Recitation is mainly an oral practice, but an important one. I suggest you orally summarize the information you encounter in the text you are reading. I suggest that you summarize each paragraph aloud as you read particularly dense or difficult text, and for more straightforward reading, summarize at the end of each section. This has a couple of advantages: First, if you can't recite the information cogently, it means you didn't really understand what you just read; this makes an excellent "self-check." Furthermore, you are more likely to retain this information by orally summarizing it, and you are more likely to see the "big picture" when you've completed reading.
Of course, oral recitation should be accompanied by note taking. This doubly enforces what you've just read, and representing the information yourself in multiple forms is more likely to increase your retention levels. The very act of writing out your notes, transferring that information from your eyes, through your brain, and out through your hand can increase your mastery of the information and concepts. Compound this with oral summations of information and you are really taking your reading methods to a higher level. Make sure that you are always paraphrasing information--that is, putting it into your own words. That is another self-check method; if you can't put what you just read into your own words, then you likely did not understand it very well. If you find you can't paraphrase, go back and read the paragraph or section more carefully and try paraphrasing each sentence as you read it. This might make your reading take a little longer, but if you aren't going to retain the information you just read, what is the use of reading at all?
Joseph Frank Landsberger, who maintains a Web site of study guides as a fantastic public education service (check it out here), says of the SQ3R Method (specifically of the first "R"):
TRIPLE STRENGTH LEARNING: Seeing, saying, hearing-
QUADRUPLE STRENGTH LEARNING: Seeing, saying, hearing, writing!!!
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