What You Read Matters

What You Read Matters More Than You Might Think

Susan Reynolds | June 30, 2016

A study published in the International Journal of Business Administration in May 2016, found that what students read in college directly affects the level of writing they achieve. In fact, researchers found that reading content and frequency may exert more significant impacts on students’ writing ability than writing instruction and writing frequency. Students who read academic journals, literary fiction, or general nonfiction wrote with greater syntactic sophistication (more complex sentences) than those who read fiction (mysteries, fantasy, or science fiction) or exclusively web-based aggregators like Reddit, Tumblr, and BuzzFeed. The highest scores went to those who read academic journals; the lowest scores went to those who relied solely on web-based content.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Your-Writing-Brain-Neuroscience-ebook/dp/B015P79X6E

<more at http://qz.com/714987/what-you-read-matters-more-than-you-might-think/; related articles and links: http://niemanreports.org/articles/our-deep-reading-brain-its-digital-evolution-poses-questions/ (Our ‘Deep Reading’ Brain: Its Digital Evolution Poses Questions. ‘The reading circuit’s very plasticity is also its Achilles’ heel. It can be fully fashioned over time and fully implemented when we read, or it can be short-circuited …’ June 29, 2010) and https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/serious-reading-takes-a-hit-from-online-scanning-and-skimming-researchers-say/2014/04/06/088028d2-b5d2-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html (Serious reading takes a hit from online scanning and skimming, researchers say. August 6, 2014)>