By Dr Rod Benson
These 12 tips are designed for academic readers, especially theological students, but any reader can use them to improve reading comprehension and efficiency.
- Choose a regular time to read. Ideally, this should become a daily habit – half an hour, an hour, or whatever you can manage. You’re looking for a well-timed reading break from non-reading tasks.
- Choose a regular place to read. Whether it’s a comfortable couch or chair, inside or outside (weather permitting), find a place you don’t use for other regular tasks. If you can’t, then try turning the chair around to change the perspective. This will associate your reading experience with a physical sensation that provides familiarity and focus.
- Eliminate distractions. Turn your smartphone to silent or off and resist the urge to check your screens. Consider using noise-cancelling headphones or listen to a music playlist facilitating calm and concentration. Ensure that snacks and drinks, and notepaper and pen/pencil, are within reach so you aren’t tempted to go looking for them.
- Develop a systematic process. Plan your reading, allocating blocks of text to manageable chunks of time. If you have many journal articles, or a mix of articles and books, start with the short and simple ones, and progress to the more difficult texts. Look up the dictionary definitions of difficult words (preferably in a print dictionary). Re-read the text, looking for keywords. Keep track of bibliographic references in your reading for later follow-up.
- Pay attention to footnotes. These may be overused in academic writing, but they hold clues for observant readers. Blogger Timothy Burke identifies five kinds of footnotes: (1) “logrolling,” where scholars compliment each other’s work; (2) “weird little stuff” that distracts from the main point; (3) “Oh, by the way” footnotes identifying exceptions or qualifications to an argument in the hope you won’t see them; (4) “Look, ma, I did my reading” laundry lists of relevant books or unannotated literature reviews disguised as footnotes; (5) “You want proof? I’ll give you proof!” providing sources for factual assertions in the main text.
- Read the text aloud. It may feel strange, but as you persevere, you’ll reap the benefits. Reading aloud triggers cognitive abilities related to memory, attention and comprehension. As you hear the text as well as reading the words on the page, your brain’s ability to store and retrieve information will increase. Reading aloud when proofreading is also effective.
- Make notes on what you read. Buy a cheap notebook or notepad, start reading with a pen or pencil in hand, and make notes on the key points or arguments as you read. Keep a list of new words you encounter, with their definitions, and learn to use them (correctly!) in your writing. Remember that the most erudite person in Australia probably knows only 2,000 to 3,000 words more than you do. Increasing your theological vocabulary increases your ability to do theology well and sets you apart from those who theologise without precision.
- Dialogue with the text. In “Reading basically,” Melissa Browning says that “words printed on a page are meant to be a conversation we are invited to engage rather than a set of facts we need to memorize.”[1] Interrogate the text, letting it speak to you, inform you, and shape your thinking.
- Implement a buddy reading model. Talk to other students or colleagues about what you’re reading. Better still, set up a buddy reading model – like a book club, but for two people. Select a student/friend who is reading the same book, or select a book to read together. Meet regularly (e.g., weekly, or monthly), either in person, on Zoom or by email. Read the book section by section, noting genre and subject, at what level/speed you should read it, and items of interest such as major ideas, structure, key quotations, things you don’t understand, and points where you believe the author is uninformed/misinformed/illogical, as well as strengths and relevance. If this works for you, keep going with other books.
- Respect your limits. Generally, a maximum of 5-6 articles per day is enough reading. It’s okay to miss a day’s reading. Reserve sufficient mental energy to interrogate the text and do justice to it.
- Don’t neglect to read Scripture. In your rush to get your theological reading done, don’t neglect devotional and non-essential Bible reading.
- Invite God into your reading. As theologian Helmet Thielicke argues, “A theological thought can breathe only in the atmosphere of dialogue with God.”[2] In other words, don’t grow so accustomed to reading complex theological arguments, biblical criticism, and exegesis that the words of Scripture cease speaking into and shaping your life.
Dr Rod Benson is Research Support Officer at Moore Theological College, Sydney. He previously pastored four Baptist churches in Queensland and NSW, and served for 12 years as an ethicist with the Tinsley Institute at Morling College.
References
[1] Melissa Browning, “Reading basically,” in Eric Barreto (ed.), Reading Theologically (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014), 16.
[2] Helmut Thielicke, A Little Exercise for Young Theologians (trans. Charles L. Taylor; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 34.
Image source: Orcam Top Reading Programs for Adults
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