Before starting to read you need to consider why you are reading and what you are trying to learn. You will need to vary the way you read accordingly.
If you are reading for general interest and to acquire background information for lectures you will need to read the topic widely but with not much depth.
If you are reading for an essay you will need to focus the reading around the essay question and may need to study a small area of the subject in great depth. Jot down the essay question, make a note of any questions you have about it, and don’t get side-tracked and waste time on non-relevant issues.
Choosing the right texts
It is unlikely that you will be able – or be expected – to read all the books and articles on your reading-list. You will be limited by time and by the availability of the material.
To decide whether a book is relevant and useful:
- Look at the author’s name, the title and the date of publication. Is it essential reading? Is it out of date?
- Read the publisher’s blurb on the cover or look through the editor’s introduction to see whether it is relevant.
- Look at the contents page. Does it cover what you want? Is it at the right level? Are there too few pages on the topic – or too many?
- Look through the introduction to get an idea of the author’s approach.
- Look up an item in the index (preferably something you know a bit about) and read through one or two paragraphs to see how the author deals with the material.
- Look though the bibliography to see the range of the author’s sources.
- Are the examples, illustrations, diagrams etc. easy to follow and helpful for your purpose?
To select useful articles from journals or research papers:
- Read the summary or abstract. Is it relevant?
- Look at the Conclusions and skim-read the Discussion, looking at headings. Is it worth reading carefully because it is relevant or interesting?
- Look through the Introduction. Does it summarise the field in a helpful way? Does it provide a useful literature review?
- Unless you have loads of time, only read the whole article if one or more of the following is satisfied:
- It is a seminal piece of work – essential reading.
- It is highly relevant to your essay, etc.
- It is likely that you can get ideas from it.
- There is nothing else available and you are going to have to make the most of this.
- It is so exciting that you can’t put it down!
How many sources should you read?
- It is impossible to give a figure for the number of sources you should read when researching an assignment. It is more important to think about the quality of the sources and how well you use and interpret them, than the number you read.
- It is not a good idea to rely on 1 or 2 sources very heavily as this shows a lack of wider reading, and can mean you just get a limited view without thinking of an argument of your own.
- Nor is it useful (or possible) to read everything on the reading list and try to fit it all into your assignment. This usually leads to losing your own thoughts under a mass of reading.
- The best way is to be strategic about your reading and identify what you need to find out and what the best sources to use to find this information.
- It can be better to read less and try to think about, and understand, the issues more clearly – take time to make sure you really get the ideas rather than reading more and more which can increase your confusion.
Keep focused on your reading goals. One way to do this is to ask questions as you read and try to read actively and creatively. It is a good idea to think of your own subject related questions but the following may be generally useful
- What do I want to know about?
- What is the main idea behind the writing?
- What conclusions can be drawn from the evidence?
- In research, what are the major findings?
Questioning the writing
- What are the limitations or flaws in the evidence?
- Can the theory be disproved or is it too general?
- What examples would prove the opposite theory?
- What would you expect to come next?
- What would you like to ask the author?
Forming your own opinion
- How does this fit in with my own theory/beliefs?
- How does it fit with the opposite theory/beliefs?
- Is my own theory/beliefs still valid?
- Am I surprised?
- Do I agree?
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