{"id":46676,"date":"2022-04-05T09:37:28","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T13:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=46676"},"modified":"2022-04-05T09:37:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T13:37:29","slug":"why-reading-more-helps-me-with-my-grades-as-a-humanities-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2022\/04\/05\/why-reading-more-helps-me-with-my-grades-as-a-humanities-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Reading More Helps Me with My Grades (as a Humanities Student)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Humanities students, I know what you\u2019re thinking. We have so much readings to do in a week, how could we possibly benefit from <em>more<\/em> reading? Sounds exhausting just thinking about it, right? But it just works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My recently-graduated Masters friend gave me this advice, that I should read more if I want to excel in my courses, or pursue graduate school in the Humanities. Read more, what does that mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not about reading more academic articles, or analyzing your assigned readings more than you\u2019re already doing. Just read <em>more<\/em> books. Fiction, non-fiction, but fiction especially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2021, I read a total of 30 books. So, what did that do for me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/04\/277885149_1462680064146730_454048799423076676_n-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"bookshelf of multi-coloured books\" class=\"wp-image-46678\" width=\"468\" height=\"351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/04\/277885149_1462680064146730_454048799423076676_n-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/04\/277885149_1462680064146730_454048799423076676_n-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/04\/277885149_1462680064146730_454048799423076676_n-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/04\/277885149_1462680064146730_454048799423076676_n-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/04\/277885149_1462680064146730_454048799423076676_n-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It exposed me to different styles of writing.<\/strong> Let\u2019s be real; reading academic prose gets exhausting. Reading different writing styles is not only refreshing but also allows me to see how content can be written differently but denote the same meaning as another writing style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reading beyond academic writing helped me to synthesis course ideas outside of lecture.<\/strong> I picked up on themes and motifs in books thar related to class concepts and it furthered my understanding of them. No longer did I see my readings as a bunch of academic jargon, it actually made sense when I read books outside of academia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Promoted consistency in overall reading<\/strong>. I find that when I read books regularly, I stay on top of my academic readings more effectively. I had a healthy amount of leisure reading that I was able to stay motivated in tackling those lengthy course readings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2021\/11\/4163FB26-ABC3-43D5-8197-B67C5FE47143-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"book page with text\" class=\"wp-image-45682\" width=\"289\" height=\"386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2021\/11\/4163FB26-ABC3-43D5-8197-B67C5FE47143-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2021\/11\/4163FB26-ABC3-43D5-8197-B67C5FE47143-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2021\/11\/4163FB26-ABC3-43D5-8197-B67C5FE47143.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Even during exam season, I still try to find time to read. I range between fiction, poetry, self-help, and other non-fiction. You may be wondering, when do I possibly find time for leisure reading? I open a book when:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I\u2019m waiting for class to start.<\/strong> Whether it\u2019s on Zoom or an in-person lecture, I always have a book on hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When I\u2019m getting ready for bed. <\/strong>I usually like to do this on a night where I don\u2019t have to get up early. That way, I can enjoy myself and stop reading when I please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>On transportation.<\/strong> I definitely read on the train, the car, anywhere I can sit down that takes me places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>On my break.<\/strong> When I\u2019ve had a two-hour study session, or I\u2019ve felt satisfied with getting some work done, I pull out a book to read a chapter or ten pages, at least.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nHumanities students, I know what you\u2019re thinking. We have so much readings to do in a week, how could we possibly benefit from more reading? Sounds exhausting just thinking about it, right? But it just works. My recently-graduated Masters friend&hellip;\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2022\/04\/05\/why-reading-more-helps-me-with-my-grades-as-a-humanities-student\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Why Reading More Helps Me with My Grades (as a Humanities Student)&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2022\/04\/05\/why-reading-more-helps-me-with-my-grades-as-a-humanities-student\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Why Reading More Helps Me with My Grades (as a Humanities Student)&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":408,"featured_media":46679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[551,131,207,35787,23575,12743,25398,696,12569,1504],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46676"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/408"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46676"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46685,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46676\/revisions\/46685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}