http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Index:Chinese_radical Read this,and it should be clear.If you still don't understand sth feel free to ask me,but I think this article should explain perfectly.

Learn to use a Chinese-Chinese dictionary. Just like we did in elementary school. But it is hard even for Chinese people. So I think the best way to learn new characters is buy a digital dictionary.

I hope you have already known how to look up characters on dictionaries. Our Chinese generally do it according to Pinyin,which is similar with the way you look English words up,because in most case we know the pronunciation of a certain character.But if we happen to can't pronounce it,we look it up by its radicals.I think your Chinese teachers must have tell you about it and showed you how to operate.If they didn't, you can ask help from your Chinese friends,on the condition that you can get access to an Chinese dictionary,and even you can let somebody show you the way on Skype. Take some characters and practice in this way under good coach. Let some Chinese teach you firstly,then try some words again and again.Skill comes from practice.Hope it works.

我告诉你，你只要学习几千个字，几乎就能看懂了，注意中文的字是独立的，一个字一个意思，两个三个字一般不超过四个是词组。先学简单的就是读了。记住它们是独立的。。

Pleco is extremely helpful and quick! Thank you!