Syntopic Reading

Aim: To accumulate power of different authors and to bring independent

viewpoints

Steps
1. Establish a purpose
 Clear and specific
 E.g. I want to learn effective methods to save money and invest wisely so I can build
my financial independence

2. Create a bibliography
 Choose non-fiction books
 Write a list of books you want to read

3. PhotoRead all materials the day before activating

 Let your brain categorize information during sleep after photoreading

4. Create a giant mind map

 Take out books, a large sheet of paper and coloured markers
 Let the statement purpose take place in the centre of sheet of paper

5. Find relevant passages
 Understand your purpose
 Super read and dip through each book (say 7). Finding relevant purposes
 Continue mindmapping relevant passages
 Use light dipping throughout the books and restrict dipping to relevant passages
 Imagine a discussion with book authors

6. Summarize in your own words

 Look at your mind map and discover important concepts
 Summarize what you think about the subject so far

7. Discover themes
 Explore your mind map and books for similarities and differences among authors’
viewpoints.
8. Define the issues
 Issues are the differences in viewpoints
 Super read and dip to find key points related to these issues
 Imagine yourself as a reporter and pose central questions to them
 Go quickly from 1 book to another, answering 1 question at a time
 Leave that book and flip through the next one once you find the answer

9. Formulate your own view

 Take no side at first and look over the viewpoints
 After gathering enough information, take side and formulate your own opinion

10. Apply
 Create arguments to support based on specific information. Be specific and prepared
to quote sources with page numbers.
 Order the key issues
 Create another mind map of your viewpoint before writing a formal report

Time Expectations
 10-15 per book to preview, PhotoRead and postview
 Take ONLY 2 45-min periods for activation