Reading, as a skill, is normally linked with writing. This is a fundamental characteristic of the target academic situation in which students are typically reading books and journals, noting, summarising, paraphrasing, and then writing essays, etc. In practice material for reading, the link with writing is normally included. Although the focus may be on various reading strategies and comprehension practice, the resultant exercises usually involve writing (apart from some multiple-choice questions and yes/no, true/false formats).

Reading for academic purposes is a multifaceted subject. However, there is one fundamental aspect which can be the starting point for other considerations. When students read, it is for a purpose. Clearly, students can have different purposes in their reading; these will include:

1. – to obtain information (facts, data, etc.)

2. – to understand ideas or theories, etc.

3. – to discover authors' viewpoints

4. – to seek evidence for their own point of view (and to quote) all of which may be needed for writing their essays, etc.

In the process of reading, students will be concerned with the subject content of what they read and the language in which it is expressed. Both aspects involve comprehension, though of different kinds. Depending on the reading purpose, different reading strategies and skills will be involved; in turn, the skills can be divided into sub-skills. Some of these aspects were alluded to in Chapter 1 in the context of effective reading and using the method SQ3R for intensive reading.