Getting the most from your reading

Writing Development Centre
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The Writing Development Centre
Contact: wdc@ncl.ac.uk
Getting the most from
your reading

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Session outline
 Reading in a more focused way: selecting appropriate
reading techniques to suit your purposes
 Reading critically
 Taking notes from your reading: organising your material
and developing your critical thinking

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Session materials
After the session, the slides will be made available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/WDCNewcastle

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Part One
Reading strategies

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Academic Reading
How strongly do you agree with the following statements?
Assign each a number using a Likert scale:
Strongly agree Strongly
disagree
1 2 3 4

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There’s no such thing as speed
reading….
But….
 You do get faster with practice
 Speed reading is partial reading
 Certain sections of the text only
 Abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion,
bibliography
 Certain elements of the text only
 Key words
 First paragraph of each section
 First line of each paragraph
The key is to know what you are reading for

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Why Read?
Different purposes for reading
 To find a specific bit of information
 To orientate yourself in a new topic
 To get an overall grasp of the main idea and its significance
 To see if it’s worth reading
 To pull out the main stages of the argument
 To see how they solved a problem
 To critique their findings
 To see how many scholars agree on a topic
 To see what else has been published and what others think of it
 To see how far their findings went

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Case Studies:
What reading strategies would you suggest for the
following students? A student who:
 Needs to get a broad understanding of a topic
 Needs to demonstrate that a key paper in a field doesn’t
go quite far enough
 Needs to develop a critical response to a paper but isn’t
sure what they think
 Needs a quick fact or bit of information to back up a
minor point
 Wants to use the findings of a paper but just wants to
check that they are legitimate

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Critical reading
Part Two

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Spectrum of critical views
RIGHT WRONG
Long
established
as orthodox,
not (yet)
challenged
Likely to be true
as other
literature
supports it
Probably true –
well argued and
evidenced
Accepted by a
small no. of
scholars at
cutting edge but
not yet widely
known
One way of
looking at it,
but there
are other
valid views
Generally
valid, but
there are
exceptions
Valid only
in limited
contexts
Partly valid, but not
the whole picture
Used to be
widely
accepted, now
superseded
Flawed,
not
credibly
argued

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Critical reading
 “What is the point of trying to find something wrong
with research that’s been peer reviewed?”
 “Who am I to comment on the work of eminent
academics? I’m just a student!”
 “I don’t know enough about this to critique it yet – I
don’t know what to think about it!”

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Reading Critically
Read the abstract on your handout, then:
1. List the questions you could ask of the text
2. List the questions you could ask of your use of the text

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Questions to ask of the text
 Stage One: establishing credibility
 Who is the author?
 What is their background?
 Where was this text published?
 Stage Two: identifying the text’s aims and objectives
 What is the purpose of this text?
 Who is the target audience?

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Questions to ask of the text
 Stage Three: looking beyond the information presented
 What is the text’s main claims?
 How are they argued?
 Are there any gaps, leaps in logic, and/or inconsistencies?
 How is evidence used and interpreted?
 Are the conclusions consistent with the evidence presented?

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Questions about your use of a text
 Do I need to read this?
 Why do I need to read it (your purpose)?
 What is my ‘take’ on this text; what is my critical position?
 How does this text relate to others I have read?
 How does this text fit into my overall argument/agenda?

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Critical Questions
Leeds University has devised a very useful Critical Reading
checklist:
http://library.leeds.ac.uk/tutorials/thefinalchapter/documents/p
rintable/Critical_reading_checklist.pdf

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Part Three
Note-taking strategies

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Note-taking pitfalls
 The Human Photocopier
 Forgetting to note your own interest/agenda/response/
opinion/intended use
 Omitting referencing details
 Not distinguishing the difference between the original
words and your own

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Note-taking: Three Domains of
Critical Reading
Validity: On its own
terms
Synthesis: In
relation to others
Relevance:
Usefulness to you
Context:
discipline/profession,
authors, currency, bias
What are they doing?
Research
Question/Aims/Hypothesis
How did they do it?
Methods, Models and
Materials
How do they know?
Argument, evidence, logic
and reasoning
What do they say? Findings
and conclusions

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Note-taking: the Cornell System

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Level 2, Robinson Library
Undergraduate - Masters - PhD
Our team of expert tutors offers:
- Individual tutorials
- Workshops
- Online resources
Visit us online to book: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wdc/
HASS – SAgE - FMS

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Develop your academic skills
 Take effective notes
 Think critically
 Interpret essay questions
 Understand assessment
criteria
 Read efficiently
 Argue convincingly
 Plan assignments
 Manage your time
 Express ideas confidently
• Revise effectively
• Critically review literature
• Structure essays
• Use drafting & editing
techniques
• Make the most of lectures
& seminars
• Manage your dissertation
or PhD thesis
• Avoid plagiarism
• Improve your exam
technique

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