Effective academic reading SO601

1. 1 Effective academic readingSO601 Shaun Theobald The Student Learning Advisory Service 7th October 2009

2. 2 Key words for this presentation: Reading for different purposes Skim reading Scan reading Reading for detail Active reading Academic journals Abstracts

3. 3 Strategic approaches Academic reading should be systematic and strategic You may need to practice and define a reading skills set You need to adopt techniques that increase the efficiency and productivity of reading sessions Firstly, remember you cannot read everything on the reading list! Good reading techniques start with a systematic selection of reading material

4. 4 Selecting texts Use your reading lists Talk to other people Staff/seminar leaders Peers Always cover texts identified as �core� reading Tackle these first

5. 5 Selecting texts The priority/ratio of reading should be- 50-40% �core� texts 25-30% important material 25-30% relevant but specialised material You must always be able to answer two fundamental questions: Why am I reading this? What do I hope to gain from it?

6. 6 Varying reading practice Effective academic reading involves reading for different purposes You cannot read everything with equal intensity and detail! At times it�s perfectly acceptable to read �lightly� for general meaning Constructive superficiality At other times you must read very carefully with full attention to every detail In reading for different purposes, you need to be able to skim, scan and read for detail

7. 7 Varying reading practice You may read the same text in different ways at different times Example: Journal article read very quickly + a few very brief notes to prepare for seminar Perhaps in conjunction with 3-4> other articles The same journal article read again to embed in a subsequent assignment Now read with full attention to detail

8. 8 Survey your material Before you start reading a text, spend a few minutes on a general survey Book-based resources Covers Bibliographical information Introduction/ foreward Contents Index

9. 9 Survey your material Chapter headings Selective skim reading of chapter introductions/conclusions Article in a journal Editorial/thematic information Abstract (s) Reference list (s) Selective skim reading of other articles - introductions/conclusions The reading survey gives valuable contextual information

10. 10 Raise questions in advance Before you start reading a text, spend a few minutes raising questions in advance What are you hoping to gain from this text? What are the research issues/hypotheses you are exploring? Jot these down on a post-it or index card Keep these points by you as you read In conjunction with other active reading techniques, this will keep you in focus

11. 11 Skim reading: Reading Stage 1 Work with a suitable amount of text If you are reading several chapters/ sections from a book, take one at a time A 5-15 pp journal article is fine Two/three minutes; read the first and last sentence of each paragraph Ten/fifteen minutes; read the whole text sequentially Keep your eye-movements moving forwards across the text

12. 12 Skim reading If you find a passage you don�t understand, keep going! This will seem counter-intuitive � but disobey your instincts!! Mark lightly, in pencil� Particularly difficult passages Any sections that match the questions you raised in advance (Slide 10) A few passages that particularly interest you No more than 20% of the total for all of the above! At this stage, you need an overall impression/understanding�a �sketch map� of the reading territory This gives context and meaning to more careful reading

13. 13 Scan reading: Reading Stage 2 Go back over the c <20% of the text you have marked up Read carefully, trying to absorb as much as possible At this stage, you are aiming to enhance your understanding of the whole text Do you need to read more? Stage 1 and 2 reading may give a reasonable general understanding. If you do need to read more carefully, e.g. reading for an assignment, go to Stage 3�

14. 14 Read for detail: Reading Stage 3 Here you are reading to memorise and retain information [By the time you get to this stage, skim and scan reading will help you! You will now proceed rapidly because you have context and background for your text] This means taking some form of notes, where the process of �conversion� to your own words means you obtain a kind of �ownership� of the material concerned Please note that good notes are not: Summaries of the whole Chunks of the original copied down

15. 15 Read for detail However, good notes are: Selective details (matched to your purpose!) See initial questions Slide 10 Paraphrases and summaries in your own words Short, neat and containing� Relevant bibliographical details Good notes will follow academic paragraph structure See Slide 18 below You can use this sense of structure to guide your reading and note-taking

16. 16 Note taking techniques Explore techniques for note taking: Abbreviations Contractions Use of layout Headings/sub-headings Bullet points Colour Font size

17. 17 Practice active reading All the techniques above + Read ahead Practice second-guessing Make global micro-summaries every 2-3 pages Learn specialist terms in advance Use a template for your notes Continually raise questions

18. 18 The structure of an academic paragraph Academic paragraphs tend to have Topic sentence Explanation/analysis Evidence Transitional statements Main ideas = topic sentences This means the paragraph is unified around one central idea Use this structure to break down information within the paragraph

19. 19 ACTIVITY: Paragraph structure Marked passage from Greener, I & Powell, M (2008) The Evolution of Choice Policies in UK Housing, Education and Health Policy. Journal of Social Policy, 38, (1) 63-81 [printed version] p67 Parallel passage � identify topic sentence; explanation/analysis; evidence; transitional statements

20. 20 Academic journals Crucial source of information Often WWW Rapid way of disseminating information within an academic community Especially relevant to Social Policy Contain �latest� ideas Often searchable through indexes and abstracts See Templeman Library www

21. 21 Academic journals Hierarchy of academic ideas/information: Book- infrequent - collected over several years, often draws on� Conference papers/proceedings � quite frequent - usually annual and often related to.. Short individual journal articles � frequent - often quarterly [WWW sources � very frequent, often �uk.gov.org�, tend to present data/findings rather than discussion]

22. 22 Academic journals Good research and good reading has an �organic� proportion of these sources! e.g. 10 Sources for 2500 wd essay 2 Main books 3 �Support� texts (multiple-authored texts; conference proceedings etc) 3/4 Journal articles (may be WWW versions.) 1/2 WWW sources So journals should be about 30/40% of the reading load!

23. 23 Working with journals Remember the power of the abstract Many journal articles � both hard copy and www � have an abstract at the start This represents a concise synopsis of the whole text It is a condensed version of the whole �argument� the paper presents It allows the reader to anticipate and contextualise the paper before s/he reads it

24. 24 Working with journals ALWAYS read the abstract first Use the abstract as a guide through the paper to decide whether you need to read the whole of a paper to compare papers Tip: if you are working with a photocopy of an article, use different coloured highlighter to identify separate stages in the abstract Mark the parallel sections of the paper with highlighter to show how they correspond

25. 25 Further advice and guidance www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/learning/slas For resources, information, advice and guidance�