Just like anyone else, it took some time for me to get used to the language of business articles. A lot of articles use advanced language that would go over my head. I didn’t have the background knowledge to fully understand what the article was talking about. After three years of taking finance, accounting and marketing classes I can finally say that I read the Journal fully appreciating what it has to say, sort of. Now that might be taking it too far, but I can say that I definitely how to pick out the important parts of articles and interpret what is going on in that particular industry. It is because of this that I am now able to speak about many trends and industries that I may not have otherwise been able to speak intelligently about before. I decided to share some of this skill with my readers. Hopefully it will help you the same way it has helped me be able to speak up about general business issues.
The first thing to know when reading an article that goes over your head is that it is not just you. Some of these articles are written for business executives and extremely educated individuals. Now when I first came to Boston College I was neither and let’s be real – most people aren’t. The first thing you need to realize is that you are not alone. Once I got over the embarrassment of not knowing what an article was saying it made it a lot easier for me to reach out and talk to my professors or upperclassmen who did know what the article was about.
The second thing you all need to realize is that reading the Wallstreet Journal, and other publications like it, is not like reading a fun magazine. It takes work and practice to get good at it. If you do not know a word or phrase or type of investment that the writer is describing, there is this thing called Google™ and it takes you to this magical website called Investopedia. Though I have come to find that not all their descriptions are totally accurate, it is still a great place to start. It gives you the superficial outline, so that you can continue reading the article with more confidence.
The third thing that really helped me was reading the articles that appeared in the top sections of the page. These articles are usually the ones that a) get the most traffic and b) are most geared towards “the masses.” The topics are still important but because they are displayed at the head of the page, they are anticipated to be the articles that gets the most views and therefore are written in a way that is not too challenging.
The last tip I have for you is to actively read the Wallstreet Journal every day. If you do not practice, you will not be informed and you will not get better at it. It is hard, but if you pick three articles before you go to bed and just quickly read them and then look them over in the morning, you will be amazed at the tremendous difference you’ll see in your own critical thinking.
I know that these tips seem really simple but trust me once you make it a part of your daily routine you will make tremendous strides in being able to apply what you learn in class in a much more realistic way. Once you start making those connections it will be that much easier to learn. It took me a while to figure out what the best way to go about keeping up with current events was. Once you commit to it you will see that it’s easy and you will never want to revert back to being clueless. Plus, it is really cool to raise your hand in class and confidently state something about the tech sector that no one else knows. Nerdy but true!
Works cited:
http://www.kundaliniyogaboston.com/kundalini-is-that-a-type-of-pasta/confused-girl-jpg-2/
http://www.distinctionhotelswellington.co.nz/
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-business-us.html?refresh=on