1. How to Read a Big Fat Chapter:
I know it can see m overw h el m i n g whe n you are given a whole chapter of a
textbook to read. It’s a skill to be able to not only read the infor matio n, but
un d er stan d it and be able to re m e m b e r it as well. It’s a skill you will nee d in
your further stud i e s. Hopefully this gui d e will give you so m e pointers on how
to ‘attack’ a big fat chapter…
1. Read the last bit first.
Yes, it may see m like a strange place to begin, but try starting with the
conclusio n of the chapter. The conclusio n usually su m m a r i s e s the whole
chapter, telling you briefly what has just been written about. Read the
conclusio n and ma k e write so m e questio n s fro m it. You can then use these
question s to gui d e your readi ng of the rest of the chapter.
Another si m ilar way of starting the chapter, is to read the introd u ctio n
THE N the conclusio n so you are effectively getting two brief su m m a r i e s of
the chapter, whic h will give you a good idea of what you are going to read
about before you have even started diggi ng throug h the heavy stuff.
The question s you should have written base d on these two sectio ns of the
chapter could be things like
 Why di d X happe n ?
 What cause d X to happe n ?
 Who was X?
 Why was he or she so i m p o rtant?
 When di d X happe n ?
 How does X link to X?

2. Make sure you do write a few ‘dee p er’ questio n s that ask about the causesof
things and how they affect each other, not just ‘who is…’ and ‘what is…’
question s.
2. Scan the chapter
Even thoug h you have now read the start and en d of the chapter, you are
still not quite ready to dive into the guts of it just yet.
Next thing to do is scan throug h the pages focusi ng on the sub h ea d i n g s of all
the different sections. Write one or two questio n s per sub h ea d i n g. The n read
the first one or two lines of that section. This enables you to create
i m m e d i ate links to the infor matio n you have just learne d fro m readi ng the
introd u ctio n and the conclusio n.
Creating those links as quic kly as possible helps to really set that kno wle dg e
in your m i n d , hopefully avoidi n g those m o m e n t s whe n you catch yourself
readi ng the sa m e paragraph 4 ti m e s and still having no idea what it was
about! By readi ng the first couple of lines of each chapter you may even be
able to answer so m e of the questio n s you have note d dow n.
3. Looking at and organising your questions
By now you have a dece nt list of questio ns about the contents of the chapter.
It is i m p ortant that these are written so m e w h e r e in an organize d way (not
just in the margi n s of the chapter!) so they can be use d to gui d e your readi ng
of the chapter and also so that you can really focus your attention to ma k i n g
sure you get the answers !
Try typing the m up into a list, or into a m i n d ma p, or grid or whatever style
you like. Have the m printe d off or have your co m p u t er ne xt to you whe n you

3. start to read the chapter so you can add in the answers straight away. Thes e
question s and their answers will be your notes for the chapter.
4. Divide the page
Right, now you are almost ready to jum p right in to the m i d dl e of all the new
learning you’re about to do!
Look at the page in front of you and see if you can break it up in to dece nt
size d ‘chu n k s.’ This will help you to ma k e the page m ore ma nageable. Use
hig hlighters or textas or pens to actually ma k e mark s on the page so you can
see what the sections are. Gone are the ti m e s whe n you look at a page and
thin k ‘My God, there is no way I can get throug h that.’ Your highlighters are
just about to show you that is not true! Of course you can, just not all in one
‘chu n k .’
5. Only now are you ready to dive right in
Ok, so by now you should have:
• read the introd u ctio n and conclusio n and written questio ns based on
these
• scann e d the chapter and written questio n s based on the sub h ea d i n g s
• read the first 1- 2 lines of each of the sections of the chapter
• have an organize d list of questio n s ready for you to refer to and take
notes on
• divi d e d up the first page into chu n k s
If you’ve don e all of this then you are ready to read read read. Make sure you
have your questio n s ready ne xt to you, a hig hlighter (or pen or texta or
whatever) in your han d ready to go.

4. Read your first ‘chu n k .’ Stop. Highlight anythi ng that see m e d really
i m p ortant and relevant to you. Di d this sectio n answer any of your
question s ? If so, jot dow n the answers – DO NO COPY WHOL E SEN T E N C E S
INTO YOUR NOTES. They are notesand sho uld be written briefly but with
enoug h detail that you will un d er stan d the m later. NOT FULL SEN T E N C E S . If
you copy full sentenc es fro m the text, then chances are you will use that
exact sentence in your work – that would be plagiaris m and is co m pletely
unacceptable. Writing the infor matio n in brief notes m ea n s that you will be
forced to put it into your own words later – a m u c h safer thing to do.
Now, on to your next section. Hig hlight. Stop. Write any notes that you nee d.
Next section. Hig hlight. Stop. Write any notes you nee d.
You can also add extra question s to your list as you go and you can write
other notes on the page that you are readi ng (provi d e d it’s not so m e o n e
else’s book ! ). There is nothi ng to say you have to stick to the questio n s you
have set yourself. They are just there to gui d e you with your readi ng – to
ma k e sure that you have a focus for the effort you are putting in to getting
throug h the chapter.
Ah, yes, I can hear you screa m i n g already – “but doi ng it like this is going to
take AGES!” Well, yes, it will take longer than if you just sat there and read
from start to finis h BUT –
 you will have an organize d, useful set of notes
 you will re m e m b e r m ore of it afterwards and will be able to use what
you have learned in your assign m e n t s
 you will avoid readi ng the sa m e paragraph over and over witho ut
really taking it in

5. That ma k e s it all worth it then. It m ea n s you are not just wasting your ti m e
readi ng so m et h i n g that you will forget by the ne xt class.
GET TO IT!