Introduction to study skills in English – II [Archives:2006/932/Education]

Dr Jayashree Mohanraj
Faculty of Arts
Taiz University
After locating a relevant book in the library, what do we do with it? Of course we will read it! There is no doubt about it. But the point I am making here is, how do we go about reading the book. For this, we need to know the entire contents of the book. This information is given to the readers in the article written by Mohanraj (YT 12 Dec 2005). So I am not repeating it. I will confine myself to how do we make our reading efficient. There are two aspects to reading: (a) speed (b) comprehension. Both aspects are important.

A very efficient reader reads at least 400-500 words per minute. The average speed expected of an average college student is at least 200-250 words per minute. There are various exercises which help us improve our speed in reading (Reading Comprehension by Edward Fry). We should remember that we use different strategies of reading for different kinds of information. For example, we survey the text to locate particular information. This is called scanning. We do this when we look at the Contents and Index pages of the book. We also survey for overall impression of the book. For example, we do it when we read the blurb. We call this skimming. Once we decide to read the chapters we start intensive reading.

I feel it is necessary to mention here a few dos and don'ts for efficient speed reading. 1. Do not read each word but read in chunks or group of words . 2. Do not interrupt your reading too often to refer to the dictionary if you come across unfamiliar words. Try to guess the meaning Most of the time the context helps you in understanding the meaning. 3. Do not move your head and eyes following the lines. 4. Do not follow the lines with your finger or pen. 5. Do not sub-vocalize i.e. move your lips and read in subdued tone. All these habits reduce speed of reading.

It is natural that we cannot remember all that we read. And it is futile to read the same book again and again each time we need the information. Hence we make notes while reading to retain the information and will be able to retrieve it whenever we need it. It is therefore essential to develop the skill of note- taking efficiently while we read a book or even when we listen to a classroom lecture. One primary and most essential point we should remember here is that we should not try to write down everything that we read or listen to. That defeats the purpose of note-making.

We can say that there are three main reasons for note- taking : (a) to have a record of the information (b) to retrieve information when necessary, and (c) to make the information part of our knowledge. And we normally use any of the three methods or all of them while taking notes: i. We summarize (if we want the general idea of a large amount of material) . ii. We paraphrase (if we want detailed information, we write in our own words). iii. We quote (if we want to use exact words, sentences of the author).

We can use different ways of taking notes. We can use loose sheets which can be filed. We can take notes in a note-book. We can take notes on note-cards. If we are taking notes to write a research paper or project report taking notes on note-cards is the best method, because we need to organize the large material and also need information for References/ Bibliography. Note-cards are easy to handle and can be arranged alphabetically. On each card we should write the author's full name, title of the book or journal and the page numbers where the material is available.

The first thing we need to do while taking notes from a text is to survey the text for the main points. Then read the text again noting down the main points or ideas, relating one point with the next. This is called organizing the notes.

We can use several strategies while taking notes. We can make a list of the main points. We can use a flow chart. We can also use a tree diagram These are quick and also help us to remember the details easily. Depending on the type of the text we should decide the way we use the strategy. We can even use a combination of all or some of these. For example, if it is a description of an organization and its several departments and sections, we can adopt a tree-diagram. If it is a process we can use a flow-chart. If it is a critical essay with several comments we can make a list of the logical arguments presented.

While taking notes we should remember that we need not write full sentences. Secondly, we can use abbreviations. Abbreviations used should preferably be the standard ones because personal style of abbreviations may cause confusion at a later stage when we look at the notes after some lapse of time. We may forget what an abbreviation stands for. We can also use acronyms, signs, numbers in place of words where possible, dashes and other useful punctuation marks to show the links between main and sub-ideas. Another point which is important in note-taking is , if we are quoting we should take down the words, sentences, including the punctuation marks exactly as they are written along with the page numbers.

Taking notes of classroom lectures is an essential skill all learners at college level need to develop. We can use either note-books or loose sheets for this purpose. They are better than note-cards. On a given day a learner listens to more than one lecture on more than one subject. Hence, though notebooks are convenient to carry, the lecture notes on the same subject will be scattered on different pages. Hence, using loose sheets which can be filed neatly subject-wise and date-wise are better.

The first thing we need to remember taking notes while listening is to write the name of the speaker and the topic and date on the top. This will help us file the papers without any confusion. Secondly, we should never try to write down full sentences. It is not possible as the speed of speaking and the speed with which we write do not match. We have to be alert in the class so that we don't miss any essential points. Normally teachers/speakers list out the main points, they even write them down on chalk boards. And they use illustrations to drive home a point. We can use abbreviations for the examples. Sometimes speakers digress into anecdotes and jokes to retain the attention of the audience. We should know the purpose of such digressions and avoid taking them down.

Normally classroom notes help us understand the 'handouts' better and in the long run help us prepare for the examination. Hence we should develop the skill of taking notes in the class. Incidental benefits of this skill are it keeps us alert in the class and also helps increasing our comprehension and writing speed.

To sum up, we have discussed in the two parts of this article how to locate a book and read it efficiently and also the uses of the study skill in our learning programme. I hope it will make learning more enjoyable and fruitful.

Concluded
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