Active Reading is simply a method of reading a book with a purposeful intention of learning from and applying things in it. Active reading is also called comprehensive understanding, which is characterized by asking questions of the reader during the entire text. To read aggressively, you need to ask yourself questions throughout the text, as well as reflecting on these questions.
Reading actively means asking questions about a text in order to form your own judgments of the content and reliability of it. Reading aggressively means just that: reading something with a determined effort to understand it and judge it on its own merits.
Active, critical reading helps you retain the information you are reading, giving you an in-depth understanding of the text. There are various strategies that you can use to effectively read and retain the information that you are reading. Below are a few practical and effective strategies for active reading you can try in order to make the most out of your time with reading. Effective reading strategies can make sure you really understand course materials, show up to class prepared, and do better on assignments and tests in the classroom.
Instead, studies have shown that active reading strategies result in greater understanding and retention, and can help students do better in class. As a result, many students never learn the techniques needed to effectively read a textbook in order to retain the information well. Simply reading and re-reading the material is not an effective way of understanding and learning.
Since the paragraphs of publications such as scientific journals and scholarly journals may have lots of information, it is wasteful for you to have to read them all, unless you are already well-versed with the subject matter. Make sure to carefully read a section at a time while trying to discover potential relationships, key ideas, and information that can help tie the individual facts together in the larger concept. If you have a few ideas of what helpful information can be taken away from a text, create yourself a series of questions, then read rapidly for answers. Getting an early impression of the way the chapter or essay is laid out, for instance, will help you to figure out where to find the key information in your second reading. Creating a study guide for each lesson, or set of notes on the reading, may help to direct your thoughts while reading.
By closely matching your approach to the material, and taking ownership of your reading process, you will learn to make the best use of the time and effort that you are investing -- both on page and on screen. What seems like an impossible task (tackling all this text) becomes attainable once you begin becoming an active reader; i.e., asking questions about what you need to know, taking a strategic, critical approach, then choosing the readings that are relevant to your questions and tasks. Make the most of the time you are spending reading books and blog posts, making sure that you keep more of the content relevant, and can apply it to your daily life and work. Highly effective readers employ a set of mental processes called active reading in order to retain more of the information and to make newly acquired knowledge more useful.