Before embarking on your reading think about the following:
- Why am I reading this?
- What information am I looking for?
- What questions am I trying to answer?
This will help you to focus your reading and to read actively. You want to avoid a situation where you start to read something and then realise that you have read a page without taking anything in!
You also want to ensure that you make effective notes, so avoid copying out pages or paragraphs of text as this may lead to plagiarism.