Academic reADING

1. Academic reADING Reading for Speed and Content

2. Lecture Structure • The Whyand What of Reading • Academic Reading • Scanning • Skimming • Studying • Tips for Success

3. Why & What of Reading

4. Reading for Research Purposes • Your aim is to maximise comprehension. • Reading is a journey to be absorbed, not a destination to be reached. • Essay writing requires research • How do you tell if a document is relevant? • Do you need to read everything on a subject? • Determine how thoroughly you need to understand a text.

5. Academic Reading

6. Reading Styles • Researching an topic can return many results. • How do you quickly determine which are relevant and which are not? • Some authors seem to be paid by the word. • How do you short cut overly long articles? • Some texts are only partially relevant. • How do you quickly identify relevant passages? • It is easy to get distracted and stray from the topic. • How do maintain focus on your topic?

7. Reading Styles • Scanning – glancing over the text to pick out key words and phrases. Fast. • Skimming – reading selected parts of a text in a systematic way. Fast. • Studying – carefully reading the full text. Slow.

8. Scanning Benefits • Enables you to quickly find references to key ideas throughout a text. • Names, statistics, theories, etc. • Aids selection of reference material for research assignments.

9. Scanning Techniques • Look through a document, without reading every word, seeking specific words or phrases. • Keeping a visual image of the word or phrase in mind will make it more visible on the page. • Remember numbers can be presented in numerals as well as words.

10. Scanning Techniques • Skim long documents first to narrow down areas in which key words or information are likely to appear. • Try reading only highlighted words and phrases (bold, italics, underlined, etc). • Scan vertically as much as horizontally, to avoid reading the text. • When you find a key word read the sentence or paragraph, as necessary.

11. Exercise: Scanning • Scan this text to find the key themes. What are they? • INSERT A QUOTE FROM A PRESCRIBED TEXT, REFERENCED CLEARLY

12. Skimming Benefits • Quickly review of a document for basic comprehension. • Eases selection of reference material. • May be useful for revision. • Skim to check understanding and recollection of themes. • Study sections that are unclear or weak. • Skim additional texts by particular authors.

13. Skimming Benefits • Skim the content page or chapter/section headings for bias or tone. • Wording choice for titles is deliberate . • Skim for the main claim and evidence of arguments. • Skim the introduction or abstract for: • The thesis statement. • Limitations • Methodology • Determine if the article is relevant.

14. Skimming Techniques • Title. • Peter B. Evans, 1971. “National Autonomy and Economic Development: Critical Perspectives on Multinational Corporations in Poor Countries” in International Organisation, 25, pp 675-692 • First sentence of each paragraph. • A coherent synopsis of the paragraph. • Paragraphs focus on one point. • If begins with a question or anecdote, read last sentence.

15. Exercise: Skimming • Read the first line of each paragraph in the reading. • Does this provide an overview of the themes of the extract?

16. Skimming Techniques • First and last paragraphs. • Introduction and Conclusion. • Section headings and sub-headings only. • Indicates the content and perspective of the text.

17. Benefits: Studying • Enables optimum comprehension. • What else did you expect?

18. Techniques: Studying • Scan and skim the document first. • Provides a gist. • Provides questions, for your study. • May enable you to skip sections. • To increase speed when studying • Avoid re-reading sentences. • Avoid subvocalising. • Following the text physically. • Take breaks.

19. Technique: Journal Articles • Read the abstract. • Lists the main facts and arguments, methodology used and conclusion. • If no abstract available, read the introduction and concluding paragraphs

20. Exercise: Skimming a Journal Abstract • From the following journal abstract pull out the thesis statement, any limitations the author will use, the methodology and the conclusions drawn. Does this present a good summary of the piece?

21. Technique: Books • Read the dust jacket for relevant content. • Contents page for relevant chapters. • Titles reveal author bias or tone. • Check chapter and section headings and sub-headings. • Read the first and last paragraph of relevant chapters/sections for an overview of content. • Study only relevant chapters, skim the rest for relevant information. • Scholarly book reviews provide succinct synopses.

22. Technique: Reports • Check executive summary or foreword. • Review the table of contents for separate chapters on analysis and data.

23. Tips for Success • Avoid distractions. • Skim all documents to get the gist. • Study texts for the greatest comprehension. • Scan documents for small items of information. • Skim reading highlights areas for further study. • Check scholarly book reviews for book synopses.

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