Better Ways to Comprehend Infomation when Reading

Set a purpose:
-Why are you reading?
Maybe you're assigned to read the material, or you simply want to read it. What ever the reason, you should at least make an effort to understand and visualize what you are reading, so you can comprehend it. This form of organizing your thoughts will benefit you every time you read.
-How does the subject relate to your life?
Relating to your material helps you put yourself in the character's shoes, or understand the situation from a different point of view.

Preview:
-Almost every book has a short summary in the front or back.
-Or, if it is a textbook, (that you use in school) read the
Chapter title
Section title
Bold words
and/or Vocabulary.
Skim the photos, see how they support the topic.

AS YOU READ:

Question:
-What is the main idea?
-The main idea of a paragraph is usually defined in the first sentence.

Connect:
-Can you relate what you're reading to anything in YOUR life?
Maybe what your reading about is something that you heard about, or know has happened to a friend or relative. Try to recall on what information you already know, this will help you relate better to the topic.

Predict:
-Predict what will happen in your material by the foreshadowing clues, events, or simply by your previous knowledge.
-You can change your predictions as your read and gather new information, shift your views to fully understand what might happen.
Types of clues
- Cause-and Effect: e.g If this happens, THEN that will happen.
- Chronological Order: e.g First this happens, then this happens, finally, this will happen.
- Comparing and contrasting: e.g This happened like this and that happened like that.

Visualize:
-Pay careful attention to details, as they will help you form a better picture in your mind.

AFTER YOU READ:

Summarize:
-Describe the main idea, and give plenty of details to support it.
-Paraphrase what you have read, put it in your own words so that you can quickly understand it if you need to refresh your memory.
-If it helps, make an outline!

Question yourself:
-What have I learned from this reading material?
-Was it worth it? Did I enjoy it?
-Will I read this a subject like this again?
-What was the most important thing I took away from this book?

Using all of these strategies will definitely help you in your endless journey to becoming a better reader!
I hope it helps!