Readers Guide – How to read more effectively?

Everyone is reading nowadays, either it is a small news that came out of the piece of newspaper or it can be a digitised way of reading, in simple words Kindle read.

Reading is a good thing, and we are often taught that it can enhance our capability of thinking, and when human mind thinks, then it could be a beautiful way of exploring.
Have you ever wondered? How much we grab out of all the content that we are reading. Think… okay, it’s 40%. Less? Very less?

Yes human mind has least tendency to remember things. And sometimes it happens that you are reading a line out of your subject and you realize that you have already forgotten the previous one. Don’t worry, you are not alone, almost 50% of the readers have this “HTR”, it’s “Hard-To-Remember” problem.

The capability to remember the words that you are constantly feeding into your memory also depends on the fact that what you are reading is interesting to you or not.

A lot of studies on this particular subject have revealed that the people who read their favourite genre find themselves easy to remember all the details  of what they have read as compared to the ones they don’t feel like reading.

Are we born as a good Reader? Or Is there any exercise with which we can train our brain to remember what we read easily?

Some of you struggle to read more, and even if you do manage to read more, you struggle to fully comprehend and internalise what it is that you have read. In this article, we are sharing some of the to-do things that can make you a better reader and empower you to grasp the maximum out of your read.

 

Before you start to read – Ask Questions

Before you start reading a book, you will have a basic idea of what the book is about. This allows you to ask yourself 3 simple questions before you start to read. They are:

  • What do I already know?
  • What more do I want to know?
  • I wonder if…

The answers to these questions will give you a framework to move on and something which you’re looking to get out of the book. This means you’re not just reading without an aim, but instead you’re actively looking to learn something from the book.

 

During Reading – Take small pauses and ask more questions

While you’re reading, you need to take regular pauses and compile what you have already read, this will help you to correlate to the story well and ultimately you find yourself more active.

  • Does this make sense?
  • How does this information connect to what I already know?
  • What does the writer say about…?
  • What does the writer mean about…?
  • I still need to know more about…?

By asking yourself these questions, you are regularly evaluating what’s being said. By looking at what the author is explaining, as well as the meaning behind it, you will understand the thinking process more efficiently. You are also proceeding to look for more explicit information in the upcoming text.

 

Imagine

To better understand what you’re reading, it’s important to make visual illustrations of what is being addressed by:

  • Picturing the plots what it might look like
  • Creating the visual scenes and relate yourself as a protagonist.

This will help you remember not only what you read and understood, but how it looks as it is functioning.

 

Connect the Dots

A critical part of learning and understanding something new is to connect it with pieces of information that you already understand. Most of the time, you already know about certain parts of what you’re reading from previous reads, your own personal experience and other sources, so you will be able to add to that base.

 

Take Good Notes

The best way to take notes during reading is:

  • Look for the main ideas and focus on those
  • Use words you can associate with.
  • Make your notes as brief as possible
  • Use simple headings and bullets to organise your notes
  • Keeping summing up what you read.

 

After you are finished : Find The Main Ideas

Now you’ve successfully completed the book, made effective notes, took time to reflect and understand as you read and asked yourself good questions as you read. Now that the book is done, you need to think about the important ideas in the book.

Ask yourself the following:

  • What was the most important thing you remember about the book?
  • What was the main moral of the book?

A lot of population who reads also wants to write, may be now or may be in future, so for those people it’s important to ask,

  • How this story would be different, if you got the chance to rewrite?

 

Also Read 10 Easy Hacks to get rid of Writers Block

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Writer | Entrepreneur | Engineer | Visionary | Environmentalist. Steal a word out of each day, and eventually you end up having your story.

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