Introduction: Effective Reading at University

3. General Types of Reading Strategies

Reading is an active meaning-making process. To optimize this process, readers use strategies. Reading strategies are deliberate actions that help readers make sense of the texts they read.

In this section, you will learn (more) about two general types of reading strategies: those that are used for "quick" reading and those that are used for, well, "slow" (or unhurried) reading. Whether you will read quickly or not, and which particular strategy you will use, will depend to a large extent on your purpose for reading. Quick reading strategies include scanning, skimming, and identifying information words. Slow reading strategies, on the other hand, include phrase reading, marking the text, and note-taking.