OK lets get back to the basics of journal reading. When reading industry material for learning, the article must be read multiple times. The first read gives us an overall idea of the piece while subsequent reads help us break down the material. Most articles are broken down into segments separated by paragraph breaks or bold face headings. 

The second read should be to determine the main idea of each segment. In fire service articles often each segment describes a different technique or applies a technique to different scenarios. This second read should help us fully understand the message of the article and any supporting material. It is often helpful to highlight important information on the second read. This is information that has sparked a thought or opinion in our own mind or information we want to pass on to our colleagues or crew. 

At this point we should have begun to formulate an opinion about the information of the journal article. We can now decide on the good points and bad points in the writing, ideas we agree with and disagree with. It is important to not just say we agree or disagree but to formulate why we feel the way we do towards the information. Next we can decide if we accept the concept of the information presented and if we would adopt the new technique or idea and modify the way we practice our trade.