Getting the Most Out of Reading History

Active reading means reading for meaning. The big challenges of reading are length and detail. If you understand the “big picture,” you can read much more quickly and effectively, because you can “see the forest for the trees.” That is, you can see the main ideas and recognize how specific information is provided to illustrate those big ideas. The three stages of reading described below will help you understand the “big picture” when reading this text and others.