Book A guide to getting the most out of academic reading Goal of academic reading Reading for information Before you read Pace Yourself Decide how much time you will spend and stick to your schedule ID: 556130
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Slide1
How to Read A
Book:
A guide to getting the most out of academic readingSlide2
Goal of academic reading: Reading for informationSlide3
Before you read: Slide4
Pace Yourself!
Decide how much time you will spend and stick to your scheduleSlide5
Learn about the author
Who is the author
What organizations do they belong to?
What is their field?
Gender? Race? Class? Political Affiliation?
Who paid for their work?
What audience is it for? Slide6
Learn about the Intellectual Context
What is the author’s academic discipline?
Does he or she belong to a particular schools of thought?
What, or whom, is the book responding to? Slide7
While You Read:Slide8
Read Your Book Three TimesSlide9
First time: DISCOVER
Use 5 to 10 percent of total time on DISCOVER stage
Read quickly
Mark headings, passages, and phrases that seem important
Generate questions to answer on your second readingSlide10
Second Time: UNDERSTAND
Use 70-80 percent of your time
Read in order to get a careful, critical, thoughtful grasp of the key points
Focus especially on finding the
THESIS
Evaluate the argument
Focus especially on the beginnings and ends of chapters and major sectionsSlide11
Third Time: RECALL and NOTE-TAKING
Use 10-20 percent of your time
Read in order to commit the book to memory
Take notes in your own words, no more than 1-3 pages per 100 pagesSlide12
Things to Keep in Mind:Slide13
Avoid Marathon Reading
You’ll get more out of three one-hour readings than one three-hour readingSlide14
Focus on Parts with High Information ContentSlide15
Non-fiction books and their parts often have the “hourglass” structure.
Use the table of content, index, bibliography, preface, introduction, abstract, conclusion, graphs and figures to gain an overview of the topic and argument of the bookSlide16
Mark up Your Reading (but not library books!)
Don’t mark too much. No more than 2 to 3 marks per page
The point is to distill and reduce so that you can quickly find what you needSlide17
Use a Citation Manager
Software like
Endnote
and
Zotero
let you keep track of your sources and saves you time by formatting citations for you
As a student you can download Endnotes for free from the OIT website.
Zotero
is free to download at zotero.org.Slide18
Use Your Unconscious Mind
Read a book in several short sessions, giving your mind time to process it in betweenSlide19
Rehearse the Material
Rehearse what you’ve learnt, using multiple methods
Talk with others about the book
Draw diagrams
Imagine having a discussion with the author
Write about the bookSlide20
Learning to Read Takes Practice
Using these techniques will feel awkward at first
You will have to practice for several months before they come naturally
Hang in there! The rewards of reading well are worth it. Slide21
C
redits
This slide show is based on Paul N. Edwards’ “How to Read a Book, v5.0” (
http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtoread.pdf
)
Stack of books:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/books-school-stacked-closed-48126/
Text background:
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=1057
Clock image:
Jihopgood
flicker account (
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jlhopgood/6795353385
)
Author image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Cheryl_Hubbard_author.jpg
Question marks:
Véronique
Debord-Lazaro’s flicker account (
https://www.flickr.com/photos/debord/4932655275
)
Three game pieces:
http://www.public-domain-image.com/free-images/objects/toys/three-figures/attachment/three-figures
Vista:
Cleide
Isabel
’s flicker account (
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cleide_isabel/8210993517
)
Man with
colourful
bubbles:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mr_Pipo_thoughts.svg
Notebook:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/coffee-writing-computer-blogging-34658/
Table of contents:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/1523797880
Book with notes: David Mulder’s flicker account (
https://www.flickr.com/photos/113026679@N03/20621182143
)
Citation needed:
http://www.futureatlas.com
(
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Citation_needed%22.jpg
)
Unconscious mind painting: Eduard Tomek,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious#/media/File:3more.jpg
Child at piano:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaui/4455991107/in/photostream/