StudentZona - Caring For A Better Student Life And Learning

Most of the books on your required reading list you will be borrowing from the university library but there may be one or two you would like to have permanently on your book shelves. Plus the main reference books which will be required throughout a course and you will therefore have to buy. Text books are generally expensive but there are ways to pay less. Here we will be looking at the various opportunities to buy books for less.

The Campus Book Store
This may be your first and obvious choice. They have all the text books on your list. You go in, buy, and leave with all your books and a big hole in your budget. There are cheaper options and you can make significant savings.
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Do you really have to read every book from cover to cover? Here are some tips on how to take the best from each text and essential things to remember when taking notes.

You have been given your reading list for a lecture series or seminar course and you may be wondering how it is possible to read so much in such a short time. Don’t worry, there is a method to reading academic texts and articles and a set of skills that will help you make the best of your reading and learn what you need for your course. The one thing you should not attempt is to sit down and read every word of each book and then make notes afterwards. I have read many exciting academic books but if you read a text in this manner that is so packed with detail and which probably contains quite a bit of vocabulary, terminology, and ideas that are new to you then you will not absorb much and the notes you make afterwards will hardly be ordered in a manner that facilitates understanding and remembering. That is in fact a passive reading habit. Far more effective is an active and directed reading that begins with questions and interacts with the text.
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Do you stick with what you are told to read? If you go about it in the right way then you can read a lot more and relate your knowledge to the required syllabus.

Yesterday in the learning category we spoke about ways of increasing your interest in a class you find dry. By relating your motivational passions to the subject in a creative and supportive manner, and approaching the subject through a perspective that you find inspiring, an otherwise tedious topic can become easier to study. Similar considerations apply also to your required reading list.
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Speed reading is a necessity, a skill that is needed to compete in this modern world, when information intake is a significant advantage in any job requirement. Many people believe that in order to improve their reading skills they should focus on reading speed increase in order to improve their reading skills. The focus on reading speed only takes energy away from the main task at hand, understanding and comprehending the text you are reading, so instead of concentrating on the speed in which you read you better focus on the reading, and as you improve you skills in reading you will probably find that you have increased your reading speed.

Reading comprehension may sound like something back from the school days, but it is actually the main purpose of any kind of reading at all, even if this particular reading assignment is not what you would normally do, and you keep thinking to yourself that you want this article to end, you will achieve much more by reading and understanding the text than just browsing and going for speed, only to realize that you do not know anything about this text once you are done reading. At that phase you will be sorry you didn’t pay attention to the content and understand that you have to go over this text again, thus not only failing to get a better reading speed, not even getting to the point of the matter.
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Many people have trouble with reading. Reading is a process of the brain where you look at symbols on a page, and your mind sees the patterns of charaters and understands the meaning in them. Here are a few steps and tips to get started.

Steps

• Find some easy reading material. Look for things you may recognize by sound already: street signs, song lyrics, etc.
• Sound out each letter as best you can and you will notice they form some sort of word. Some letters fit together, like “th” is not prounounced as t + h, but rather as one unit. This is called a ‘phoneme.’
• Find a place to read where you can concentrate. This may be someplace secret where no one will bother you, or simply your home at a time when it is quiet.
• Begin your reading by looking at the pictures, or listening to the music to get a feel for what you are going to be reading about.
• Start with titles, names, or other large print items that you may know.
• Read as much as you are able. When you start getting bored or need a break, take one. Reading should be fun and enjoyable, don’t force it. After your break, return to where you were, and continue.

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