When I began my first semester at the University of Virginia, I was completely shocked by the length of the readings that were assigned in my classes. At my high school, we never were introduced to scholar-level writing, and I felt underprepared. For any students that still feel that way, don’t worry: reading and writing at a higher level are learned skills that develop over time. That being said, there are methods to more effectively get through your lengthy readings while still gaining a deeper understanding. In my first few months of school, I would read my eighty page assigned papers front to back, take rigorous notes, and still feel like I didn’t gain anything more than confusion from the great amount of time I spent with the piece. I have found it is much more beneficial to grasp the main ideas and takeaways rather than worry yourself with every minute detail. In college, you are exposed to all of these diverse readings to build themes, not build up a collection of unimportant, specific details. Study smarter, not longer.
Tip 1: when reading research papers, read the abstract and conclusion first.
In college, you will encounter many research papers, regardless of your major. In fact, I have never read more research in my life than while taking a class in comparative politics. Research is important in every field. My advice for reading lengthy research is to read the abstract and conclusion first. The abstract will tell you what the researchers hope to achieve and their hypothesis. The conclusion will tell you what their results were. Skim the rest for important graphs and headings.
Tip 2: if you’re in a time crunch, just read the headings!
I know this sounds far fetched, but sometimes this is true. Many academic papers are set up so that the headers explain the content of the paper quite well. Even just writing down one main point from each section of the reading will be sufficient to understand the point of the text and have a conversation about the reading in class. If you think this tip is foolish, look at this article. One who just read the headings would understand the main points of this advice quite well.
tip 3: the first sentence of each paragraph will be most informative.
Academic writing is carefully crafted to convey important information to readers. Each paragraph will begin with the most important point. Reading the first sentence of each paragraph and skimming for important details is a great way to get through a long reading, especially if you know what themes and ideas you are supposed to gain from the reading. For instance, say you are taking a class on Latin American food. You have been assigned a reading on the history of Honduras. Most logically, the paragraphs about food are most important and should be read, while paragraphs on other topics are less relevant.