How to read and comprehend

How to Improve Reading Comprehension: 8 Expert Tips

Reading is a skill many people take for granted, but the act of reading and properly comprehending a text is a complex and interactive process. It requires several different brain functions to work together and most often requires one to puzzle through multiple layers of context and meaning.

Because reading comprehension is so complicated, we can often find ourselves understanding the most basic interpretation of a text, but missing the emotional core or the "big picture." Or we might just find our brains spinning with no clue at all as to what a text is attempting to convey.

But luckily for everyone who struggles in English classes, on standardized tests, or in daily life, reading comprehension can be improved upon (and it's never too late to start!). In this guide, I explain step-by-step how to improve reading comprehension over time and offer tips for boosting your understanding as you read.

What Is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension is the understanding of what a particular text means and the ideas the author is attempting to convey, both textual and subtextual. In order to read any text, your brain must process not only the literal words of the piece, but also their relationship with one another, the context behind the words, how subtle language and vocabulary usage can impact emotion and meaning behind the text, and how the text comes together as a larger, coherent whole.

For instance, let's look at the first line from Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Now, a completely literal interpretation of the text, just based on word-meaning, would have us believe that 'all rich men want wives.' But the context, word choice, and phrasing of the text actually belie that interpretation. By using the phrases "universally acknowledged" and "must be in want of" (emphasis ours), the text is conveying a subtle sarcasm to the words. Instead of it being an actual truth that 'rich men want wives,' this one sentence instantly tells us that we're reading about a society preoccupied with marriage, while also implying that the opening statement is something people in that society may believe, but that isn't necessarily true.

In just a few short words, Austen conveys several ideas to the reader about one of the main themes of the story, the setting, and what the culture and people are like. And she does so all the while seeming to contradict the literal words of the piece.

Without practice in reading comprehension, nuances like these can become lost. And so it can happen that someone may find themselves reading, but not truly comprehending the full meaning of a text.

As you can see, reading comprehension involves many processes happening in your brain at once, and thus it can be easy for some aspects of a text to get lost in the muddle. But the good news for anyone who struggles is that reading comprehension is a skill just like any other. It must be learned through practice, focus, and diligence, but it absolutely CAN be learned.

Why Reading Comprehension Is Important

Proper reading comprehension can be difficult, so why bother? Even though learning how to properly read and comprehend texts is a complicated process, it is a necessary skill to master, both for work and for pleasure.

You will need to know how to read and interpret all kinds of different texts—both on the basic, literal level and on a more in-depth level—throughout your schooling, in college, and in the working world (as well as in your recreation time!). If we think about "reading" just as a literal or surface understanding of a piece and "reading comprehension" as the complete understanding, a person can only get by in the world on pure "reading" for so long.

Reading comprehension is essential for many significant aspects of daily life, such as:

Reading, understanding, and analyzing literature in your English classes

Reading and understanding texts from your other class subjects, such as history, math, or science

Doing well on both the written and math sections of the SAT (or all five sections of the ACT)

Understanding and engaging with current events presented in written form, such as news reports

Properly understanding and responding to any and all other workplace correspondence, such as essays, reports, memos, and analyses

Simply taking pleasure in written work on your own leisure time

Just like with any goal or skill, we can master reading comprehension one step at a time.

How to Improve Reading Comprehension: 3 Steps

Because reading comprehension is a skill that improves like any other, you can improve your understanding with practice and a game plan.

Dedicate yourself to engaging in a combination of both "guided" and "relaxed" reading practice for at least two to three hours a week. Guided practice will involve structure and focused attention, like learning new vocabulary words and testing yourself on them, while relaxed practice will involve merely letting yourself read and enjoy reading without pressure for at least one to two hours a week. (Note: if you already read for pleasure, add at least one more hour of pleasure-reading per week.)

By combining reading-for-studying and reading-for-pleasure, you'll be able to improve your reading skill without relegating reading time to the realm of "work" alone. Reading is a huge part of our daily lives, and improving your comprehension should never come at the cost of depriving yourself of the pleasure of the activity.

So what are some of the first steps for improving your reading comprehension level?

Step 1: Understand and Reevaluate How You're Currently Reading

Before you can improve your reading comprehension, you must first understand how you're currently reading and what your limitations are.

Start by selecting excerpts from different texts with which you are unfamiliar—text books, essays, novels, news reports, or any kind of text you feel you particularly struggle to understand—and read them as you would normally. As you read, see if you can notice when your attention, energy, or comprehension of the material begins to flag.

If your comprehension or concentration tends to lag after a period of time, start to slowly build up your stamina. For instance, if you continually lose focus at the 20 minute mark every time you read, acknowledge this and push yourself to slowly increase that time, rather than trying to sit and concentrate on reading for an hour or two at a stretch. Begin by reading for your maximum amount of focused time (in this case, twenty minutes), then give yourself a break. Next time, try for 22 minutes. Once you've mastered that, try for 25 and see if you can still maintain focus. If you can, then try for thirty.

If you find that your concentration or comprehension starts to lag again, take a step back on your timing before pushing yourself for more. Improvement comes with time, and it'll only cause frustration if you try to rush it all at once.

Alternatively, you may find that your issues with reading comprehension have less to do with the time spent reading than with the source material itself. Perhaps you struggle to comprehend the essential elements of a text, the context of a piece, character arcs or motivation, books or textbooks with densely packed information, or material that is heavily symbolic. If this is the case, then be sure to follow the tips below to improve these areas of reading comprehension weakness.

Improving your reading comprehension level takes time and practice, but understanding where your strengths and weaknesses stand now is the first step towards progress.

Step 2: Improve Your Vocabulary

Reading and comprehension rely on a combination of vocabulary, context, and the interaction of words. So you must be able to understand each moving piece before you can understand the text as a whole.

If you struggle to understand specific vocabulary, it's sometimes possible to pick up meaning through context clues (how the words are used in the sentence or in the passage), but it's always a good idea to look up the definitions of words with which you aren't familiar. As you read, make sure to keep a running list of words you don't readily recognize and make yourself a set of flashcards with the words and their definitions. Dedicate fifteen minutes two or three times a week to and quizzing yourself on your vocab flashcards.

To get started, you'll need some blank index cards and a system to keep them organized. These basic cards are an affordable option that are also available in fun colors. You can keep them organized with plastic baggies or rubber bands, or you can get an organizer.

Alternatively, try these easy-flip flashcards that include binder clips. Though we strongly recommend making your own flashcards, you can also buy pre-made ones —the best option is Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know, a series of exercises to master key words and idioms.

In order to retain your vocabulary knowledge, you must employ a combination of practiced memorization (like studying your flashcards) and make a point of using these new words in your verbal and written communication. Guided vocabulary practice like this will give you access to new words and their meanings as well as allow you to properly retain them.

Step 3: Read for Pleasure

The best way to improve your reading comprehension level is through practice. And the best way to practice is to have fun with it!

Make reading a fun activity, at least on occasion, rather than a constant chore. This will motivate you to engage with the text and embrace the activity as part of your daily life (rather than just your study/work life). As you practice and truly engage with your reading material, improvement will come naturally.

Begin by reading texts that are slightly below your age and grade level (especially if reading is frustrating or difficult for you). This will take pressure off of you and allow you to relax and enjoy the story. Here are some fun, easy reads that we recommend to get you started:

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roksani Chokshi
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
The Westing Game by Ellen Rankin
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K .Rowling

Once you feel more comfortable reading and practicing your comprehension strategies (tips in the next section), go ahead and allow yourself to read at whatever reading or age level you feel like. Even if you feel that you don't understand some of the text right now—or even a large portion of it!—if you enjoy yourself and give it your best shot, you'll find that your reading comprehension levels will improve over time.

Ultimately, reading should be a fun and functional activity. So try to keep your reading exercises balanced between work and pleasure.

5 Reading Comprehension Tips

Improving your vocabulary and increasing the amount of time you spend reading overall will help you to improve your reading comprehension over time, but what do you do to help you to comprehend a particular piece of text?

Here, I'll walk you through the steps to take as you're reading so that you can understand the text and improve how you're reading, when you're reading.

Tip 1: Stop When You Get Confused and Try to Summarize What You Just Read

As you read, let yourself stop whenever you lose focus or feel confused. Just stop. Now, without re-reading, summarize aloud or in your head what you've comprehended so far (before the place where you became confused).

Skim back through the text and compare how you've summarized it with what's written on the page. Do you feel you've captured the salient points? Do you feel a little more focused on what's going on now that you've put the material into your own words?

Keep reading with your summation in mind and let yourself stop and repeat the process whenever the piece becomes confusing to you. The more you're able to re-contextualize the work in your own words, the better you'll be able to understand it and lock the information in your mind as you keep reading.

Tip 2: If You're Struggling, Try Reading Aloud

Sometimes, we can form a sort of "mental block" that can halt our reading progress for whatever reason (maybe the sentence looks complex or awkward, maybe you're tired, maybe you feel intimidated by the word choice, or are simply bored).

Reading these problematic passages aloud can often help circumvent that block and help you to form a visual of what the text is trying to convey.

Tip 3: Re-read (or Skim) Previous Sections of the Text

For the most part, reading is a personal activity that happens entirely in your head. So don't feel you have to read just like anyone else if "typical" methods don't work for you. Sometimes it can make the most sense to read (or re-read) a text out of order.

It is often helpful to glance backwards through a piece of text (or even re-read large sections) to remind yourself of any information you need and have forgotten—what happened previously, what a particular word means, who a person was...the list is endless.

Previous sentences, sections, or even whole chapters can provide helpful context clues. Re-reading these passages will help to refresh your memory so that you can better understand and interpret later sections of the text.

Need more help with this topic? Check out Tutorbase!

Our vetted tutor database includes a range of experienced educators who can help you polish an essay for English or explain how derivatives work for Calculus. You can use dozens of filters and search criteria to find the perfect person for your needs.

Tip 4: Skim or Read Upcoming Sections of the Text

Just like with the previous step, don't feel that the only way to read and understand a text is to work through it completely linearly. Allow yourself the freedom to take apart the text and put it back together again in whichever way makes the most sense to you.

Sometimes a current confusion in a work will be explained later on in the text, and it can help you to know that explanations are upcoming or even just to read them ahead of time.

So skip forward or backwards, re-read or read ahead as you need to, take the piece in whatever order you need to in order to make sense of the text. Not everyone thinks linearly, and not everyone best understands texts linearly either.

Tip 5: Discuss the Text With a Friend (Even an Imaginary Friend)

Sometimes discussing what you know so far about a text can help clear up any confusion. If you have a friend who hasn't read the text in question, then explain it to them in your own words, and discuss where you feel your comprehension is lacking. You'll find that you've probably understood more than you think once you've been forced to explain it to someone who's completely unfamiliar with the piece.

Even if no one else is in the room, trying to teach or discuss what a passage says or means with "someone else" can be extremely beneficial. In fact, software engineers call this technique "rubber duck debugging," wherein they explain a coding problem to a rubber duck. This forces them to work through a problem aloud, which has proven time and time again to help people solve problems. So if a piece of text has your head spinning from trying to work through it by yourself, start chatting with your nearest friend/pet/rubber duck. You'll be surprised with how much easier it is to understand a text once you've talked it through with someone.

Even if that someone is a duck.

Quack.

The Take-Aways

Improving reading comprehension takes time and effort, but it can be done. Be patient with yourself, work through your reading comprehension steps, and try not to get frustrated with yourself if you feel your progress is slow or if you feel you're "falling behind." You will utilize your reading skills throughout your life, so go at a pace that works for you, and take care to maintain that balance between reading for pure pleasure and reading for dedicated improvement.

As you begin to incorporate more and more reading into your daily life, you'll find that comprehension will become easier, and reading will become more fun. In every piece of text, there are worlds of meaning to explore, and learning how to uncover them can be the ultimate rewarding journey.

What's Next?

Can't get enough reading? Whether as part of your reading practice or just for fun, check out our picks for the 31 best books to read in high school.

Problems with procrastination? Whether you're studying for the SAT's or studying your reading comprehension vocabulary check out how to beat procrastination and get your studies back on track.

Want to earn better grades? Our guide will help you get that 4.0 you're striving for.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article!

Courtney Montgomery

About the Author

Courtney scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT in high school and went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology. She is passionate about bringing education and the tools to succeed to students from all backgrounds and walks of life, as she believes open education is one of the great societal equalizers. She has years of tutoring experience and writes creative works in her free time.

Reading Comprehension Tips – Learning Center

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with the amount of reading you have? Do you ever have trouble staying focused and motivated while reading? Do you sometimes have difficulty understanding and remembering what you read? If so, you’re not alone. Many students struggle with these things because reading in college can be challenging, time-consuming, and lot more rigorous than high school; however, with some effective strategies, you can make your reading time meaningful, focused, and productive.

Active reading

Research shows that you retain more when you actively engage and interact with texts, as opposed to simply reading and re-reading without a clear purpose. Many students can relate to the type of reading that involves copying down pages of notes word-for-word from the text or simply scanning over pages without really reading them or interacting at all. While these two approaches are on opposite ends of the spectrum, neither of them engages your brain in a way that elicits deep understanding and retention. Active reading engages your brain in effective strategies that force your brain to interact with the text before, during, and after reading and that help you better gauge what you are (and aren’t) learning.

Before reading

Although many students don’t think about this step, engaging with a text before reading can crucially boost your understanding and retention. Below are some active reading strategies to use before you read.

Know your purpose

Yes, you’re reading because your professor told you to do so, but there is more to it than that. What will you be asked to do with the information you gather from your reading assignment? Reading in preparation for a multiple-choice exam requires a greater attention to detail (think keywords, definitions, dates and specific concepts and examples) than reading to prepare for discussion or to write an essay (think main points and relationships). Consider your purpose for reading and what you need to be able to understand, know, or do after reading. Keep this purpose in mind as you read.

Integrate prior knowledge

You already know so much; why not help yourself out? Before previewing the text, determine what you already know about the material you are to read. Think about how the reading relates to other course topics, and ask why your professor might have assigned the text. Identify personal experiences or second-hand knowledge that relates to the topic. Make a list of things you want to know about the text or questions that you want to try to answer while reading.

Preview the text

Don’t jump in all at once. Give the text an initial glance, noting headings, diagrams, tables, pictures, bolded words, summaries, and key questions. Consider reading introductions and conclusions to gather main ideas. After you preview, predict what the section or chapter will be about and what the main concepts are going to be.

Plan to break your reading into manageable chunks

Do you have five days to read twenty pages? Read four pages a night. Twenty pages in only one night? Read four pages and then take a fifteen-minute break to rest your mind and move your body. Taking breaks while reading improves focus, motivation, understanding, and retention. Plus, it’s healthier for our bodies! Try using a weekly calendar or the Pomodoro Technique to break up and schedule your time.

Decide whether and how to read from a screen

Especially if you are taking courses online or studying remotely, some of your course materials may be in a digital format, such as online journal articles or electronic textbooks. Before you read, decide if your reading is something you could and would want to print out. Sometimes it is easier to grasp content when it is on paper. If this is not your preference or is not an option, make reading breaks an even higher priority, consider adjusting your screen, and be strategic about the time of day when you are reading in order to avoid eye strain or headaches.

While reading

Keeping your brain active and engaged while you read decreases distractions, mind-wandering, and confusion. Try some of these strategies to keep yourself focused on the text and engaged in critical thinking about the text while you read.

Self-monitor

The only one who can make sure you’re engaged while reading is you! If you are able to think about what you will eat for dinner or what will happen next on that Netflix show you love, you are no longer paying attention! As soon as you notice your mind drifting, STOP and consider your needs. Do you need a break? Do you need a more active way to engage with the text? Do you need background noise or movement? Do you need to hear the text aloud? What about a change of environment? Before resuming, summarize the last chunk of text you remember to make sure that you know the appropriate starting point.

Annotate

Overusing the highlighter? Put it down and try annotation. Develop a key/system to note the following in the text: key ideas/major points, unfamiliar words/unclear information, key words and phrases, important information, and connections.

Summarize

After reading small sections of texts (a couple of paragraphs, a page, or a chunk of text separated by a heading or subheading), summarize the main points and two or three key details in your own words. These summaries can serve as the base for your notes while reading.

Ask hard questions

Think like a professor and ask yourself higher level, critical thinking questions, such as:

What differences exist between ________________?
How is ______________ an example of ______________?
What evidence can you present for ________________?
What are the features of ____________________?
What would you predict from ________________?
What solutions would you suggest for ______________?
Do you agree that ________________? Explain.
What is the most important feature of ______________?
How is the text guiding the reader to come to certain conclusions?
Who is the intended audience?
What premises or prior knowledge does the text require to make its argument(s)?

After reading

Reading a text should not end at the end of the chapter. Using effective after reading strategies can help you better understand and remember the text long-term.

Check in with yourself

Whether you read a printed text or an online document, the most important thing to assess is how much you understood from your reading. This metacognitive skill is one of the hardest to practice because if you truly missed the mark on what you read, you might not know until you get to class—or worse, until test day.

Here are some ways to self-check your reading comprehension. Try “cross-referencing” the information you read with simpler writings on the same subject and discussing your takeaways with peers. If you and your peers vary widely in your takeaways, go back to the text to see if the presentation of evidence can account for these discrepancies. Some key questions:

Are there multiple possible “answers” here?
Is there a blind spot in your knowledge on the subject?
Is the language of the text too difficult or unclear?
Are different sources on the same topic using consistent language, or are they using different language to discuss the same or similar things?

Show what you know

Create an outline of the text from memory, starting with the main points and working toward details, leaving gaps when necessary to go back to the text for facts or other things you can’t remember.
Discuss the material with a friend or classmate.
Call a family member and teach them what you now know.
Brain dump: write down everything you remember from the reading in 5 minutes.
Ask yourself critical questions about the reading and answer those questions in a timed format.
Identify the important concepts from the reading and provide examples and non-examples of each concept.
Create a concept map from memory to illustrate your learning from the assigned reading.
Take screenshots from digital texts as a starting point for class notes or annotations.

Investigate further

If any information remains unclear, locate other resources related to the topic such as a trusted video source or web-based study guide. Still have questions you can’t answer on your own? Make note of them to ask a professor, TA, or classmate.

Self-test

Create flashcards or an outline for the main concepts, terms, dates, etc. in the text.
Use the flashcards or outline to test yourself on what you read and see how much you remember and can explain correctly.
Cover the answers or explanations and don’t look at them until after you have already answered or explained in your own words.
Pause videos periodically and use your own knowledge to supply an answer or predict where the video is going. Then hit play to see if you are on track.

Self-testing in this way will help you synthesize and think through the information and recall it better in the future.

Need help applying or practicing active reading strategies? Make an appointment with an Academic Coach or sign up for one of the reading workshops offered at the Learning Center. Our academic coaches can help you evaluate your current reading habits, discuss effective strategies, make a plan, and stick to it.

Works consulted

Falk-Ross, F. C. (2001). Toward the new literacy: Changes in college students’ reading comprehension strategies following Reading/Writing projects. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(4), 278-288.

Griffiths, G. G., Sohlberg, M. M., Kirk, C., Fickas, S., and Biancarosa, G. (2016). Evaluation of use of reading comprehension strategies to improve reading comprehension of adult college students with acquired brain injury. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 26(2), 161-190. 10.1080/09602011.2015.1007878

Holschuh, J.P. (2019). College Reading and Studying: The Complexity of Academic Literacy Task Demands. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(6), 599–604. https://doi-org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/10.1002/jaal.876

Lei, S. A., Rhinehart, P. J., Howard, H. A., and Cho, J. K. (2010). Strategies for improving reading comprehension among college students. Reading Improvement, 47(1), 30-42.

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How to read and understand everything the first time?

We continue our topic of how to learn to read productively. Today we’ll talk about how you need to work with text in order to remember for a long time and as much as possible.

To understand the process of reading more deeply, you need to understand the concept of the mobility of reading. What it is?

Most people read all books at the same speed. This is completely unproductive. When you read a book for relaxation, you read it slowly, slowly, sorting through the words and enjoying the author's language. If you read textbooks at the same speed and try to memorize paragraphs, then nothing will work. Attention will be constantly scattered, and memory will erase what has been read.

Each text has its own speed, level of concentration and immersion.

Reading fluidity is a correctly selected speed in accordance with the level of understanding of the reader.

If the speed is higher and comprehension is lower, then while reading, information, like water, pours into a sieve. There is no capture of information, no understanding, and hence no memorization. A person spends whole hours, and as a result closes the book and cannot remember anything.

Therefore, it is very important to learn how to choose the right speed in accordance with the complexity of the text.

Let's look at rules that will help you work better with information.

1. Purpose of reading.

Many readers open the book but don't know why. While reading, abstract tasks, like the one that SHOULD be, are not suitable. There must be a precise goal, for example: to speak to an audience tomorrow and you need to give a report.

As soon as you set the goal, why you are reading, the brain immediately prepared to act effectively.

2. Workplace readiness.

If you need to take notes, take notes or create a mind map based on what you read, then you need to prepare everything on the table before you open the book.

If you constantly run around the room for a pen, then for paper, there will be no concentration.

3. Choice of speed and understanding.

Look carefully at the complexity of the text. If this book is written in too complicated language, or you can find a more understandable language, be sure to do it, otherwise you will constantly go back and waste hours trying to figure out what is written there.

There are beginner, intermediate, and advanced books on every topic. Figure out what level you need now to work with this topic and read the available text. Then you will save time looking for incomprehensible words in the dictionary, and you will be immersed in the text as much as possible.

4. Conversation with the author while reading.

Some readers think that while reading they need to collect information, and when they close the book, they need to put it on the shelves and understand what they read. But when such a moment comes, everything has already been erased from memory. Why?

Because it is necessary to fix thoughts while reading, analyze, synthesize material, remember what you know on this topic in general and memorize.

Our memory is arranged in such a way that it is easier for it to write new information to already existing "files" than to create a new sector and write from scratch.

5. Strengthening the ability to remember.

There are laws of memory, which we will talk about in another article, but today, looking ahead, I will say that if, while reading, you strengthen what you read with images, make them voluminous, bright, use color, sound, smell, taste, then such information comes to life in your mind is many times faster and easier than if these are just terms.

After a while, it is enough to remember only one image from the book, for example, a bright burgundy rose with a strong aroma and droplets on velvet petals, its juicy green leaves, and you immediately remember the plot of the book, the desired chapter, and at the same time everything sections of the book.

If you train in creating vivid images while reading and after reading, give the book an image, over time you will train and remember entire books, and even remember those that you read in childhood.

These are the features of productive reading. I hope now the reading process will become much more productive, interesting and useful for you.

Good luck with your training!

rules for conscious reading - a blog about books and reading

At school, each of us was taught to read. Then they were taught to retell what they read. Further understand what has been said. As a result, some of us have learned to think critically. Some, but not all.

A person who does not know how to understand what they read and think critically is easy to manage, he can hardly distinguish facts from fakes, becomes a victim of manipulation and propaganda, quickly falls under the influence of others.

Not everyone can read correctly. But everyone can learn.

Mortimer Adler, American philosopher, educator and author of the classic book on reading How to Read Books, outlined the basic principles of reading that we will talk about today.

Basic stages of reading

In our article, we proceed from the fact that the main goal of reading is understanding. In order to understand a text, one must go through three basic stages of reading: analysis, interpretation, and criticism. And the last way of reading, which requires the most skill, is comparative. Let's talk about everything in order.

Analytical reading

The first step is to conduct an external analysis. The traditional approach to reading implies that you need to determine the time of writing the work or the era that is described in the text, take into account the socio-political situation in which the author was. Often this has a big impact on the essence of the story.

There is also an alternative approach to text analysis, which is called "death of the author". It was proposed by the literary critic Roland Barthes in 1967 year. He believed that the work should be read without reference to the personality of the author and the historical context, and the meaning should be sought in one's own impressions and feelings. This approach also has a place to be, but, firstly, if it is applicable, then to fiction, and secondly, for starters, it is better to master the traditional way of text analysis.

So, we have determined the historical context of the work. Now we need to look at the structure of the book. Familiarize yourself with the sections or chapters of which it consists, pay attention to the problems that are indicated in them, try to understand the author's logic. Then go directly to reading.

As a result of analytical reading, you can retell the text, get the big picture, ask questions such as "what is the book about?", see the author's key ideas and feel agreement or disagreement with them. Feel, but don't criticize. It's still ahead.

Interpretive reading

This way of reading is also called synthetic. Having understood the purpose and logic of the author, you must clearly formulate for yourself the main provisions of the book, emphasize the theses and evidence, and finally answer the question of what exactly the author wanted to say and whether he was able to achieve the goal of writing his book.

As a result, you will be able to say that you understand what this book is about.

Critical reading

When the goals are defined and the author's point of view is clear, one can finally proceed to the evaluation of the text, that is, criticism. Criticism is needed in order to find errors, identify contradictions, and express objections. It is important to remember that constructive criticism is based on respect for the opponent and on the desire to come to the truth. You can criticize only when you clearly understand the opponent's goal, the course of his thought and the reason for his reasoning.

If you do not agree with the author's ideas, you need to determine what your point of view is, confirm your position with logically stated facts and evidence.

Comparative reading

If there is a problem, then there are many solutions, many opinions. These decisions and opinions are presented in various sources - notes, articles, books. You can't become an expert by reading just one book. But reading five books does not necessarily make you an expert. Comparative reading helps not only to read five or ten books, but also to compare them with each other, as well as with our own experience, and as a result come to a qualitative understanding.

In order to come to this understanding, you first need to select books that are really worthy of your attention. Then read these books using the reading methods that we talked about above: identify goals, find answers to questions posed, draw conclusions, come to an agreement or disagreement. As a result, you can become a person who has a balanced point of view on a particular issue. And you can even defend your point of view in the discussion.

Conclusion

And finally, one more interesting concept that you need to remember if you want to learn to read and understand - intertextuality .

The concept of intertextuality means that books are more or less related to previously written works. This means that many books are intertwined with each other in terms of meaning, have references to other works.