Often, you may want to see the bigger picture; how the paragraph you are reading fits into the overall text. You should try to discover the outline and navigate through the text using this.
Understanding the outline of the text you are reading can also help you read more strategically. You don't always have to read every document from beginning to end. Here are some useful strategies that can help you read a complicated document more quickly and understand it better:
You can also use outlining to help you understand what you are reading. Take notes in a structured way to help you understand the relationships between parts of the text.
Many people like to display their outlines graphically in the form of a mind map. Mind maps make it easier to see the whole picture at once. But they may not contain as much information as an outline structured as a list. Most software makes it possible to convert between a mind map and a list outline.
An even more powerful way of understanding difficult concepts is a concept map.
Unlike a mind map, which is just a graphical outline, the concept map labels connections between ideas and makes it possible to link them in more complicated ways.
Concept maps also don’t have one starting place. You can follow the flow of an idea in any direction. They fulfil a different role from a mind map in the learning process.
It takes more effort to create a concept map because you have to focus on the nature of the relationships between concepts. But concept maps have been shown to be an effective tool for improving understanding.
Outlining is also an essential part of writing. You don't always have to start with an outline, but at some point you should create one. This will help you get a better sense of how the different parts of what you're writing fit together.