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Assimilating Difficult Material
- Get an overview of how the material is organized: Scan the section for titles, headings, sub-headings, and topic sentences to get its general idea.
- Choose a moderate amount of material — perhaps just a chapter — to begin with.
- If there is a summary at the end of a chapter read it. Check the beginning and the end for leading questions, and any exercises that may be included.
- Read first for what you do understand, and to determine difficulty. Make a note of what you do not understand, and review it later.
- As you read, practice the "look away method": Periodically look away from the text and ask yourself a question relating to the text.
- Re-phrase the question positively. Respond, or restate the author's position, in your own words. Make connections and associations. (Don't use this exercise to memorise, but rather to understand).
- Look up the meanings of any words that are important to your understanding of the material, but that you cannot discern from the context.
- Read to the end! Do not get discouraged and stop reading. Ideas can become clearer the more you read. When you finish reading, review to see what you have learned, and reread those ideas that are not clear.
- Organize your notes by connecting ideas you choose into an outline or concept map. Pay attention to relationships between ideas.
- Do not confine yourself to words when making notes! Use different colours, graphics, pictures, even movement to visualize and connect ideas. Use whatever techniques work to help you understand.
- At this point, if you do not understand your reading, do not panic! Set it aside, and read it again the next day. If necessary, repeat. This allows your brain to process the material, even while you sleep. This is referred to as 'distributed reading'.
- Re-read the section you have chosen with a framework (an outline or concept map) that you have constructed in mind. Separate out what you do understand from what you do not.
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