How to Read Like a Grad Student

Posted October 22, 2025 by Olivia McGovern

Something I learned way too late into grad school is that I don’t know how to read. I mean, we obviously all know how to read. During syllabus week, who in the entirety of SLIS hasn’t listed reading as one of their hobbies outside of school? Being avid readers is one of the main things us librarians usually have in common, along with a robust cardigan collection and colorful hair. The problem is that I didn’t know how to read efficiently and strategically. 

I’m a first-generation college student and this is my first time in graduate school. So, when I would see readings assigned in my syllabus, I would add each reading to my To Do List for the week and try to read each one front-to-back, highlighter at the ready. Despite working full time, I was usually able to scrabble together enough time from bus ride commutes and weekends to make it work for, oh, about two weeks. After that point, it became clear that I was just not going to be able to read every reading, and as a self-diagnosed overachiever, this really bothered me. 

What I’ve come to realize is that “finishing the reading” does not equal “reading all 85 pages front-to-back like a novella,” a truly impossible task for any busy grad student. So if like me, you’re struggling to keep up with the reading assignments: read strategically, not linearly. From the syllabus, read the learning outcomes for the week so that you understand what you’re supposed to get out of the assignments, then hopscotch your way through the readings armed with the knowledge of what you’re supposed to know by the end. 

For articles, read the journal name, title, abstract, and introduction closely, then jump to the discussion and conclusion and read those closely as well. Now you can skim and scan back through the rest of the article knowing what you’re meant to be looking for and stopping to read what interests you. For assigned books, make sure to read the introduction and conclusion chapters carefully. Then when a chapter from the text is assigned, take a similar approach to articles: read the introduction and conclusion of the chapter, then slide through the middle, stopping for the parts that are interesting and important. 

This will save you time and energy, while still allowing you to dip your toes into each of the readings. And if you have time, nothing is stopping you from reading a few in-depth, too! If you’d like more strategies for reading like a grad student, here is a great blog post; I won’t know if you only read the beginning, end, and skim the middle.