Academic skills for stanford students
The fundamentals of efficient reading
By putting in the time and effort to learn the following sequence of strategies, you can enjoy
more engaged, rewarding, and efficient reading that will prepare you for section discussions,
reading reflections, and paper writing.
When reading online, resist typical unhelpful habits
● Why this works: Reading challenging online texts successfully requires different mental
and physical habits than those that work for typical web-based reading. If you build the
habit of focused digital reading, youʼll learn more effectively and efficiently.
● How to do it: Resist the urge to skim your eyes over the text without thinking, to open a
new tab in reaction to a random thought, and to jump back and forth from the reading to
email, social media, or some other work youʼre doing on your device. Instead, reduce
digital distractions as much as you can, set a timer for focused work, and follow the
remaining suggestions on reading.
Understand what “skimming” means in college
● Why this works: Professors often assign more reading than you can possibly complete if
you read first word to last word, and everything in between. To do well usually requires
you to skim. But first, itʼs important to understand what that means.
● How to do it: Forget thinking of skimming as passing your eyes quickly over the text to
get the main idea. That might work for an article in an online newspaper, but not for deep
college reading. Instead, think of skimming as setting a reading goal and then reading
selectively to meet that goal.
Figure out the goal of the reading
● Why this works: If you know what the goal of the reading is, you're more likely to meet it!
Academic skills for stanford students
The fundamentals of efficient reading
● How to do it: To determine the goal of a particular reading assignment, look through
your course materials, such as the syllabus, relevant assignment sheets, or the reading
itself. Is the goal to contribute to class discussion? To better understand the lecture? To
develop a response to a particular writing prompt? Write the goal at the top of a sheet of
paper. It can be as basic as “To prepare for section: Write the 5 main points” or as specific
as “To understand the lecture: Define bases, alkalis, and acids and explain why they
matter.”
Hunt for what matters
● Why this works: When you concentrate for a short chunk of time on extracting only what
you need, youʼll learn more, faster.
● How to do it: Decide on a short period of time (e.g., 25–50 minutes) or segment of
reading (e.g., intro, section headings, conclusion) in which you will pursue your reading
goal. Instead of reading word for word, read as if you were trying to get a specific answer
to a question. Identify the parts in the article that will probably help you answer your
question and hunt through them. Focus on building knowledge in your mind (known as a
“mental model”) by talking to yourself. For example, “Okay, what theyʼre saying is…that
reminds me of the professor saying…”
Test yourself
● Why this works: Writing down what youʼve built into your mental model via
self-explanations—without looking at text or notes—will strengthen the model. Many
studies show that self testing is an effective way to build durable knowledge.
● How to do it: Hide the reading from yourself. Return to your reading question(s) and
write answers to them based on your mental model. After writing down all you can
remember, determine what you need to hunt for next in the text, and do so. Afterward,
repeat the self testing. Feeling challenged? Youʼre doing it right!
