The "Exciting" World of College Textbooks: Seven Tips on How to Endure It

Let's face it. If you're going to skip a college assignment, it's probably going to be the reading-especially if there are no pop quizzes in your course. After all, what's the point? But if you want to do well on class participation, papers, and tests, it's best to know what you're discussing. Even so, it's difficult to get motivated to read the oftentimes dense and dull writing that textbooks offer. To help with your pursuits, these seven steps should help ease the college reading burden.

1. Make sure you're actually reading

How many times have you read through a few pages of your textbook and realized that you didn't actually read anything at all? I did this countless times. My eyes would read the words, but my brain would be elsewhere (mostly doing a mental countdown of the pages I had left to read).

Train yourself to focus on what the author is trying to communicate, instead of simply reading words. To facilitate this process, after each page (or paragraph if need be), you should ask yourself what are its main points. Make sure everything makes sense to you. Don't worry, sometimes it won't. A few misguided authors may get carried away and obfuscate their writing to appear to be more scholarly (what's so scholarly about not being clear anyway?). At any rate, try to at least understand the author's organization. If they're available, look at the headings and subheadings. How are they connected?

2. Underline unfamiliar words

Remember your old high school textbooks? With their handy definitions of new words in the margins and end-of-chapter comprehension questions? Well, many college textbooks don't have those luxuries. In fact, sometimes college textbooks are just anthologies of academic articles. No more pre-highlighted or pre-bolded technical words for you. Fortunately, in most cases the author still defines technical words and concepts. Pay special attention to them. Underline them, and, if the author doesn't explain it, look it up in the dictionary or online.

3. Take notes that help you

There are positives and negatives in taking notes. I remember at the start of each semester, I would arm myself with multicolor gel pens and a fresh notebook. I would then diligently scribble important points, subpoints, definitions, etc. When I had pages of notes and realized I was only halfway through the chapter, I would give up. Then I would retry this regimen the next semester with similar results.

The lesson?: Find out what works for you. I got by scribbling in the margins, highlighting what I thought was important, and maybe occasionally writing down a definition or two. Writing definitely imprints the text on your memory more than simply reading, but don't spend too much valuable time taking notes.

4. Use a highlighter

As I just mentioned in point three, highlighting is a good technique. However, don't overdo it. If most of your page is highlighted (and it's not a used book), you're doing it wrong. Pick out the key points and any definitions that aren't already highlighted in some way. If you highlight too much, nothing will stand out. You may as well reread everything over again.

5. Find what environment works for you

Or find out what distracts you. Some people can read perfectly well with music blaring and people conversing all around them. Others must have silence. Sometimes, we ourselves seek out distractions. Occasionally, I had to sequester myself in the library to be distraction-free-otherwise I'd read five pages, and I would decide I earned some time to goof around on the Internet. Take note of what slows down your reading pace.

6. Take breaks

If you have a particularly long reading, you should allow yourself a break. Work on another assignment or do something fun. If you don't, you'll most likely slip into a state of apathy and won't be as vigilant about following points one through four.

7. Reread right before class

This point is more of a suggestion. Spare time in college is sparse, and you may not have the time to review your readings. You should consider this point more strongly, however, if you have pop quizzes or participation points in your course. If you did a good job of highlighting or taking notes, then you should skim the textbook with relative ease.