8 Things I Started Doing to Achieve a Better Experience in Reading and Writing

How to give and get the gist from something we write and read?

Since the preschool stage, we continue to read so many things. Some are for educational purposes, while some are for pleasure. As writers, we write boatloads of things on different niches. If we truly take something new to our lives from what we read, then only the real intention of that piece of writing comes to light.

For that thing to happen, there are some steps that the readers can follow. Think for a moment about understanding and memorizing the facts after only one round of reading! Wouldn’t that be great?

But, hold your horses. That’s not totally up to readers. There are some other things that writers can follow to make their readers gain the maximum value from their piece of writing.

Here we go.

Tips for the writers:

01. Brief introduction

What mainly pushes us to read an article? Yeah, that’s the headline.

Somebody feels curious after seeing a headline of an article and starts reading. From the very first point he started reading, he is looking for the answers for the curiosity. It makes the reader feels boring if he didn’t find the content quickly he is looking for.

That certainly happens if your piece of writing has got a lengthy introduction before the most important body paragraphs. So, try to keep the introduction part simple, brief and to the point.

02. Explain the article structure

Though lengthy introductions seem to be boring, it’s important to have an introduction as a start for the content. If the writers give a brief explanation about the content and structure of the article, that improves the reading efficiency.

You can directly mention or use questions about what the reader is going to know throughout the article. But make sure to arrange them in the order.

How does that help?

Well, that helps to create a rough image of the article content in the readers’ mind at the beginning. Then the reader gets an idea about the structure and length of the article, which makes the reader, reads the article with the same endurance from the beginning to the end.

If not what happens is, reader losses his favor and endurance at the beginning or middle of the article.

03. Summary

At the end of the article, try to make readers focus on the most important points. That emphasizes the cream of the article to the readers and gives them a satisfaction about their acquisition.

Along with the summary, you can include your suggestions and final thoughts.

04. Highlights

Even if you are just scanning a story or an article, what parts draw your attention the most?

Well, here are my answers!

Images, bold or italic texts, underlined texts and single sentences among paragraphs are the ones that draw my special attention. Also, they are the ones that go deep down my mind at a glance when compared to other parts.

Why not using this common human nature to end your piece of writing as an appreciable one?

You can highlight the important words or phrases in the article using bold, italic or underlining effects. You can use spacing and add relevant images, but not too much. That won’t make heavy-eyed readers.

These highlighting techniques make those parts draw special attention of the reader and increase the probability of remembering.

Tips for the readers:

01. Not too much weight on the introduction

You see a headline, feel curious, and now you are eager to find the answers!

But you know that the answers are not in the introduction, and it’s just a start for the story. So, if the introduction seems to be lengthy, you can just scan over it if you don’t have much time.

If you are willing to read the introduction as many of us do, do not let most of your curiosity and endurance evaporate in that part. Save that for the most important and expecting section: the body paragraphs.

This could be the reason for most of the people end up without reading the whole story. Even I have given up some articles because I got bored of their lengthy introduction paragraphs.

02. Recall

What if you could spend 1 or 2 minutes for a recall after reading an article or something related to your studies?

Yeah, that will be a sketch of what you have learned from your reading and also help to understand if there are any doubts. That will be easy if the writer has included a summary at the end of the article itself.

If you are studying, select chapters and recall briefly at the end of each chapter.

03. Reading rhythm

You may have read so many articles: conversational, persuasive, descriptive and many more writing styles. Many readers start reading with a cheerful mood, but that lessens and vanish within a few paragraphs. Their reading rate lowers down.

What would happen if you read these writing pieces with a rhythm that suits their written style? Of course, that’s a good one because that makes the text appear more absorbing.

Give it a try if not still doing that!

04. Highlighting and taking notes

Do you feel sleepy when read and read long paragraphs of text?

That’s usual and nothing wrong because the brain gets tired too. Then you feel tired. You need to give something different to the brain to overcome this monotony. This is where the images, colors, graphs, bullet points and mind maps jump out like a beacon in the dark.

Especially for your educational reading materials, this technique would be a great idea.

Either you can highlight the important points or take notes in a different book or mobile. When taking notes try to, note them down in point form, graphs, sketch diagrams or mind maps. When highlighting, you can use different colors based on the strength, importance or subject of the selected part.

These items let the brain process the desired content more effectively.

As writers, focus on the introduction, article structure, summary and highlights. Not too much weight on the introduction, highlighting and taking notes, recalling at the end and maintaining a reading rhythm can benefit the readers. These simple tips will help you to absorb the cream of any reading material with less time and effort.

Why not give a try both as writers and readers?