| If you know what you want from an article, and recognizing
its type, you can extract information from it quickly and
efficiently.
Get 80% of the information in 20% of the time by simply
reading the title, subtitle, bold type, last paragraph and first
paragraph--spend only 30-45 seconds. Then reflect on the
relevance of the information for you. If it is important to read
more, go to the next step. Otherwise, find another article.
Take 1-2 minutes to skim through the article to find the core
idea. Know what is being expressed. Do you need more details? If
not, find another article.
Read lightly and flexibly. Know what you need. Slow down to
fulfill your purpose, answering questions that are most
important to you. Since very few words carry the meaning, speed
up to pass redundant or useless information.
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 you should be able to
process all of them at once.
Newspapers tend to be arranged in sections. If you read a
news paper often, you can learn quickly which sections are
useful and which ones you can skip altogether.
The most effective way of getting information from magazines
is to scan the contents tables or indexes and turn directly to
interesting articles. If you find an article useful, then cut it
out and file it in a folder specifically covering that sort of
information. In this way you will build up sets of related
articles that may begin to explain the subject.
This method is one of the best for getting used to reading
phases instead of words. Just practicing reading this way should
noticeably increase your speed.
Browse through the publication (frontward or backwards) and
you get to know what is in it and where it is located. Notice
the layout and how the information is presented. Notice the
table of contents and any special sections.
Notice which articles pique your interest, but don't read them
yet. Reading for information should be a goal seeking activity.
Decide how much time you can afford, and then go for it. Catch
titles, subtitles, pictures, and charts. When you find something
interesting, think of how you can use it.
These tend to give a very fragmented coverage of an area.
They will typically only concentrate on the most interesting and
glamorous parts of a topic - this helps them to sell copies!
They will often ignore less interesting information that may be
essential to a full understanding of a subject. Typically areas
of useful information are padded out with large amounts of
irrelevant waffle or with advertising.
Be active, ask the questioning and be goal oriented. Save time
and get more information from the time you spend reading.
Storage important articles, pass them on, or recycle the
publication. Don't be serious, It's best to be playful.
Follow this tips and your reading will become purposeful. |