As you already know, reading isn’t a “one size fits all” activity: you need to adjust your reading strategies to fit the task at hand (see Chapter 7). Most instructors probably won’t give you specific instruction in how to read texts; they will simply assume that you know how.

The more you read in any discipline, the easier you will find it to understand—and to write in that discipline. So read a lot, and pay attention to the texts you are reading. To get started, choose an article in an important journal in the field you plan to major in and then answer the following questions:

Finally, make sure you know whether articles you are reading are from juried or nonjuried journals (11a). Juried journals use panels of expert readers to analyze proposed articles and recommend publication (or not) to the journal editor, so articles in juried journals have been examined and accepted by experts in the field. Nonjuried journals can also offer valuable information, but they may bear the stamp of the editor and that person’s biases more strongly than a juried journal would.