As we have seen, academic reading relies heavily on personal preferences. Therefore, it can be instructive to reflect on how various techniques that you used with your reading in the past could be helpful again at university. In school, college, or employment you will have, consciously or not, honed your skills as an academic reader. In the following task you will be asked to reflect on your experiences to date. When you look through the methods ask yourself these questions:

How many of these approaches have you already used when reading in school, college, or employment?
Which of these techniques might also be helpful for reading at university?
In which order might you try and use these reading strategies when approaching texts at university?
Which approach would you choose to begin if you were to start reading for your assignment?

Keep a note of the methods that you pick out in the following task. Keep these in a safe place as they might help you with the next task.