Communicating in Your Life Chapter 1 – 1.3 Communicating in Your Life Business Communications

Importance of Reading Because there is so much information reading is very important.

Reading related to your career Finding a job Staying informed Following procedures Handling transactions Providing customer service Making decisions and solving problems

Making decisions and solving problems Read to understand material from several sources on a topic and make recommendations as requested by your manager. Read several accounts of how a product failed to perform properly to find the underlying cause of the problem. Read research reports and market forecasts to help decide whether to produce a new product. Read employee evaluations and manager comments to select a person for promotion. Read information on employee benefits such as health care plans to help you choose appropriate options.

Types of reading Skimming Scanning Careful reading Looking over material quickly to locate specific data Scanning An attempt to get a basic understanding of the important points of material you are going to read Looking at main headings, subheadings, first line of each paragraph, lists, figures Careful reading Used when trying to understand and remember material

Improving reading speed and comprehension Average reading speed is 200-350 wpm Ways to improve reading speed – Select a location conducive to reading Scan items – get an overview of information Use a dictionary Learn to read in groups of words Find the main idea in every paragraph Recognize order of events Take notes or highlight information