Reading

What makes reading such a complex process? How is the role of reading in society changing? Should I be reading more?  

You might have wondered some of these things about reading as you’ve used this guide. Researchers wonder about these things too. Here is a short list of some interesting research on reading that can help you explore more about this important topic.  

Baron, Naomi. “Why We Remember More by Reading—Especially Print—Than from Audio or Video.” The Conversation, 3 May 2021, theconversation.com/why-we-remember-more-by-reading-especially-print-than-from-audio-or-video-159522.

Dehaene, Stanislas. Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read. Penguin, 2010. (Available in hard copy from the Jefferson Learning Commons).

Kassuba, Tanja and Sabine Kastner. “The Reading Brain.” Scientific American, 12 May 2015, blogs.scientificamerican.com/frontiers-for-young-minds/the-reading-brain/.

Seidenberg, Mark. Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done about It. Basic Books, 2018. (Available in hard copy from the Jefferson Learning Commons).

Stillman, Jessica. “This Is How Reading Rewires Your Brain, According to Neuroscience.” Inc., 22 Feb. 2021, www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/reading-books-brain-chemistry.html. 

Willingham, Daniel. The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads. Jossey-Bass, 2017. (Available in hard copy from the Jefferson Learning Commons. Also available in electronic copy from Jefferson’s Learning Commons through the ProQuest Ebook Central Database). 

Wolf, Maryanne. Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Harper Perennial, 2007. (Available in hard copy from the Jefferson Learning Commons).

Baron, Naomi. How We Read Now: Strategic Choices for Print, Screen and Audio. Oxford UP, 2021. (Available in electronic copy from Jefferson’s Learning Commons through the ProQuest Ebook Central Database). 

Cohn, Jenae. Skim, Dive, Surface: Teaching Digital Reading. West Virginia University Press, 2021.

“How Technology Is (and Isn’t) Changing Our Reading Habits.” New York Times, 17 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/technology/personaltech/how-technology-is-and-isnt-changing-our-reading-habits.html.  

Johnson, Steven. “The Fall and Rise of Reading.” Chronicle of Higher Education, 21 April 2019, www.chronicle.com/article/the-fall-and-rise-of-reading/.   

Molaro, Christopher. “Is Reading Really That Important?” Huffington Post, 23 Jan. 2014, www.huffpost.com/entry/is-reading-really-that-im_b_4016380.  

Ward, Jason. “How Is Technology Changing the Way We Read?” 12 Dec. 2020,  medium.com/technology-hits/how-is-technology-changing-the-way-we-read-7ddce817b797. 

Wolf, Maryanne. Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World. Harper Perennial, 2018. (Available in hard copy from Jefferson’s Learning Commons). 

Caramela, Sammi. “Read a Book! It’s Good for Your Career.” Business News Daily, 12 June 2017, https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9998-reading-helps-career.html.  

Gorvett, Zaria. “How to Cultivate a Daily Reading Habit. BBC Worklife, 24 Feb. 2019, www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190225-how-to-cultivate-a-daily-reading-habit.  

Miller, Jordan. “Opinion: College Students Should Prioritize Leisure Reading.” LSU Reveille, 23 Aug. 2017, www.lsureveille.com/daily/opinion-college-students-should-prioritize-leisure-reading/article_7bbb17ea-8832-11e7-b206-17021a7a8b73.html.  

Seifert, Christine. “The Case for Reading Fiction.” Harvard Business Review, 6 March 2020, hbr.org/2020/03/the-case-for-reading-fiction.  

Winter, Catherine. “10 Benefits of Reading: Why You Should Read Every Day.” Lifehack, www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10-benefits-reading-why-you-should-read-everyday.html.  

This list of words and their definitions can help you better understand the resources provided in this guide.

annotation: notes that you make in the text or along the margins of something you are reading

abridged: a shortened version of a book, document, etc. containing only the main content

abstract: a summary of an article or other resource that tells you what that text is about so you can choose whether or not it fits your purpose

article: a short text published as part of a larger publication, like a journal or newspaper

autobiography: the story of a person’s life, written by that person

biography: the story of a person's life, written by someone else

chunking: a reading strategy in which you break a sentence or paragraph into smaller pieces and work on understanding each piece, then think about them as a whole

e-book: a book in electronic or digital form that can be read online or in an app

fiction: written works that are made up or imaginary, like novels or short stories

journal: a periodical published by a special group, learned society, or institution that provides information in a particular field of study

magazine: a publication that is issued periodically, typically for general reading and containing articles, essays, or stories by different writers, usually focused on a particular topic like hobbies, news, or sports

metacognition:  noticing and making choices about your own thinking processes

nonfiction: written works that are factual and not made up or imaginary

novel: a fictional story with some length and complexity, usually with multiple characters and a sequence of events

novella: a fictional story that is longer and more complex than a short story but shorter than a novel

peer-reviewed journal : a journal that publishes articles only after they are reviewed and approved by a group of experts in the field (the author’s peers); considered scholarly journals

periodical: a journal, magazine, newspaper, or other publication that is issued at regularly recurring intervals such as daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly

predict: a reading strategy in which you use what you already know to make informed guesses about what a text will talk about or what will happen next in the story

preview: a reading strategy in which you look through a text and notice its features, structure and content before you read it, so that you can make choices about how to read it effectively

reading: the complex process of gaining understanding from a text, including making sense of the words, images, and ideas the text presents

reading strategy: a specific action that a reader takes to help understand a text

scholarly journal: a journal that includes articles written by scholars or researchers in a field; most are peer-reviewed journals

text: information that is presented for readers in words and/or images

virtual library: books, articles, video, and other materials available from the library via the internet