You already use a range of reading styles in everyday situations. For example:

• When reading a novel you might read in detail, focusing on every word from start to finish.

• While reading a magazine or your social media feed you might flick/scroll through to see what is of interest.

• When you search online for a specific topic you purposefully ignore all other topics and focus your attention on spotting the topic you want.

These everyday reading skills can be applied to your studies.

Scanning

Scanning is the technique you might use when searching online. You pass your vision quickly over a section of text in order to find particular words or phrases that are relevant to your current task.

You can scan:

• The introduction or preface of a text
• The first or last paragraphs of text
• The concluding or summarising chapter of a text
• The book index

Skimming

Skimming is the process of speedy reading for general meaning. Let your eyes skip over sentences or phrases which contain detail. Concentrate on identifying the central or main points.

Use this technique to: 

• Pre-view a selection of text prior to detailed reading
• Refresh your understanding of a selection of text following detailed reading

Once you have selected useful information, you can begin to read in detail. Note-taking techniques provide a useful aid to reading.

These techniques encourage an active engagement with the text as well as providing you with a useful record of your reading.

Avoid passively reading large amounts of text as it is not an effective use of your time. Always use a note taking technique to increase your levels of concentration and understanding.

One of the most effective reading techniques is known as SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review).

SQ3R is designed to help you read faster and retain more. It might seem like it takes more time to use the SQ3R method, but once you master the process you'll find you will remember more and have to reread less often. 

Being focused and selective in your reading habits will reduce the time you spend reading but there are also some techniques you can use which will help you increase your reading speed.

The average reading speed is about 240-300 words per minute. For the average reader, the eye fixes on each word individually. Your eye can learn to recognise four or five words in a single 'fixation' without a loss of understanding. The key to increasing your reading speed is not to increase the speed at which your eyes move across the page, but to increase the word span for a single fixation.

Divide the page

A simple way of developing the habit of taking in more than one word per fixation is to divide the page into thirds.

• Take a page of text and divide it length ways into three with two lines drawn down the page

• Use a pen or pencil as a pointer to each section

• Read each line of text by allowing your eye to fall only in the middle of each of the three sections, as indicated by your pointer.

Developing your reading speed

• Don't worry about how quickly you are reading but instead, concentrate on reading the line in only three fixations

• As this becomes more natural, practise without drawing lines

• Later, reduce the number of fixations to two per line

• Once this increased word span becomes a comfortable habit, an increase in your reading speed will occur.

Practise tool

AcceleReader is a productivity tool which allows you to practise your reading speed skills with your own texts.

The following video suggests 5 methods to increase the speed of your reading.