Academic Reading

Academic reading has many special demands. Much of your study time will be spent reading textbooks, journal articles, and other types of academic materials.  Fortunately, there are reading techniques and study strategies available that can improve your ability to read academic material efficiently and effectively.

• Reading Textbooks Effectively – Using a time-tested study method (the SQ3R) to read college textbooks, the Dartmouth College Academic Skills Center provides guidance on how to read effectively and efficiently.
• Critical Reading Skills – The Empire State College Writing Center provides strategies to enhance your critical reading skills. These web pages are part of the Empire State College Writing Center because there is a close connection between reading and writing critically.
• Critical Reading for Research Writing – This seven-minute video from University of Prince Edward Island reviews active reading strategies for research writing. Active and Critical Reading is the second video in the menu.
• Reading Improvement – Reading rate and comprehension can mean the difference between success and failure to students. This twelve-minute video by the Dartmouth College Academic Skills Center presents three strategies: prepare to read, increase your reading rate, and improve your reading comprehension (SQ3R).
• SQ3R –This two-minute video clip is part 6 of a 7-part Effective Study Skills Video presented by Cambridge Educational Productions.

For additional support with reading, please contact the director of academic support in your region.

If you have links to academic reading resources that you would like to share or suggestions for improving this Web site, please send them to Academic.Support@esc.edu.