Whenever you are presented with a large piece of written material, you will often want to determine whether or not the information is likely to be useful or relevant before you take the time to read it in-depth.
There are two popular methods of ‘fast-reading’ that should help you to achieve this.
These are scanning and skimming.
• Scanning involves quickly ‘running your eye’ over the text to try to identify key words and phrases
• Skimming simply involves reading the text quickly (say 3 to 4 times your normal reading speed) to try to gain a general overview or feel
Take Notes
When you do read an article in-depth, you may find it useful to make notes or use post it stickers to identify areas of relevant text.
Gather your information
Collecting information needs to be done carefully and methodically! For each piece of information that you intend to use, you must
• Read through it carefully
• Evaluate its quality
• Make a record of its source
Evaluate the Information
• Is it relevant
• Who wrote/produced it
• Why was it written
• Where and when was it written, is it up to date