1. GUIDELINES FOR
EFFECTIVE
READING

2. 1. Be Flexible
- Your purpose in reading should help
you determine how to approach a
text.

3. 2. Raise questions about the writer(s).
- Who created this text? To what extent
does the text call attention to the role
of its author, editor, designer, or
Webmaster?

4. 3. Ask questions about the intended
readers.
- Are they a general audience?
Specialists? Students? What role does
the text invite readers to adopt as they
read (study, surf, scan, or otherwise
engage with) this text?

5. 4. Look for clues about the text
-When was it published? What can you infer
about the author’s intentions? To inform?
Entertain? Persuade? Does the text follow
the conventions of an established genre? If
not, how would you describe its
organization?

6. 5. Consider the medium
- where and how this text was published. Is it
in a traditional print publication? In a more
graphic form, such as a poster or
advertisement? On the Web? Is the medium
institutional? Business oriented? Personal?
Formal or informal?

7. 6. Read against the grain.
- To read critically and
actively, it sometimes helps
to deliberately resist a text.

8. 7. Work through difficulties with a text,
identifying the reason(s) it seems
difficult
◦ and then turn these reasons into questions that you can
use as you read. Rather than becoming frustrated when
a writer dwells on an issue that seems unimportant to
you, for instance, ask yourself why scholars in this field
might find the issue worthy of attention.

9. 8. Interact with the text.
- Pose questions. Speculate
about the implications of a
line of argument.

10. 9. Be patient
-Just as the process of writing often
requires rough drafts, so too can the
process of reading require “rough
readings.” A text that on first reading
seems difficult will often, on rereading,
prove rewarding or more engaging.