reading
schedule- don’t read in a
marathon
 Read when you are most alert
 Read where you can concentrate
 Review past readings- glance at
chapter titles and text headings to
jog your memory
 Preview before reading-look at
table of contents, bold, capital,
chapter objectives
 Do a quick read
 Identify the purpose of what you
are reading
 Create a list of questions
While Reading
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Read in chunks
Concentrate on reading faster
Pause to recite
Read for answers to questions on your list
Write new questions and their answers
Mark your text- what is the main idea?
Annotate your text- add comments and summarize
Take notes
Read for Interesting and Useable information
Look up the definition of key words
Use context clues to determine the meaning of key
words
Read critically
Apply special strategies for reading math- pause
after each step to make sure there is understanding
Apply special strategies for science- question,
hypotheses, experimental evidence, and
conclusions (SM)
Apply special strategies for reading literaturetheme, plot
Understand Graphic Information- pie charts, etc.
After Reading
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Reflect on what you read
Reread difficult passages
Recite the marked text
Talk about what you read
Read another book on the
same subject
 Seek assistance
Wise Choice Process
Step 1: What is your present
situation?
Step 2: How would you like
your situation to be?
Step 3: What are my possible
choices?
Step 4: What’s the likely
outcome of each possible
choice?
Step 5: Which Choices will I
commit to doing?
Step 6: When and how will I
evaluate my plan?