Newspapers have sports, news, business, features, sports, editorial, editorial cartoons, advertisements and entertainment sections. Locate the article you are interested in reading by visiting the appropriate section within the newspaper. Some of the articles might have subheadings spelling out the information available. In news articles, the most important and relevant facts appear in descending order, thus you can read the first two paragraphs to get the general idea of the story.
Newspapers contain articles that report factual information explaining how, why and when something happened. Most of these articles tell the most captivating and important key facts first, thus you can skim and scan through them to get most of the information. (See Reference, Page 222) Examples of such articles are financial stock market reports and sport news. The pictures in the newspaper are a quick read, as they accompany short and factual tidbits.
These articles explain the news in details and mostly offer facts as well as opinions. When reading them, take your time to distinguish between the facts and the author’s opinions, by critically analyzing the contents. Read all the pertinent information that matches with the reason why you are reading the newspaper.
Opinion articles have a different structure since the author constructs the arguments and outcomes. Most of these articles are subjective and require a lot of analysis to sieve out the facts and personal opinions. Read these articles carefully and decide whether you agree with the author’s views or you have a different opinion. Most editorials will fall in this category, since they give a perspective of how the newspaper views a particular issue. Editorial cartoons also belong to this group, as they visually communicate a vital message in an entertaining and amusing manner.
After reading the newspaper constantly, you may differentiate between your favorite sections and the ones that don’t hold your interests, making it easier for you to speed read. Review the subheadings and headlines and pick the relevant articles that capture the purpose of your reading. Preview the article content by reading the opening paragraph, since it contains most of the key information.