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For those that have massive amounts of material to read, what approaches have you used to digest the reading material?
Surely line-by-line reading or reading all books like a novel can't be the idea, whether it's for school or whether it's at a job. (I'm not whining by the way, just observing that literally reading every book in depth can't be the most efficient way).
I think once you get into the habit and structure of school or work and realize you have a purpose in reading manuals or whatnot, then your ability to focus should improve.
Skim intro (after a while almost all intros are material you have read before anyway) read hypotheses, read method, read results, skim discussion.
That's how I did it. We would have about 70-80 pages of journal articles per class per week. 70-80 pages of a textbook = about 1.5-2 hours. 70-80 pages of journals = about 6-8 hours, if you thoroughly read and digest everything.
Well, depends on the subject - if you're taking class in person a lot of times the professor doesn't use the book that heavily (if at all) so skimming is usually fine. There's also a few books I don't think I ever really opened.
You are expected to skim and identify just the main points. However, it takes a lot of practice before one can really do that without actually missing something important.
For those that have massive amounts of material to read, what approaches have you used to digest the reading material?
Surely line-by-line reading or reading all books like a novel can't be the idea, whether it's for school or whether it's at a job. (I'm not whining by the way, just observing that literally reading every book in depth can't be the most efficient way).
Curious what you guys have done.
FWIW, I'm in International Affairs.
I based my reading on the advice in Mortimer J. Adler's book How to Read a Book.
I actually did read most everything assigned and took notes while doing so. My assumption was that the professor wouldn't have assigned the reading if it wasn't important. I wanted an education, not just a grade. My first test in Western Civ my freshman year bit me on the ass, because I didn't do the outside reading, so I made sure never to make that mistake again. Taking notes helps me remember what I read, so that I rarely had to review. I learned most everything the first time I read it.
Your professors expect you to skip and skim and will often ask questions designed to trip you up if you do this. Don't expect to get an A in a class if you aren't willing and able to read everything in depth. That is often the difference between an A and a B.
The amount of time needed to read can easily exceed the amount of time available to do it. I did have to drop a class once because there was no way to do the amount of reading at the level that it required in order to digest it.
For those that have massive amounts of material to read, what approaches have you used to digest the reading material?
Surely line-by-line reading or reading all books like a novel can't be the idea, whether it's for school or whether it's at a job. (I'm not whining by the way, just observing that literally reading every book in depth can't be the most efficient way).
Curious what you guys have done.
FWIW, I'm in International Affairs.
Unfortunately it is...that's what makes grad school so different. The expectations are simply higher in every imaginable way. In undergrad you can get away with skimming, trimming and just reading cliff notes sometimes. In your field especially, knowing details and being able to explain your ideas with factual clarity is critical.
I based my reading on the advice in Mortimer J. Adler's book How to Read a Book.
I actually did read most everything assigned and took notes while doing so. My assumption was that the professor wouldn't have assigned the reading if it wasn't important. I wanted an education, not just a grade. My first test in Western Civ my freshman year bit me on the ass, because I didn't do the outside reading, so I made sure never to make that mistake again. Taking notes helps me remember what I read, so that I rarely had to review. I learned most everything the first time I read it.
Your professors expect you to skip and skim and will often ask questions designed to trip you up if you do this. Don't expect to get an A in a class if you aren't willing and able to read everything in depth. That is often the difference between an A and a B.
The amount of time needed to read can easily exceed the amount of time available to do it. I did have to drop a class once because there was no way to do the amount of reading at the level that it required in order to digest it.
Great book by the way...but I thought that was a chapter in "How to Think about the Great Ideas?" Is that a separate book altogether??
I tend to read carefully and then summarize the important parts in 1-3 sentences. Highlighting also helps, but most of the battle, imho, is knowing what kind of questions you need to be thinking about while reading.
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