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Some may be surprised by this statement, but I’m going to say it anyway. At university, you’re expected to be reading smart.
By reading smart, I don’t mean keeping up with all your Facebook friends’ status updates, or scanning through Buzzfeed’s home page (Although I do admit, some can be rather educational from an anthropological point of view.) I mean actual textbooks and journals required for your school assignment.
Unless you’re looking to pass a course called: “Useless information you wish you didn’t know”, anything off-reading list is likely to be detrimental when a school assignment deadline looms. As my mother used to say whenever I even glanced at a glossy magazine, “The more crap you put in your brain, the more good stuff gets pushed out.”
If you’re one of those people that can actually use 100% of your brain (Is this you?), then you have nothing to worry about. However, if you’re the type of person that gets sleepy at the sight of a thick book, but can spend hours trying to discover the truth behind Beyonce’s baby bump, then you might need a bit of guidance. Here are a few things which may appear innocent and informative to read, but is actually stopping you from getting your school assignment done on time.
1) News does not always equal “reading smart”
You may be thinking, it’s a news website! This enhances the brain! Yes it’s important to keep in-the-know, but is the story about how-the-dog-got-stuck-in-the-tree-when-chased-by-a-cat really going to help with your paper on medieval history? Probably not.
2) Avoid Wikipedia like the plague for your school assignment
Wikipedia may sum things up nicely in laymen’s terms, but it’s really not reading smart and defenitely not going to help with an academic essay. Oh, it also has absolutely no credibility whatsoever and professors always know (don’t ask me how, they just do!) when you’ve “enhanced” a phrase taken from here, whether intentionally or not. Plus, there’s all these links which take you to other very interesting topics and before you know it, you’ve pushed all the good stuff out of your head and replaced it with mush.
3) Do not google “how to concentrate better”
You’ve just wasted precious time by typing this into google then reading a completely unrelated article on concentration. Think of Google as a gateway drug, once you’re in, it can spiral out of control. Need to concentrate? Chances are, you already know what you need to do, just buckle up and turn your head back towards your school assignment!
I’ve recently come across a speed reading program called “Spreader” and yes, it is extremely useful when you need to digest a lot of information. But it takes practice to get it right and apply it correctly so don’t waste your time here now, keep it in mind for next time!
In case you found this blog through no. 3 above, I’m going to illustrate my point. Check out study tips for exams.
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How to be Reading Smart (When the Deadline Looms)
Vickie Chiu
Updated Jan 06, 2015Save
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Some may be surprised by this statement, but I’m going to say it anyway. At university, you’re expected to be reading smart.
By reading smart, I don’t mean keeping up with all your Facebook friends’ status updates, or scanning through Buzzfeed’s home page (Although I do admit, some can be rather educational from an anthropological point of view.) I mean actual textbooks and journals required for your school assignment.
Unless you’re looking to pass a course called: “Useless information you wish you didn’t know”, anything off-reading list is likely to be detrimental when a school assignment deadline looms. As my mother used to say whenever I even glanced at a glossy magazine, “The more crap you put in your brain, the more good stuff gets pushed out.”
If you’re one of those people that can actually use 100% of your brain (Is this you?), then you have nothing to worry about. However, if you’re the type of person that gets sleepy at the sight of a thick book, but can spend hours trying to discover the truth behind Beyonce’s baby bump, then you might need a bit of guidance. Here are a few things which may appear innocent and informative to read, but is actually stopping you from getting your school assignment done on time.
1) News does not always equal “reading smart”
You may be thinking, it’s a news website! This enhances the brain! Yes it’s important to keep in-the-know, but is the story about how-the-dog-got-stuck-in-the-tree-when-chased-by-a-cat really going to help with your paper on medieval history? Probably not.
2) Avoid Wikipedia like the plague for your school assignment
Wikipedia may sum things up nicely in laymen’s terms, but it’s really not reading smart and defenitely not going to help with an academic essay. Oh, it also has absolutely no credibility whatsoever and professors always know (don’t ask me how, they just do!) when you’ve “enhanced” a phrase taken from here, whether intentionally or not. Plus, there’s all these links which take you to other very interesting topics and before you know it, you’ve pushed all the good stuff out of your head and replaced it with mush.
3) Do not google “how to concentrate better”
You’ve just wasted precious time by typing this into google then reading a completely unrelated article on concentration. Think of Google as a gateway drug, once you’re in, it can spiral out of control. Need to concentrate? Chances are, you already know what you need to do, just buckle up and turn your head back towards your school assignment!
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4) Get to know Spreader, but not now
I’ve recently come across a speed reading program called “Spreader” and yes, it is extremely useful when you need to digest a lot of information. But it takes practice to get it right and apply it correctly so don’t waste your time here now, keep it in mind for next time!
In case you found this blog through no. 3 above, I’m going to illustrate my point. Check out study tips for exams.