Enhancing Study Skills: Reading Techniques and Note-Taking Methods

This report explores various reading techniques and note-taking methods to enhance the learning experience for university students. It discusses techniques such as scanning, active reading, skimming, the SPE method, and detailed reading, highlighting their applications in academic settings. Furthermore, it delves into note-taking methods like the sentence method, mapping method, Cornell method, and charting method, providing insights into their effectiveness for different types of information and learning styles. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of developing efficient reading and note-taking habits for personal and professional growth, suggesting that students tailor their approach based on the content and their individual needs. Desklib provides a platform for students to access this report and many other resources.

Individual Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
Techniques of Reading................................................................................................................3
Methods of Note taking...............................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Reading is an essential concept that means gaining information and knowledge from
written or decoded texts. It is an important skill that requires a strong interaction between reading
material and reader. It is a method of using already gained information in understanding the
written texts. It is considered to be an initial step towards education and assists the individuals in
getting knowledge and remaining update. In the life of students, it is imperative to develop
efficient reading habit for professional growth and career advancement. They can refer multiple
sources of reading such as newspapers, articles, magazines, e-books or any websites etc. With
efficiency in reading, individuals must also possess effective note taking habits of collecting
relevant information from different sources (Li and et. al., 2022). The following report will cover
the techniques of reading and methods of note taking that will facilitate the students of
University Life in collecting new information from case studies and journals.
TASK
Techniques of Reading
Reading has a major importance in the life of every student irrespective of their
educational area. At academic as well as professional level , individuals are required to read
different types of textbooks, magazines, journals, articles, case studies and research studies etc.
that require them to be efficient reader to understand the terminologies. To attain this, there are
various techniques of reading available to them. The students of University life can use the
following techniques of reading to become efficient reader :
 Scanning : This reading technique simply means going through the whole content. It is
not used for reading the academic data such as case studies, business magazines etc. that
require concentrated and active reading of the entire content. It mainly involves having
the glimpse of whole content to read only the relevant and required content (Stettler and
Sharpe, 2022). As an example, if any student needs to extract a particular information
such as financial information about the company, it is not required to read about the
whole operations and affairs relating to management. The relevant information i.e.
financial information could be read and extracted by the student by using the scanning
technique i.e. going through the whole article and getting the important information.

 Active Reading : This technique is used for reading any complex data or information. It
is used by the individuals when they have the topic of in-depth reading. It involves
critical or complex materials that require insightful reading by using already acquired
knowledge. This technique is also used to collect extra information about the topic being
read. For example, students have to read case studies that require critical reading and
using of already acquired information. This can be achieved by using active reading
technique. So, students of University life can use this technique to learn new information
for solving case studies.
 Skimming : This is a quick reading technique. It involves a prior review of the reading
material by reading its essentials. It helps in understanding the crux of the content and
assists in reading the major or crucial points than reading the complete description
instead. This technique is primarily used for taking an overview of the content that
facilitates the individuals in saving the time by reading the detailed topic (Çoban and
Razı, 2022). Skimming technique can be used if individual is searching about the
company's product or service that does not require complete reading. It only requires to
see the main points to get the information about the product.
 SPE Method : It refers to Structured-Proposition-Evaluation technique of reading. It was
introduced by Mortimer Adler in 1940 in his book “ How to read a Book”. The author
stated to read the book by searching the structure of the content or text and then
focussing on the propositions i.e. judgements or opinions given by the author of the book.
And at last, developing the evaluations by own (Parks and Peters, 2022). In this
technique, students analyse the structure to read the material , develops the plan for
reading it, and then search the opinions provided by the author with the plan and lastly
draws conclusions about the reading.
 Detailed reading : This technique is opposite of skimming technique as it is a most time
consuming technique of reading. It requires extra efforts and detailed evaluation to
understand the words and phrases written in the reading material to understand its
meaning. It is used by the individuals when they read any scholarly research or other
complicated research that require an appropriate analysis. For example, when students
have to read any literature of poet that contains complex terminologies and phrases to
understand the detailed meaning of the content. Individuals who have to read any

structured information, graphical representation or charts must use this method of reading
(Thomas, 2022).
Methods of Note taking
Note Taking is a method of writing the main points of crucial information that has been
collected from various sources. It facilitates in memorizing the important information and
holding that information in an organised way. The students of University life can collect the new
information by using the effective methods of note taking that are explained below :
 Sentence Method : It is the most simple method of note taking. It considers writing
down of relevant notes by any source of information. It provides easy review of the
information because of simple creation of the notes. This method can be used in
converting any structured information in the form of sentences to make the information
easy to understand according to the perspective of the individual. But this method needs
fast writing or typing individuals to make notes during the class. The minus point of this
method is that while writing the notes quickly, students skip some relevant points when
writing by hand during the class (Ma and et. al., 2022). Also, sentences makes the size of
the notes large that involves much time in reviewing the notes. However, because of the
simplicity of this method, it provides convenience in understanding the concepts.
 Mapping Method : This method of note taking involves preparing notes in a structured
form by making connections between different concepts and words. The subjects such as
chemistry, physics and history etc. require this method for presenting the notes in a
structured form to make it easily understanding. It focuses on dividing the main content
or topic into sub topics in a brief manner for the easy review of information. As it uses
connections between the points and sub points, readers find it convenient to understand
the information in an efficient manner. The topics are interrelated for effective
visualization of the information contained. But it requires a focussed attention that makes
it a time consuming process. However, it serves as the best method where the topic is
lengthy and complex and requires to be presented in a concise manner by structured
format.
 Cornell Method : This method of Note taking was developed by Cornell University in
1950. It is the easiest and mostly used method that helps in keeping the notes in an
organised manner and reading the notes formed in a quick and efficient manner. It states

to divide the papers in three parts that is left, right and bottom part. The left part of the
page comprises of a noting section that includes the main points serial wise, the right part
contains the explanation of actual notes and the bottom part contains the summary of
those notes (Yu and et. al., 2022). It includes less time and efforts for keeping the notes in
a brief and summarised manner. However, its only limitation is that it requires Cornell
pages for making notes that creates problems in organising the large notes.
 Charting Method : This method of note taking is considered to be difficult as it involves
making notes regarding the statistical data that includes structured data and charts, graphs
etc. to form the notes on. It does not involve making notes from any large description or
from lectures of the class. It is used to prepare notes in the form of charts and graphs.
This method uses structured data to make notes due to which the size of the notes become
short that provides easiness in reviewing the notes in a brief manner. Those subjects that
include comparative discussions over complex topics require this method for preparing
notes (Farhat, Kamani and Wang, 2022). But when notes are prepared using this method,
it consumes so much time due to the complexity of the content that requires a thorough
understanding of the topic to make notes on.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that individuals or students irrespective
of their area of specialization or educational stream need to develop effective reading habit for
personal as well as professional development. Reading facilitates in providing knowledge and
pleasure as well. For collecting any crucial information from textbooks, journals, articles and for
understanding the case studies, students of University Life should follow the above mentioned
techniques of reading. The methods of note taking will also provide convenience to the students
in taking the notes in an efficient and standard manner. The different techniques of reading can
be referred according to the type of content such as detailed technique or scanning technique.
Similarly, according to the size of information or requirement of notes. Different methods of note
taking can be used such as Cornell method or mapping method. This will assist the students in
gaining academic excellence and will help in professional education as well.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Çoban, M. and Razı, S., 2022. Questioning the Metacognitive Reading Strategies in an English-
Medium Instruction (EMI) Setting. In English as the Medium of Instruction in Turkish
Higher Education (pp. 217-231). Springer, Cham.
Farhat, F., Kamani, M.M. and Wang, J.Z., 2022. CAPTAIN: Comprehensive Composition
Assistance for Photo Taking. ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing,
Communications, and Applications (TOMM), 18(1). pp.1-24.
Li, F., and et. al., 2022. Multi-Task Joint Training Model for Machine Reading
Comprehension. Neurocomputing.
Ma, C., and et. al., 2022. Quantitative assessment of essential tremor based on machine learning
methods using wearable device. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 71,
p.103244.
Parks, L. and Peters, W., 2022. Natural Language Processing in Mixed-methods Text Analysis:
A Workflow Approach. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, pp.1-
13.
Stettler, M.J. and Sharpe, M., 2022. Of Cartesianism and Spiritual Exercises: Reading Descartes
through Hadot, and Hadot through Descartes. Philosophy Today.
Thomas, J., 2022. Create Aspire Transform: How can Creative Professional Development (CPD)
support Creative Cultural Learning in schools?. International Journal of Art & Design
Education.
Yu, C.Y., and et. al., 2022. The influence of opioid-taking self-efficacy and social support on
pain management satisfaction in outpatients with cancer pain. Supportive Care in
Cancer, 30(1). pp.805-812.