Reading

You cannot read everything, so you must decide which texts are important to read:

• Some readings in your subject guide may be listed as essential. Start there.
• Suggested or additional readings are useful when you want to learn more about a specific topic.
• You can find extra reading for yourself, especially when instructed to do so. (For help with how to search for this reading, and how to evaluate its relevance and reliability, the Library Lib Guides can help).
• Faculty Librarians assist students to find relevant material.
• LibGuides are assembled by Faculty librarians. They contain many useful texts.

The amount and the complexity of the expected reading can feel overwhelming.Getting through requires some effective time management.

• Set yourself specific tasks (10 pages, 1 journal article, 1 chapter, 1 section of a chapter).
• Work within a time frame (30 or 45 minutes), then take a break. This aids concentration.
• Use small time slots of an hour between lectures for reading.
• Don’t try and read when you’re really tired.

You’ll read more efficiently if you understand how the text is organised. Not all parts of a text need to be read with the same level of detail.

General textbook - usually teaches main ideas in a field rather than arguing an individual point of view. Read headings, summaries, questions at the end of chapters for relevance. Check Table of Contents and/or Index to work out which parts of book are of use.

Journal articles –  Check the relevance of the title. Articles will have different structures depending on the discipline. Controversial issues in the discipline are often discussed and you may have to read it in order to understand opposing points of view. Usually the author’s thoughts are restated in the conclusion. This can be read first. Be prepared to take notes if it looks useful and note the publication details.

• Abstract – brief summary of whole article. Read this first
• Key Words – provide clues about content. Can assist in finding similar subject information.
• Introduction – states aim or problem of study. Read this.
• Method - how the investigation was carried out.
• Results – what the study found out.
• Discussion – what results mean, whether they agree or disagree with previous studies
• Conclusion – summarises article and often makes recommendations for future research. 

Reports – One typical version provides:

• Executive summary – gives overview of report. Read this first.
• Contents 
• Introduction/Context
• Main points  
• Recommendations 

Scanning is reading quickly to search for specific information. You do not read every word. We often scan TV guides, phone books, brochures and posters. Academic texts are scanned to locate key terms, to check for relevance or usefulness and to locate definitions or statistics.

Skimming is reading quickly to gain a general idea of the information available in the text. It can also help to give you a purpose to read the text. Again, do not read every word but let your eyes move quickly over the page to get an overall impression.

Skim read, as appropriate:

• Titles
• Headings and subheadings
• Words in bold, italics or underlined
• Graphs, charts, maps, tables or diagrams
• An abstract, introduction or conclusion
• First sentences of each paragraph or section
• Chapter objectives
• Chapter summaries
• Study questions.

Some texts require slow and careful reading; however, other texts can be read quickly. You do not need to read every word to understand a text and it is important to be able to adjust your reading speed. One way of managing large amounts of reading is to learn to read faster.

• Read with a purpose, specifically to find answers to questions.
• Make predictions about what you will be learning from the text.
• Do not read every word. You can get meaning without having to read every 'and', 'but' and 'to'.
• Do not read from left to right, move your eyes up and down the page to find important words. Select these words and then groups of words surrounding them.

Academic writing often deals with complicated ideas. The vocabulary can be hard to understand. To build up knowledge in a subject and an understanding of the specific vocabulary, it’s good to have a strategy.

• Use the glossary at the end of some books
• Use a subject specific dictionary (available in the library)
• Locate new vocabulary often found in a highlighted box in a textbook chapter.
• Wikipedia can be very helpful sometimes
• Keep a record of new subject specific words and their meanings. Show their meaning and usage by writing example sentences.
• Discuss the meaning of difficult concepts with other students in the class.

Expect to read opposing viewpoints. Note them, because they are very useful to include in your writing. Question what you read:

• Are the key concepts and purposes made clear?
• Is the structure and the argument clear?
• Look for evidence; how strong is it?
• How does the reading relate to your own experience?
• Ask yourself if there are limitations to the writing, e.g. is more research needed?
• Question whether the information is applicable to other situations, contexts or cultures.
• Do other reputable writers support this viewpoint?