FAST READING

1. FAST READING Compiled By: Sailal Arimi Unit for Indonesian Language Learning, Department of Indonesian Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM

2. Slow Reading gain a detailed understanding of material maintain your concentration evaluate what you have read remember exactly what you have read follow instructions or directions understand difficult terms or ideas If you need to understand the terms, specific directions, or to remember what you have read then an analytical reading approach is needed. If you need to evaluate the material then a critical reading approach might be appropriate. Fast Reading gain an overview of the material separate relevant from irrelevant material locate specific information identify the central theme or idea Three effective fast reading styles are: Previewing; scanning ; skimming These styles can be used on their own, or in combination with each other. Slow Reading and Fast Reading

3. SKIMMING AND SCANNING SCIENTIFIC MATERIAL • Skimming involves searching for the main ideas by reading the first and last paragraphs, noting other organizational cues, such as summaries, used by the author. • Scanning involves running your eyes down the page looking for specific facts or key words and phrases. • Skimming and scanning are particularly valuable techniques for studying scientific textbooks. Science writers pack many facts and details closely together, and students react by shifting their reading speeds to the lowest gear and crawling through the material. Notwithstanding the fact that science textbooks are usually well-organized, with main points and sub-topics clearly delineated, the typical student ignores these clues and plods through the chapter word-by-word, trying to cram it all in. • It is precisely these characteristics, organization and density of facts per page, that make it so vital that you employ skimming scanning techniques. To successfully master science test, you must understand thoroughly the major ideas and concepts presented. Without such a conceptual framework, you will find yourself faced with the impossible task of trying to cram hundreds of isolated facts into your memory. thus, a preliminary skimming for the main ideas by using the author's organization cues (Topic headings, italics, summaries, etc.) is a vital preliminary step to more intensive reading and maximum retention. It will provide a logical framework in which to fit the details.

4. Scanning • Scanning is a technique you often use when looking up a word in the telephone book or dictionary. You search for key words or ideas. In most cases, you know what you're looking for, so you're concentrating on finding a particular answer. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases. Scanning is also used when you first find a resource to determine whether it will answer your questions. Once you've scanned the document, you might go back and skim it. • When scanning, look for the author's use of organizers such as numbers, letters, steps, or the words, first, second, or next. Look for words that are bold faced, italics, or in a different font size, style, or color. Sometimes the author will put key ideas in the margin.

5. Skimming • Skimming is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text. When you read the newspaper, you're probably not reading it word-by-word, instead you're scanning the text. 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. Use skimming when you want to see if an article may be of interest in your research. • There are many strategies that can be used when skimming. Some people read the first and last paragraphs using headings, summarizes and other organizers as they move down the page or screen. You might read the title, subtitles, subheading, and illustrations. Consider reading the first sentence of each paragraph. This technique is useful when you're seeking specific information rather than reading for comprehension. Skimming works well to find dates, names, and places. It might be used to review graphs, tables, and charts.

6. READING AND STUDY SKILLS: NOTE TAKING • The Cornell system for taking notes is designed to save time but yet be highly efficient. There is no rewriting or retyping of your notes. It is a "DO IT RIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE" system. • 1. First Step - PREPARATION • Use a large, loose-leaf notebook. Use only one side of the paper. (you then can lay your notes out to see the direction of a lecture.) Draw a vertical line 2 1/2 inches from the left side of you paper. This is the recall column. Notes will be taken to the right of this margin. Later key words or phrases can be written in the recall column. • 2. Second Step - DURING THE READING • Record notes in paragraph form. Capture general ideas, not illustrative ideas. Skip lines to show end of ideas or thoughts. Using abbreviations will save time. Write legibly. • 3. Third Step - AFTER THE READING • Read through your notes and make it more legible if necessary. Now use the column. Jot down ideas or key words which give you the idea of the lecture. (REDUCE) You will have to reread the lecturer's ideas and reflect in your own words. Cover up the right-hand portion of your notes and recite the general ideas and concepts of the lecture. Overlap your notes showing only recall columns and you have your review.

7. How To Read University Texts or Journal Articles • Choose a section preferrably not longer than 25 or 30 pages – perhaps one chapter, or a section of a chapter – that you can handle at one sitting. • Step 1. Read the title, the introduction, and the conclusion (5 minutes). • Step 2. Read the title, the introduction again, all sub-headings, and the conclusion, again. (5-10 minutes). • Step 3. Read the title, the introduction one more time, sub-headings, the Topic Sentence of each paragraph – usually the first or second sentence, (you may read the last sentence as well, if you have time), any italicized or boldfaced words, lists (you can skim these), and the conclusion (10 minutes). • (Force yourself to do steps 1 to 3 in less than 25 minutes.) • Step 4. Close your textbook.

8. Step 5-6 • Step 5. Make a Mind-Map of all you can remember in the chapter. Do not stop until at least half an hour is up, even if you feel that you can't possibly remember any more--more will surface if you give yourself the time. DO NOT REFER TO THE TEXT WHILE YOU ARE DOING THIS. If you come to a dead end, try alternative memory techniques to the ones you have been using: associating ideas, either from within the section itself or from other related material; visualizing pages, pictures, graphs etc.; recalling personal associations that may have come to mind; staring out the window and blanking out your thoughts; and so on. This is strenuous, but it is rewarding. It will show you exactly how much you have learned of what you have read. Give yourself a lot of time to do this, and you will probably be surprised at how much you actually can recall, and at how you can use all sorts of different strategies for remembering. You should also be noting down questions about things you have forgotten, so you can look them up. • When you are finished, you should try to figure out how all the material you have remembered fits together – not necessarily as it is presented in the book, but as it is organized in your own thinking. Note down your opinions of it, questions about it, disagreements with it, and so on. • Step 6. Check through the text and fill in any important information that you missed. Use a different colour of ink or some other way to mark this material that you forgot, so you can study it later. At this point, you may wish to read through the entire chapter as you normally would, to make sure you did not miss anything. Then do another Map, from memory, to check whether you have learned the new material

9. Reading faster • Read first sentence • Since often the first sentence of each paragraph states the main idea of that paragraph, while the other sentences elaborate on that idea, you can skim read by just reading the first sentences. In some cases, you 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, you can't use the first sentence method effectively. • Complex reading • With some complex reading--like Mathematics--you should still skim over the material, quickly looking at section titles and the equations and formulae. After you get an idea of what the material is about and where it is going, you can read it more carefully. Since you often may have to work out problems with a pencil, obviously your reading speed will not be as high as other type of reading. • Grouping words • Most people read one word at a time, saying the word to themselves. This is a slow way of doing the task, especially when your mind is capable of processing information at a much higher rate. • Look at groups of words • 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, you read in chunks of information. You don't have to say the word to understand what it means.

10. Practice with newspaper • 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. • 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. • In conclusion • If you think about reading faster, you will make an effort to pick up the pace. Reading speed is something you must work on and concentrate on until it becomes a habit. • Being able to read and comprehend the material at high speed is a skill that is worthwhile for students and people in business. Most methods involve reading chunks of information so that you are skimming or scanning the book or document.

11. How to Read More Rapidly. TIP 1-2 • » For best results, don't start right in by forcing yourself to read at 800 wpm, especially if you have been a habitually slow reader. Instead, as you become more fluent at reading easy materials rapidly, you will find that Tips 1, 2, and 3 will become part of your new reading habits. Then you can concentrate on increasing your rate with no loss of basic literal comprehension.  • » TIP 1. Approach rapid reading with a relaxed, confident mind-set. First, forget any 100 percent compulsion you may have built up over the years. Remind yourself that in the future, no one is going to test you on your leisure reading! Second, leave the slow rates (100-300 wpm) to talking or reading aloud. Your eyes can see all the words on a page at speeds up to 800 wpm, and your brain can operate at thousands of words per minute. So feed yourself printed words at a more challenging pace--400-800 wpm.  • »TIP 2. Trust your sense of closure. All adult readers know enough about English words, sentence patterns, and common logic to understand most of the contents of a page even if they do not clearly see every word. ("Function words"--those not essential to literal comprehension--may easily be omitted. "Key words," however, are important to comprehension.) Depending on how concise a writer's style is, we can omit 10-50 percent of the words in ordinary prose without losing any basic literal comprehension.

12. TIP 3 • »TIP 3. Use your eyes efficiently. A slow reader tends to fixate (focus) on every single word across the line. Yet the average eye span on the printed page is about 1½ inches in diameter. Can you identify most of the words within the circle without moving your eyes off the x? Two popular speed-reading techniques will help you increase your visual efficiency:  • Use soft focus as you read. Don't peer tensely at the words. Relax your eye muscles and face muscles. Let your peripheral vision do more of the work. Look slightly above the line of print, and let your eyes "float" down the page. Try to read the lines, not each letter and word.  • Use shortened margins. That is, don't fixate on the first or the last word on each line. Rather, fixate about a half inch in from each margin, letting your peripheral vision pick up the words to the side.  Like the soft-focus technique, this one takes time and practice. • A note of caution: The best eye span and soft focus in the world will not, but themselves, make a good or a fast reader. Ninety-nine percent of all reading takes place in the brain, not in the eyes. As you concentrate on the ideas on a page rather than on each word, and as you increase your rate in easy materials, your brain will become more alert and active, and you can forget what your eyes are doing. 

13. TIP 4-5 • »TIP 4. Use all the Essential Reading Skills. This means that you must first preview skim your material for the main ideas and overall structure. Since previewing helps with basic comprehension, scanning, and study reading, it is an absolute necessity in rapid reading. You will never increase your speed if you do not begin with a "map of the territory." Besides previewing, remember the other essential skills. You will need to pay attention to important transitions and other signals, and notice organizational patterns--all keys to the "writer's path." Even when we read rapidly, our goal is to grasp the writer's message as accurately as possible.  • »TIP 5. Use time pressure. This is an outgrowth of Tip 1. Be confident that your brain can handle print faster than you can talk or read aloud. To rapid read, you should be physically relaxed but mentally active!  Most people find that some tension, some pressure, helps them concentrate on their reading. In fact, skilled rapid readers are not passive and comfortable. In rapid reading as in scanning, you must be conscious of time passing. So time yourself, of have someone else time you, or work up a little competition with class members.  • One tried-and-true way to apply time pressure is to chart your reading rate. As usual, choose a fairly easy book and make sure your purpose is enjoyment. Keeping an objective record (e.g.,list, chart, or graph) is important, since we seldom know just how fast we are reading.  • Rate charts, whether handmade or commercial, operate the same way: graphic records or your ups-and-downs that will spur you to faster and more consistent speeds. Even a simple time-block record is helpful. With this, you read for a fixed time, then stop, count the pages read, and list or graph the number.  • Another easy way to keep your rate over 400 wpm, on your own, is to time your reading of a paperback book page by page. Since the average paperback contains 350-450 words per page, your speed will fall into the lower range of "rapid reading" if you can read at least one page per minute. To help maintain a steady, rapid pace, try using your finger as a pacing device down each page. 

14. TIP 6 • »TIP 6. Use a crutch, until you can read rapidly without one. If you try the first five tips and still continue to read easy materials at a grade-school rate, the following may help you concentrate and speed up:  • Use your finger as a pacing device. You can move the finger rapidly from left to right under each line.  This technique is effective if you intend to read every line, but it will hold you back if you wish to skip. Or you can use one or more fingers vertically. Place your finger(s) under the center of the first line of page, then move your finger straight down the page. (A slight left-right wiggle is permissible.)  Keep your finger one or two lines below your eyes. (You may have already tried this in Practice 4.3.)  • Use an index card as your own portable shutter. Like commercial gadgets, the card prevents you from regressing to previous lines of print. Also, because you use your arm and hand to move the card down the page, you are physically more focused on the reading. Unlike other gadgets, an index card is cheap, is easy to carry with you, and can double as a bookmark!  Do not forget to use soft focus and shortened margins as you read.  • These crutches help keep your attention on the page and pressure you to read faster. Some readers continue to use their favorite crutch for years, especially when they feel distracted. Eventually, though, it's best if you can really change your old habits of unnecessary slow reading, "throw away your crutch," and read general materials at 400-800 wpm, simply by using your eyes and brain. A good slogan to keep in mind: "Read the ideas on the page, not the words."

15. Suggested Readings Buzan, Tony (1989). Speed reading. England: Penguin Books Ltd. Buzan, Tony (1974). Use your head. London: BBC Publications, chapter 2. Ellis, David (1991). Becoming a master student. Rapid City, New Jersey: College survival, Inc., chapter 4. Gibbs, Graham (1981). Teaching students to learn. England: Open University Press., chapter 2. Harnadek, Anita (1969). Critical reading improvement. New York: McGraw Hill Book Co. Phillips, Ann Dye and Peter Elias Sotiriou. 1992. Steps to Reading Proficiency. 3rd Edition. Belmont, California: Wadsworth.  Klein, Marion (1970). How to learn from a college textbook. New York: New Century. Maiorana, Victor (1980). How to learn and study in college. New Jersey: Prentice Hall., chapters 8-10, 15. Mikulecky, B. and Linda Jeffries. 1996. More Reading Power. USA: Longman. New York State Personnel and Guidance Association (1968). Tips to improve personal study skills. New York: Delnar Publishers., chapter 7. Taylor et al. (1987). Thinking it through-a practical guide to academic essay writing. Ontario: Academic Skills Centre, chapter 5. Witty, Paul (1957). How you can be a better student. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., chapter 4.