Preparation for a very difficult and unfamiliar course or for a new and complex scientific theory may demand that you read to remember everything. Here you are probably reading about 200 to 250 words per minute. You read small groups of words and frequently reread for clarification. You may find yourself mouthing the words. In these situations, you read to remember everything.
Working on a research project may demand that you read a wide range of related literature in search of possible solutions to problems or of new information to support or deny an issue. Many of the ideas in these materials will be familiar to you. In fact, ideas that appeared on one source may also appear on the other. But since you are looking for the new and different, this allows you to race rapidly over the known information and to slow down to analyze the new. Consequently, you need a strategy that allows you to efficiently tackle each document.
Spare time may allow you to relax with a good novel or a favorite magazine. Pleasure reading appears to demand very little of you. But you often carefully skim over the descriptions of the scenery to focus on the action of the main characters. Those who delight in a leisurely perusal of the Sunday morning newspaper often skip articles by noting the headlines and moving on to topics of interest.
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