View source for Incremental reading

{{Short description|Software-assisted learning technique}}
{{Use American English|date = January 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{third-party|date=January 2019}}

[[File:Introduction to incremental reading by SuperMemo 15 Freeware.png|thumb|Introduction to incremental reading by SuperMemo 15 Freeware]]
[[File:Incremental Reading add-on (v4.7.14) for Anki (v2.1beta27) (annoted).jpg|thumb|Using incremental reading with an [[Anki (software)|Anki]] add-on: extracting a portion out of an article and creating a [[cloze deletion]]]]

'''Incremental reading''' is a software-assisted method for [[learning]] and retaining information from [[reading]], which involves the creation of [[flashcard]]s out of electronic articles. "Incremental reading" means "reading in portions". Instead of a linear reading of articles one at a time, the method works by keeping a large list of electronic articles or books (often dozens or hundreds) and reading parts of several articles in each session. The user prioritizes articles in the reading list. During reading, key points of articles are broken up into flashcards, which are then learned and reviewed over an extended period with the help of a [[spaced repetition]] algorithm.

This use of flashcards at later stages of the process is based on the [[spacing effect]] (the phenomenon whereby learning is greater when studying is spread out over time) and the [[testing effect]] (the finding that long-term memory is increased when some of the learning periods are devoted to retrieving the to-be-remembered information through testing). It targets people trying to [[lifelong learning|learn for life]] a large amount of information, particularly if it comes from various sources.

==History==
The method itself is often credited to the Polish software developer [[Piotr Woźniak (researcher)|Piotr Woźniak]]. He implemented the first version of incremental reading in 1999 in [[SuperMemo]] 99, providing the essential tools of the method: a prioritized reading list and the possibility to extract portions of articles and to create [[Cloze test|cloze deletions]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of incremental reading |url=http://super-memory.com/help/il.htm#History_of_incremental_learning |access-date=December 10, 2017 |quote=SuperMemo 99 made the first step towards efficient reading of electronic articles by introducing reading lists and the first primitive reading tools: extracts and clozes. Reading lists are prioritized lists of articles to read. Extracts make it possible to split larger articles into smaller portions. Clozes make it possible to convert short sentences into a question-answer format using cloze deletions.}}</ref> The term "incremental reading" itself appeared the following year with SuperMemo 10 (2000).<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of incremental reading |url=http://super-memory.com/help/il.htm#History_of_incremental_learning |access-date=January 3, 2018 |quote=SuperMemo 2000 greatly increased the efficiency of reading by introducing the concept of incremental reading.}}</ref> Later SuperMemo programmes subsequently enhanced the tools and techniques involved, such as webpage imports, material overload handling, etc.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of incremental reading |url=http://super-memory.com/help/il.htm#History_of_incremental_learning |access-date=January 3, 2018}}</ref>

Limited incremental reading support for the text editor [[Emacs]] appeared in 2007.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 25, 2007 |title=Emacs Wiki: recent changes to "Incremental Reading" |url=https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs?action=rc;all=1;from=1;showedit=1;rcidonly=IncrementalReading |access-date=December 31, 2017 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

An [[Anki (software)|Anki]] add-on for incremental reading was later published in 2011;<ref>{{Cite web |last=Frank Raiser |date=March 15, 2011 |title=Anki Incremental reading |url=http://frankraiser.de/drupal/AnkiIR |access-date=December 31, 2017 |archive-date=December 31, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231212140/http://frankraiser.de/drupal/AnkiIR |url-status=dead }}</ref> for Anki 2.0 and 2.1, another add-on is available.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 13, 2018 |title=Incremental Reading v4.9.13 |url=https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/935264945 |access-date=March 16, 2019 |publisher=AnkiWeb}}</ref>

Incremental reading was the first of a series of related concepts invented by [[Piotr Woźniak (researcher)|Piotr Woźniak]]: incremental image learning, incremental video, incremental audio, incremental mail processing, incremental problem solving, and incremental writing. "Incremental learning" is the term Wozniak uses to refer to those concepts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Components of incremental learning |url=http://super-memory.com/help/il.htm#Components_of_incremental_learning |access-date=January 3, 2018}}</ref>

==Method==
When reading an electronic article, the user extracts the most important parts (similar to underlining or highlighting a paper article) and gradually distills them into [[flashcards]]. Flashcards are information presented in a question-answer format (making [[active recall]] possible). [[Cloze deletions]] are often used in incremental reading, as they are easy to create from the text. Both extracts and flashcards are scheduled independently from the original article.

With time and reviews, articles are supposed to be gradually converted into extracts and extracts into flashcards. Hence, incremental reading is a method of breaking down information from electronic articles into sets of flashcards.

Contrary to extracts, flashcards are reviewed with [[active recall]]. This means that extracts such as "George Washington was the first U.S. president" must ultimately be converted into questions like "Who was the first U.S. president?" (answer: [[George Washington]]), or [[cloze deletion]]s like "[...] was the first U.S. president."

This flashcard creation process is semi-automated – the reader chooses which material to learn and edits the precise wording of the questions. In contrast, the software assists in prioritizing articles and making the flashcards and does the scheduling: it calculates the time for the reader to review each chunk according to the rules of a [[spaced repetition]] algorithm. This means that all processed pieces of information are presented at increasing intervals.

Individual articles are read in portions proportional to the [[attention span]], which depends on the user, their mood, the article, etc. This allows for a substantial gain in attention, according to [[Piotr Wozniak (researcher)|Piotr Wozniak]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Piotr Wozniak |title=Advantages of incremental reading: attention |url=https://www.supermemo.com/help/read.htm#Attention |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213011111/https://www.supermemo.com/help/read.htm#Attention |access-date=December 12, 2017|archive-date=December 13, 2017 }}</ref>

Without spaced repetition, the reader would quickly get lost in the glut of information when studying dozens of subjects in parallel. However, spaced repetition makes it possible to retain traces of the processed material in memory. {{cn|date=May 2022}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 2, 2023 |title=Spaced Repetition: Remembering What You Learn |url=https://www.kpu.ca/sites/default/files/Learning%20Centres/Think_SpacedRepetition_LA.pdf |website=Kwantlen Polytechnic University}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Incremental search]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://lifehacker.com/5597373/use-incremental-reading-to-memorize-large-batches-of-data Kevin Purdy, ''Use Incremental Reading to Memorize Large Batches of Data'' (lifehacker.com)]

{{Spaced repetition}}

[[Category:Learning]]
[[Category:Learning methods]]
[[Category:Reading (process)]]