(Adapted from The Teaching Professor, May 1994)
1. Before beginning to read a chapter, go through it reading the headings and subheadings, looking at the figures and photographs and reading the captions. Try to get an overall feel for what the chapter is about and what the major points are.
2. Read the summary at the end of the chapter (if there is one).
3. Read the chapter itself, quickly, trying to get an overall understanding of what is being discussed and not trying to learn any of the details, vocabulary, or data that are covered.
4. Go back and look at the details, vocabulary, and data presented, and try to understand how they fit into the overall chapter, how they support or inform the points being made.
5. Go through the study questions at the end of the chapter (if there are some) to be sure you understand what you have read. If you can't answer one or more of the questions, you need to go through that part of the chapter again. If one or more of the questions don't seem relevant to what you've read, you need to go through the whole chapter again and try to figure out what you missed. If study questions aren't provided, look at the chapter headings and subheadings again. If you can't easily explain what they mean or why they are emphasized, you need to read through that section again.