How to Boost Your Reading Comprehension

How to Boost Your Reading Comprehension Improving Academic Performance Reading comprehension is one of those critical skills that you use on a daily basis. Many may think that simply reading will help strengthen their reading comprehension skills, but that isn’t necessarily true. Reading comprehension goes beyond reading and understanding the words that make up a sentence. Reading comprehension involves deciphering the topic and purpose of the sentence, paragraph, or article at hand. Without reading actively -- that is reading, remembering, and analyzing what you’ve read -- your reading comprehension skills won’t improve very much. So, how can you learn to read actively? Take a look at the tips and strategies listed below to learn how to read actively. Preview Your Text Do you habitually skip the summaries and focus questions at the beginning of your textbook chapter? Don’t! These summaries and guided questions are there to help you read smarter! Before diving in and reading an article or text in its entirety, take time to briefly preview the chapter summaries and guided questions. If you are reading an article or a book, preview the text by reading the title and the paragraph titles. Previewing the text prior to reading it in length will give you a basic understanding of the main topic and/or purpose of the text. Educators at Education Corner write that reading the introduction, table of contents, chapter headings, and bold print can be strong indicators of what the main topics of a text will be. Knowing what the main topics and main purposes are ahead of time will help you to determine what information to pay close attention to and how the text will develop. Jot Down Questions Now that you have a general idea of what the main topics of the text are, rewrite the chapter titles, chapter subtitles, and paragraph headings into questions. For example, a chapter title that reads “Principles of Macroeconomics” can be easily rephrased into a question: ‘What are the principles of macroeconomics?”. Jotting down questions prior to reading a text in full will help you navigate what the main points are, and what information you should take away once you’ve completed reading the text. Read! Previewing and jotting down questions will help prime you on what to expect in the text. You’re all set to beginning reading. When reading, pay close attention to the first and last sentence of every paragraph. The first sentence often introduces what the main topic of the paragraph is, and the last sentence typically summarizes the main point and indicates the direction the next paragraph is going to take. The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University recommends bracketing the main idea of the reading, writing notes in the margins, and creating an outline of the reading to aid in conceptually understanding the reading. The key to active reading is making sure that you understand the main idea of the text, the function it serves, and how the main idea or main argument develops over the course of the reading. To track how the main idea develops, keep note of pivotal words such as additive words (and, also, furthermore), compare/contrast words (conversely, despite, however), and cause-and-effect words (accordingly, because, hence). When you see these words, pay attention! These words are important because they indicate the direction of the main idea. To review more pivotal words, check out the pivotal words guide published by Dartmouth College. Recall What You’ve Read After you have finished reading your text, take some time to write a brief summary. Your summary shouldn’t exceed one page. In your summary, recall the main idea of the text, the main purpose of the text, the points that the text brought up, and important details. Writing a summary of the text does two things: 1) it gives you an opportunity to check whether or not you fully understand the text and the argument. 2) you have a summary that you can quickly review when preparing for exams. If you're summary indicates that you didn't fully understand the text, go back and re-read it. It may take two or three times reading an article before you can clearly identify the main idea. If this occurs, try breaking up the reading in chunks and deciphering the main idea of each paragraph. Once you've identified the main idea of each paragraph, string the ideas together to help you understand the text as a whole. Review The most effective way to retain the text that you’ve read is to review the text or your summary. Revisit your summary and quiz yourself on how much you remember about the text and the main points that the text addresses. If there are some points or concepts that you don’t fully understand, review the text. Take the review process a step further by spending time posing questions about the main idea, teasing out the assumptions that the author makes in her text, and real-world applications of the concepts presented in the text. This extra step will help you to have a stronger understanding of text, and will help you retain the main ideas of the text. Reading actively takes practice and time. Practice utilizing these tips and strategies and you’ll start to see your reading comprehension strengthen! About the Author Banke is one of MyGuru's most accomplished tutors, as well as a frequent blog contributor. For more information on Banke's background and tutoring experience, click here.

How to Use Meanwhile and Other English Connector Words

How to Use Meanwhile and Other English Connector Words English connector words like  meanwhile show a logical relationship between events, thoughts and clauses.Instead of speaking only in short sentences, connector words enable us to join them together so that we can express ourselves fluidly.Understanding connector words is critical for effective comprehension of the English language while a strong vocabulary of connector words can raise the standard of your English from good to excellent.The Meaning of MeanwhileWhen we use meanwhile in English, it  means that things happened at the same time, or refers to things that happened after an intervening space of time. Confusing? Check out the next section.How to use Meanwhile in a SentenceOk, if the definition of meanwhile left you confused, these example sentences should make it easy.When meanwhile means that things happened at the same time:I was working at a restaurant, meanwhile my wife was going to university.The United States elected a new president, meanwhile the whole world was having problems.Jim is  married to Beth, meanwhile he speaks  to Anne everyday.When meanwhile refers to things that happened during an intervening space of time:Beth has moved to Chicago. Anne has meanwhile found a new boyfriend.I quit school 3 months ago. I have meanwhile been offered 3 job.Note that in these two sentences you can replace meanwhile with since and get the same meaning.More English Connector Words1. Coordinating ConjunctionsCoordinating conjunctions join the two or more important ideas in a clause together to make a single sentence. These are the most straightforward connector words and the most usedThey include: For But Or Yet So AndHere are some examples of how they are used:Instead of saying: I went to university today. I had an exam We can say: I went to university today for an exam.Instead of saying: I want to go to France. I might not have money to do so. We can say: I want to go to France but I might not have the money to do soInstead of saying: I went to work. I h ad a coffee. We can say: I went to work and I had a coffee.Instead of saying: Will I buy the red dress? Will I buy the black dress? We can say: Will I buy the red dress or the black dress?2. Relative PronounsRelative pronouns are used after a noun or other main subject in a sentence to give more details about it. These are:Who That Whom Which WhoseHere are some examples of how they are used:David is my brother’s friend. David is my brother’s friend who plays in a band with him.He bought me a perfume for my birthday. He bought me a perfume for my birthday that smells beautifulAnna is my neighbour. Anna is a my neighbour with whom we went to France.That’s the man. That’s the man whose wife had triplets.3. Subordinating ConjunctionsSubordinating Conjunctions tell us more about the action or verb of one clause by linking it to the action of another clause.These include:When Though If Before Since So That Because While Although Wherever Whenever As Unless After In order That As i f WhereHere are some examples of how they are used:She bought new shoes although she still hadn’t paid her credit card bill. I always stop by his coffee shop whenever I go to the beach on holidays. I won’t be able to go to the party unless David drives me. I ate an apple while I waited for my father at the airport I hadn’t heard of the movie before I went to the cinema with Maria.4. Conjunctive AdverbsConjunctive adverbs connect two independent clauses. The difference with conjunctive adverbs from other connector words is that, in most cases, they must be preceded by semicolon and followed by a comma.These includeHowever Also Then Moreover Therefore Consequently Instead Later Afterwards Furthermore Afterwards MeanwhileHere are some examples of how they are used:I do love to go to Europe on holidays; however, this year I went to Canada. I had so much more I couldn’t meet Claire for lunch; moreover, I had an important doctor’s appointment. I have a thesis to finish by Friday ; therefore, I will be studying hard over the next few days. He has a severe heart condition; consequently, he needs surgery urgently. John was working hard; meanwhile, David was doing nothing except watching television.Examples of How Connector Words are UsedConnector words are a very important tool in literature because they help show cause and effect, contrast and comparison. They set the scene while also enabling the text to flow.Read this excerpt from the short story, A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett. Pay attention to the author’s use of connector words and see how many you can spot in the text.The woods were already filled with shadows one June evening, just before eight o’clock, though a bright sunset still glimmered faintly among the trunks of the trees. A little girl was driving home her cow, a plodding, dilatory, provoking creature in her behavior, but a valued companion for all that. They were going away from whatever light there was, and striking deep into the wood s, but their feet were familiar with the path, and it was no matter whether their eyes could see it or not. There was hardly a night the summer through when the old cow could be found waiting at the pasture bars; on the contrary, it was her greatest pleasure to hide herself away among the huckleberry bushes, and though she wore a loud bell she had made the discovery that if one stood perfectly still it would not ring. So Sylvia had to hunt for her until she found her, and call Co’! Co’! with never an answering Moo, until her childish patience was quite spent. If the creature had not given good milk and plenty of it, the case would have seemed very different to her owners. Besides, Sylvia had all the time there was, and very little use to make of it. Sometimes in pleasant weather it was a consolation to look upon the cow’s pranks as an intelligent attempt to play hide-and seek, and as the child had no playmates she lent herself to this amusement with a good deal of zest. Though this chase had been so long that the wary animal herself had given an unusual signal of her whereabouts, Sylvia had only laughed when she came upon Mistress Moolly at the swampside, and urged her affectionately homeward with a twig of birch leaves. The old cow was not inclined to wander farther, she even turned in the right direction for once as they left the pasture, and stepped along the road at a good pace.