Relevance and Purpose
Above it was pointed out that reading techniques will be influenced by
purpose. Not surprisingly then, purpose will also dictate the relevance of what
you have read. Nevertheless, do not let your purpose blind you to other
rewards in reading the work. Apart from matters such as style, vocabulary and
felicity of expression, there may be some insights or information in the work
which, while not necessarily relevant to your purpose, may be instructive or
relevant to some other task.
In this context it is worth giving a specific piece of advice. If when pursuing
one task you find material relevant to another then make a note of it. So that
the note will not be mislaid, open up a file on the subject, so that whenever
relevant material is found, especially when it is found in the course of some
other task, a note or reference can be stored until needed.
Blocks in Reading
One of the major causes of frustration in study is reading material and not
understanding it. Before trying to deal with this problem it is first of all
necessary to understand its causes.
Causes of reading blocks are twofold.
Either the problem lies in the material,
because it is badly written, or the problem lies within the reader, who has not
read it properly. More specifically, the reason for it is usually the presence of
one of the following problems:
(1)
A lack of structure -
the author has not explained or revealed the
structure or the reader has not understood it.
(2)
An omitted step in the argument – the author has omitted to state a step,
or to state it clearly, or the reader has missed it, or not realised that it is a step.
(3)
A misplaced step in the argument –
the author has put the step in an
unusual place, or out of sequence, or the reader has failed to look in the right
place.
(4)
Flexible and ambiguous terms – the author has used terms with variable
meanings or the reader has failed to note the various meanings a term can have.
(5)
Unexplained terms –
the author has not explained a term, or the reader
has overlooked or not understood the explanation.
Remedies for reading blocks are derived from their cause:
(1)
Reduce the author's structure to point form and check the flow of
argument to see if there are omitted or misplaced steps.
(2)
Check and double check all terms, especially new terms and basic
terms. Be on the lookout for two of the big causes of problems –
ordinary
terms used in a technical or specialised sense, or one term having two or more
meanings.
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