Throughout the semester we have emphasized the importance of reading. Reading is one of the most important abilities that we have to master during our law school (and legal) career. Below is a compilation of tips to improve upon reading skills.

1. Disconnect from technology

  • Reduce the time spent watching tv
  • Only check emails 3x a day, then 1x a day
  • By disconnecting from technology, we will decrease the unnecessary and continuous stimuli bombarding our brain, thus reducing frictions that the brains experience.

2. Link the theme of "hearing" to the reading

  • Our discussions on the reading have focused on deciphering what the authors/protagonists are really thinking and what they are really trying to communicate to us. This relates to the comment on being aware of the surroundings and really "listening" to what is going on. Instead of just superficially glancing through the reading to figure out what is the most important sentence, it would help to pay attention to the context the author sets up and what function each detail serves in communicating the author's narrative.
  • For example, KatyScaggs? pointed out the role of architectural descriptions in conveying the message of appreciating the beauty in Cerriere's Answer.

3. Read multiple times

4. * Try to make an emotional connection with the material your reading*

  • Note: This may not always work in practice because there just certain material that's hard to relate to.

5. Frequently adjust body position

  • Frequently adjusting your body position every few minutes can help you to remember things according to what you were doing at the time.
  • For example, you can be sitting upright in your chair for several minutes reading about topic X, then you cross your legs and remember that in this position you were reading about topic Y. Then several minutes pass, you lean back, remember what you were reading at that point, and so on...

6. Sleep

  • This is advice consistently given by 3Ls, and the connection between sleep and increased memory retention is well documented

7. Meditation

-- MinKyungLee, LizzieGomez, GechiNzewi, MatthewVillar, and SkylarPolansky