How To Read And Understand

Some beginners in the tertiary institution faced with numerous tasks, may often approach reading with divergent attitudes ranging from enthusiasm, zeal, anxiety, surprises, enigma or stereotyped concepts that associate reading to professionalism rather than integrative learning.
For such fresh undergraduates, reading may mean developing one’s skill as a prospective Mathematician, Engineer or Chemist (perhaps focusing only on reading and solving calculus and practical) with little or nothing to do with reading volumes of books. Such unorthodox approach affects the student’s input both in the general and core courses. Reading, therefore, enhances and develops ' the whole mind and cognitive ability to acquire knowledge in every  field of human endeavor.

Sir Richard Steele defines reading as a healthy means of exercising the human mind. He thus identified reading with the cognitive process in which written (graphical words) are encoded to inform the human mind, acquire knowledge and develop the human

Reading is another important skills in studying. Various modes of information are stored in books. Unlike the listening skill, where the student listens through in different contexts, it is only through reading that the information in books can be accessed.

For studying and learning, the skill of reading is best developed and practiced for effective result by:

1 choosing the appropriate material for the purpose of reading;

2. having control of the material you are reading for study;

3. reading with understanding and comprehension;

4. Reading beyond the literal or factual and inferential levels.
At this point, reading as a skill should be at conjectural or projective level. At this level, the reader goes beyond the graphic words to look for extended meanings to get the writer’s ideas. Then, he uses these ideas to project or conjecture new ideas;

5. Faster reading. By applying the technique of faster reading, one is able to cover the necessary volume within the shortest possible time;

6. reading widely to access the relevant information for learning; and

7. reading pointedly and focused.

Obviously a student who follows the points we laid out here and

practices them will be a serious and successful student in his field of study

Reading takes the form of a complex interaction between a text and the reader which is shaped by the reader’s prior knowledge, experience, attitude, and language community. Reading in this sense is culturally and socially situated. The reading process requires continuous practice, development, and refinement. In addition, reading requires creativity and critical analysis, which thus links reading with comprehension http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading(process).  Because reading is such a complex process, it cannot be controlled or restricted to one or two interpretations.