Reading

Everyday English

In everyday English reading is done for fun or to find out easy-to -understand information.

Everyday reading may be from a website or magazine and will be easy to read. You can find magazines and e-books which will help improve your everyday English on Library Search via the Libby app.

The library also has graded readers which are simplified versions of classic and popular fiction. You can find these on floor 2 of Augustine House Library at classmark 428.64.

Academic English

Academic English requires a lot of reading to learn about new ideas and to find evidence that supports existing ideas.

In academic studies you are expected to read academic articles, research papers, and textbooks to learn new information that can be used in your studies.

At first, reading academic texts may be difficult but it becomes easier with practice.

Tips for Reading:

Skimming

Skim the text and pay attention to the opening sentences of a new paragraph as these will tell you what the rest of the paragraph is about.

Scanning

If you are looking for something specific, think about key words related to that topic and scan the text for those words.

Use the Ctrl + F function on the key board to look for key terms in a web page or a PDF version of a journal article.

Write a list of keywords that are used to signal key findings such as identifies/ shows/ demonstrates/ emerged/ confirmed/ concludes/ proves/ illustrates (you will find more examples of these words in the vocabulary section of this module) and use Ctrl + F to help find those significant arguments. Once you have found those words, read the sentence and if it doesn’t make sense in isolation, go back to read the paragraph, and then the whole section. Once you have done this, going back to read the whole article sequentially is easier, as you understand its structure and what it is about to say.

Selection and Rejection

If you have to read the opening paragraph of an article three times and still do not understand it, then leave it, read another article, build up more knowledge in the subject area and come back to the first article when you have that knowledge. It is hard to find the key points if they are written in complex terms.

Not every article or textbook will be useful for you; part of research is looking for texts that help your studies. Do not be discouraged; keep reading regularly.

Constant reading without pausing to take notes and reflect can lead to brain overload even for students for whom English is their first language. You can find out more about note-taking here.

Find out more on the next page: Writing