Reading everyday and work texts

Skills for Success says reading helps you work safely and efficiently and learn other skills — including by reading online lessons. Official reading steps you can use on a form, email, poster, or set of instructions:

1. Know why you are reading. What do you need to find or do?
2. Find the key information. Look at headings, bold words, dates, times, amounts, and names. The official skill includes scanning and skimming to locate what matters in articles, tables, charts, and other documents.
3. Connect the parts. How does one sentence relate to the next? Is it a problem and a solution, or a list of steps?
4. Use what you read. Follow the instruction, fill the correct line, or choose the right action.
5. Think about the source, especially online. Is the page relevant and trustworthy? Prefer official sites such as Canada.ca, Alberta.ca, or your employer’s own page for rules.

Practice ideas:

• Read a medicine label, a bus or clinic notice, or a workplace safety sign. What is the most important instruction?
• Open a simple email or letter. Who sent it, what do they want, and by when?
• On a form, find the lines for your name, date, and signature before you write.

Read the whole question on a form before you answer. Workplace Writing and Grammar (Canadian Spelling) spends more time on writing style. Here, the win is finding the right information and not guessing.

If a word is new, circle it and look it up or ask someone you trust.