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The purpose of this guide is to outline some potentially-useful techniques for managing the volume of assigned class readings.
As noted in the Course Outline (i.e., Syllabus), one explicit course objective is to help develop techniques for searching and filtering through voluminous information sources. The acquisition domain is very information-intensive, and the ability to search and filter through voluminous information now represents a critical skill for the acquisition professional. The volume of assigned readings and mixture of paper and electronic media is representative of the current acquisition task environment. Some of the techniques below will be discussed in class, but students are expected to seriously consider and practice using all of them. Use of techniques such as these can increase net reading speeds into the range of hundreds of pages per hour! Not only can they help to reduce the load of course work (i.e., by working smart, not just hard), but they can also provide a significant edge in managing the information-intensive environment of the acquisition professional.
Some of these techniques follow.
Speed Reading Tips
These tips are derived from standard courses available on speed reading. Speed reading enables the reader to cover all printed material in less time. The techniques below can complement speed reading in that they can reduce the amount of printed material required to be read. Specific speed reading tips include:
Reading the abstracts or (executive) summaries of articles and overviews of book chapters prepares the mind for the content to follow, and should always be accomplished in advance of reading the article or chapter itself. From this preparatory step, one can generally get a feeling for the familiarity, approach and importance of the reading assignment, as well as its role in the course (e.g., detail technique to be mastered, key concept to be learned, broad phenomena of which to be aware, examples or exemplars of course concepts, events and practices) and relationship with other assigned readings. In many cases, the reading is already familiar to the student and can be scanned. In other cases, all of the pertinent information can be gleaned from the abstract or summary (this applies more to articles and cases than to book chapters), so the article itself may not need to be read at all, or may need only to be skimmed. In other cases, only certain, key parts of the reading need to be addressed in detail, which can limit one to reading only 20-25% of the total text. Students are expected to read the abstract, executive summary or overview of every assigned reading, as an absolute minimum.
Figures and graphics represent rich media for communication. A picture contains several hundred thousand pixels, and figures and graphics can summarize and convey much information in a short amount of time. Make sure that you understand every important figure or graphic in an assigned reading; that is, if the figure or graphic appears in a section that you have deemed to be important (see the guidelines above), then you should examine the figure or graphic first (i.e., before reading the corresponding text) and attempt to understand it. If you can understand the figure or graphic, you may not need to read the text itself. Tables do not present information with the same richness as figures and graphics, but they are very effective at summarizing the content of substantial text in a short, concise, quickly-perused format. As with the figures and graphics from above, one can also try to understand tables prior to reading the corresponding text.
Not all reading requires the same level of effort and attention to detail. Try to anticipate the role and importance of each section in an assigned reading. Much prose is devoted to summarizing background information, detailing alternative considerations in the author's decision-making process, and exploring the ramifications of approaches not taken, decisions not made and events that did not occur. Unless such summaries and considerations are critical to understanding the article, they can generally be skimmed, in which case the reader can "shift to a high gear" for an easy, "downhill run." The background information in many cases and textbook chapters can be approached in this manner. Similarly, many readings are assigned simply to provide exposure to a broad array of programs and acquisition techniques, in which case detailed reading may not be necessary. Alternatively, some information is key to the article, detailed and technical, or must be analyzed in depth. Such an "uphill climb" requires considerable mental power and cognitive processing, so the reader should "shift to a low gear" and work slowly through the reading. A good understanding of the course objectives, requirements and grading criteria can be extremely useful for differentiating between essential and ancillary readings.
The ability to summarize and integrate a reading represents a well-acknowledged sign of its understanding. When one person understands a reading, he or she can often convey the key information in much less time than would be required for another person to read and glean this same information on his or her own. This time-savings effect can be leveraged through the use of reading teams, as the time savings grow linearly with team size (up to certain communication and learning limits). By dividing responsibilities for ancillary readings among team members, each of which provides a written and oral summary of the readings' key elements, the net reading load can be reduced dramatically; that is, following a summary and discussion of such non-essential readings, team members may not have to read the article at all, or may be able to quickly skim it. However, for essential readings, each team member should also plan to read such essential material in detail; that is, the summary can help, but summaries are not effective for communicating essential details. Once material has been read and understood, summaries can also provide a useful tool for review.
Immediately upon completing a reading, one can try to summarize a half-dozen or so key concepts, ideas, points or events. These pertain to the grist of the article, and written summaries provide a useful tool for review. Additionally, one can try to place each article or chapter in relation with the other assigned readings, asking the question: Why is this particular reading here? and How does it draw upon past readings or contribute to future assignments? By drawing a conceptual map of assigned readings, one can often fill-in missing details from a particular article or chapter simply by extrapolating from others with which it is related.
Application represents another well-accepted sign of understanding. When one can effectively apply the concepts or techniques from assigned readings, for example to case analyses, exams, project briefings and in-class discussions, his or her understanding of the assigned material can increase substantially. When reading an article or chapter, one should ask the question: How will this particular knowledge assist me in completing an assignment of interest or importance (e.g., exam, presentation, meeting, decision)?
Many of the techniques above appear to be obvious and self-evident. If you already find yourself reading at a rate that reflects several hundred pages per hour, then you probably have little to gain from guidelines such as these. Otherwise, as you read, ask yourself: Am I preparing for, summarizing and integrating the reading? Do I understand the figures? Does this particular article or chapter represent ancillary or essential reading? Am I utilizing the leverage of reading team mates? How will this particular reading be useful?
So, I bid you speedy reading. Remember to shift those gears.
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Page updated 15 June 2000