Reading is a key skill that will support your learning at university, so it's important that you take the time to develop your academic reading skills, and learn some essential reading strategies to help you tackle those reading lists.
Study Skills Success is an online resource which can help you to develop the academic study skills you will need to be successful at university. This resource is designed for non-native English speakers and can help you not only with a range of study skills, but also with the academic English that underpins them. To improve your reading, try the Reading section in Study Skills Success.
In this activity you will explore the different reading skills that can be helpful in dealing with the reading on your course. You will then practise the skill of skim-reading.
In these activities you will consider some examples of the kinds of clues at textual level which you can use to make predictions about a text. You will also practise using prediction skills.
In these activities you will practise identifying some different text types and their intended readers. You will focus on analysing the key features of each text type.
In these activities you will consider the different kinds of features to focus on when scanning for information and practise scanning within a text for information.
In these activities you will practise scanning using information presented in two different ways: in an index and in a bibliography.
In these activities you will practise reading to identify the main points of a text and distinguishing between different types of supporting information. You will also practise recognising information presented as fact or opinion by the writer.
In these activities you will learn how your reading speed can be improved and check your understanding of the factors involved in speed reading.
In these activities you will consider some of the qualities of a good critical thinker and explore key aspects of critical reading.
In these activities you will review what the technique of skim reading involves and practise skim reading a text to identify its main ideas.
In these activities you will explore the differences between fact and opinion, recognise where there is some supporting evidence, and practise critically distinguishing between fact and opinion.
In these activities you will first consider some ways of dealing with typical problems that students have when reading and making notes and then identify some good note-taking practices that you can adopt.
Spotlight workshops are short interactive sessions on a range of topics which run repeatedly throughout the year. Workshops are free, fun and can help you develop your academic language and skills, enabling you to succeed on your course. The following Spotlight workshops can help you with your reading:
How to Read Academic Texts
A number of our Spotlight workshops are available as Spotlight Video Workshops. This means you can access the workshop at a time convenient to you, and work through it at your own pace. If you have already attended a Spotlight workshop and would like to review the content, the Spotlight Video Workshop below can help.
Click here to download the practice text you will need for the video workshop.
If you need to improve your reading, the following resources are available in the library for self-study:
You can click on the images above to access the books through Locate, the Library catalogue, or use the reference list below.
Glendinning, E.H. and Holmström, B. (2004) Study Reading: A Course in Reading Skills for Academic Purposes, Cambridge: CUP.
Godfrey, J. (2013) How to Use Your Reading in Your Essays. Palgrave Study Skills, London: Macmillan.