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Descriptive Video Transcript

Workshop: Effective Critical Reading and Note-making

Introduction 3

[Slide 1: Title slide] 3

[Slide 2: Workshop outline] 3

[Slide 3: Introduction to Academic Reading] 3

[Slide 4: Part 1 - What is academic reading?] 3

[Slide 5: Part 2 - What is academic reading?] 4

[Slide 6: Levels of reading] 4

[Slide 7: Academic reading and critical thinking] 5

The process of academic reading 6

[Slide 8: Part 1 - The process of academic reading] 6

[Slide 9: Part 2 - The process of academic reading] 6

[Slide 10: Part 1 - Steps in the process] 6

[Slide 11: Part 2 - Prepare initial questions] 7

[Slide 12: Part 1 - Ask yourself, is the text: Introduction] 7

[Slide 13: Part 2 - Ask yourself, is the text: Relevant] 8

[Slide 14: Part 3 - Ask yourself, is the text: Authoritative] 8

[Slide 15: Part 4 - Ask yourself, is the text: Recent] 8

[Slide 16: Part 5 - Ask yourself, is the text: Objective] 9

[Slides 17 + 18 + 19: Previewing steps] 9

[Slide 17: Part 1 - Previewing steps] 9

[Slide 18: Part 2 - Previewing steps] 9

[Slide 19: Part 3 - Previewing steps] 10

[Slide 20 with the title: How to skim] 10

[Slide 21: Close reading - Introduction] 10

[Slide 22: Close reading - Understand] 11

[Slide 23: Close reading - Analyse] 11

[Slide 24: Close reading - Evaluate] 12

[Slide 25: Close reading - Evaluate: Identifying arguments] 12

[Slide 26: Close reading - Evaluate: Judging credibility] 13

[Slide 27 with the title: Close reading - Evaluate: Assumptions and Inferences] 13

[Slide 27: Close reading - Evaluate: Assumptions and Inferences] 14

[Slide 28: Close reading - Apply] 14

Record keeping for academic note-making 16

[Slide 29: Record Keeping for Note-making] 16

[Slide 30: Collect notes, not texts] 16

[Slide 31: Two aspects of keeping records] 16

[Slide 32: Section 1 - Annotating] 16

[Slide 33: Annotation benefits] 17

[Slide 34: Annotating techniques] 17

[Slide 35: Section 2 - Recording] 18

[Slide 36: Recording - Suggested note outline] 19

[Slide 37: Recording - Using matrices] 19

[Slide 38: Recording - Drawing a mind map] 20

[Slide 39: Thank you for watching!] 20

Introduction

[Slide 1: Title slide]

Description: Introduction


Narrator: No narration.

[Slide 2: Workshop outline]

Description: 'What will I be learning?’

• An introduction to academic reading and its purposes
• The process of academic reading
• Strategies for keeping records


Narrator:Welcome to the module on Academic Reading for postgraduate coursework students. Our aim is to help you read less and think more. In other words, to make your reading more active. There are three sections: in the first we give a broad view of academic reading and it's purposes. In the second section, we'll look at the process of academic reading, and in section three we'll show you some strategies for keeping records of what you read. We hope you'll find some useful tips and strategies throughout the module.

[Slide 3: Introduction to Academic Reading]

Description: Title slide

Narrator: No narration.

[Slide 4: Part 1 - What is academic reading?]

Description:

A animation broken into three parts, each fading in and out.

Part 1: ‘We read for many reasons but not all in the same way’. Two iconography representing leisurely and academic reading respectively.

Part 2: Heading: Leisurely reading. Iconography is accompanied with the following text: 


Drift through

• Let your mind wander

Part 3: Heading: Academic reading. Iconography is accompanied with the following text: 


Engage with the material

• Understand the topic or concept
• Give a range of viewpoints
• Develop a foundation

Narrator: We read for many reasons, but we don't necessarily read in the same way for each of these reasons. Sometimes, we just need to skim through texts; in other texts, we might only read a specific section. If we're reading for fun, for example, reading a novel, we're likely to drift through it, letting our minds be carried away with the story. But if we read academic texts in this way, we're not likely to engage with the material or get much out of it.

[Slide 5: Part 2 - What is academic reading?]

Description: Six different iconographies representing the following points:

• Getting a broad overview of a topic or concept
• Finding support for an argument - getting evidence
• Getting the gist of a research article
• Searching for concrete facts or figures
• Making new discoveries
• Identifying gaps in the literature
• Making new connections or solutions

Narrator: Academic reading is about extracting information and making connections. But there are many specific reasons for academic reading. Here are some of the most common reasons. Note that, particularly at postgraduate level, we make new discoveries that beyond what we've read. These discoveries could be identifying gaps in the literature, or making new connections or solutions.

[Slide 6: Levels of reading]

Description: Graphic of three blocks: red, blue and green creating a stack animating one after the other. Each represents different levels of reading.

Red: Highschool: Reading to extract information

Blue: Undergraduate: Reading to make connections

Green: Postgraduate: Reading to create meaning

Accompanying this is the following text:

Academic reading is:

• Active
• Purposive “critical” reading
• Asking questions about the text
• Having a discussion with the author/text

Narrator: It's useful to think of reading at three levels: at high school, we mainly read for information; at undergraduate level, we make connections, at postgraduate level, we create meaning. But it's important to remember that each of these levels incorporates the lower levels;

that is, we can't create meaning without also making connections and extracting information. Also, you won't always be reading to create meaning - sometimes you'll just need to find information.

So, what is reading in the academic environment? It's much more than just decoding and understanding the words. Effective academic reading is active, purposive reading that asks questions of the text. Academic reading, particularly at postgraduate level, is also about making decisions about the text by judging its worth. It's useful to think about reading as discussing the text with the author. This conversation help us to stay actively engaged with the text. Also, with academic reading, it's not so much about the quantity of reading you do, but what you actually get out of each text and how you'll use this that's important.

[Slide 7: Academic reading and critical thinking]

Description: A visual of two arrows forming a cyclic process: the above being blue, and red at the bottom.

Blue represents - Academic reading: Purposive reading to evaluate information and ideas, and decide what to accept and believe.

Red represents -Critical thinking: Technique to evaluate information and ideas, and decide on what to accept and believe.

At the centre of this visual description is the quote: ‘Knowledge depends on thought’


Narrator:Academic reading is closely related to critical thinking. We need to think critically to deeply understand and make sense of academic texts. At the same time, being able to read critically depends on critical thinking. In other words, knowledge depends on thought. However, it's difficult to pick up an academic text and read it critically straight away. to make it easier, there is a process you can follow. This is discussed in section two.

The process of academic reading

[Slide 8: Part 1 - The process of academic reading]

Description: Title slide

Narrator: Before we go further, think about reading and answer the question: How do you read?

[Slide 9: Part 2 - The process of academic reading]

Description: An animation broken into 2 parts to form a whole picture.

Part 1: Passive reading; Visual representation of a journal article, emphasising line-by-line reading.

Part 2: Active reading; Visual representation of a restaurant menu, with certain items circled an emphasis on identifying information.

Narrator: What was your answer? Perhaps you said we start by reading the first word on the first line, reading line by line until we reach the end, as we were taught in primary school. However, using this strategy for academic reading is likely to end in passive reading, where you remember very little of what you've read. Clearly, we need a more effective process. It's useful to see the text as a menu. Just as you choose items on a menu, you identify specific information

in a text and use this for a specific purposes. Of course, you might find that the text isn't useful at all, just as you might find that you don't really want to eat Chinese after all. Making active choices helps to keep you actively involved in the text. Add chinese recipes on the menu

[Slide 10: Part 1 - Steps in the process]

Description: Numbered iconography of the three different steps, with one and two being linked.

1. 1. Prepare initial questions. For example, how might you use the material? How does the text relate to what you already know?

2. 2. Preview the text, then decide whether you need to read the text closer

3. 3. When necessary, read the text closely.

Narrator: Although academic reading tends to be cyclical process, we're showing it here linearly. Our first step is to ask some initial questions about what we want to know, then we preview the text to see if it's likely to give us answers to these questions. If the answer is yes, we take a close read of the text, marking points that are useful to us, and identifying the main points and arguments. Then we summarise and reflect how and where we'll use this information.

An important point to note here is that, depending on your purpose, you might only complete the first two steps; if you only want the gist of a text, there's no need to go into it deeply - a simple skim will do the job. Note that all of these steps involve asking questions. Perhaps the two most important questions to ask yourself throughout each step in this process are how the content relates to what you already know, and how you might use the content. The following slides develop each of the steps in the process.

[Slide 11: Part 2 - Prepare initial questions]

Description: A table broken into three columns: why? what? where? Each has a description, and bulleted points.

Why? What is your purpose? What do you want from it?

• To gather information for an assignment or essay
• To get the main points about a topic or concept before a lecture

What? What kind of information are you looking for?

• Argumentative essay
• Information for a report
• To understand a new topic

Where? Where will you find the information?

• Text book
• Business journal
• Online resource

Narrator: Our first question is why you need to read and what kind of information will help you. Also there's no point in reading an academic text unless you know what you want from it.

Are you looking for points to develop for an argumentative essay? Or are you looking for information for a report? Or maybe you're hoping to find a text that will help you to get a gist of a new topic. When you're clear about what you're looking for, you need to ask yourself where you'll find this information - in a journal article? A textbook? A book of edited chapters?

An online resource maybe? Don't forget that the liaison librarian for your school can help you

with your search - you'll find a list of all liaison librarians on the RMIT Library website.

[Slide 12: Part 1 - Ask yourself, is the text: Introduction]

Description:

• Relevant
• Authoritative
• Recent
• Objective

Narrator: When we know what we want and we've found a text that might be useful, we do a quick preview of it. As we read the text we need to read about these four questions [description ponts]

[Slide 13: Part 2 - Ask yourself, is the text: Relevant]

Description: Heading: Is the text relevant? Accompanied by a graphic of a journal article with question marks surrounding it:

• Relevant to my purpose?
• Will it help me?
• Is it useful?

Narrator: How is it relevant to my current purpose? For example, how might this be useful for my essay or report? Will it help me get the gist of a topic?

[Slide 14: Part 3 - Ask yourself, is the text: Authoritative]

Description: Heading: Is the text authoritative? Accompanied by a graphic of a journal article with question marks surrounding it, and a person iconography with the following points:

• Who?
• What’s their standing?

Narrator: By authoritative, we mean who was it written by? Does this person have standing in your scholarly field? This is particularly important with online texts. If you don't know who wrote it, don't use it.

[Slide 15: Part 4 - Ask yourself, is the text: Recent]

Description: Heading: Is the text recent? Accompanied by a graphic of a journal article with question marks and the years 1992 and 2014 surrounding it with the following points:

• What year was it published?
• Is it old?

Narrator: Generally, we should choose the most recent research to cite. Different subject areas in the university have different ideas about how old is 'old', but in general you should choose articles that are no older than 5 - 8 years unless there is a good reason for using an older text (for example, some seminal work that is older but still discussed in the literature is generally OK to use).

[Slide 16: Part 5 - Ask yourself, is the text: Objective]

Description: Heading:Is the text objective? Accompanied by a graphic of a journal article with a question mark and the following points:

• Free from bias?
• Persuasive?

Narrator: Is the text objective and free from bias? Beware of texts that are written to persuade you.

[Slides 17 + 18 + 19: Previewing steps]

The following three slides will have the same description but different accompanying text.

Description: Remind yourself of your initial questions, then: In three different boxes, with arrows in between them representing a step-by-step process.

1. 1. Skip

2. 2. Skim

3. 3. Record

[Slide 17: Part 1 - Previewing steps]

Description: 1. Skip through the text


• Look at title & year; author & affiliation; headings/outlines (what ‘story’ do they tell?); tables of figures.
• Notice what type of literature it is: Research? Practice? Policy? Theoretical? Review article?

Narrator: Once you've reminded yourself of your pre-reading questions, skip through the text looking at the title and year, the author and affiliation. Quickly glance at the table of contents if it has one; check out the headings and subheadings. While you're doing this, keep your initial questions in mind e.g. what are you looking for, and why?

[Slide 18: Part 2 - Previewing steps]

Description: 2. Skim the text


• Read abstract, introduction, topic sentence of each paragraph, and conclusion; look over references.
• Look for the purpose and main point or argument.

Narrator: If the text looks interesting and appropriate, skim the text to get the gist of it. Read the abstract, introduction, topic sentences of each paragraph (usually the first sentence), and the conclusion. The abstract and conclusion are useful because they summarise key information. The introduction is important because it contains the 'thesis statement' - main argument or point of the article. Then quickly look over the references to see who's been cited. This helps you to build a picture of the key scholars in that topic area. Skimming is important because it allows you to get the gist of the text without reading the entire text. If you decide that the text isn't as useful for your purposes as you thought, you haven't wasted a lot of time reading the entire document.

[Slide 19: Part 3 - Previewing steps]

Description: 3. Record brief notes

• The beginning of a personal bibliographic record
• Just a few dot points of at least the bibliographic details of the text


Narrator:Finally briefly record what you found. This is just the beginning of a personal bibliographic record, so it's OK to just write a few dot-points - at least record the bibliographic details. See the record keeping section later for more details.

[Slide 20 with the title: How to skim]

Description: Animated sample of the text, ‘Globalisation and internationalising the curricula’ it emphasises the following three parts:

• Topic sentences make up key points
• Anything after the topic sentence of each paragraph is striked through
• The main key points are given for each topic sentence (which will be narrated).

Narrator: Before we move onto close reading, we mentioned that skimming a text involves reading the topic sentences of each paragraph. Topic sentences are important because they carry the key points in each paragraph, and if we're just trying to get the gist of the text, we don't need the detail after each point. You can see here, just by reading the topic sentence of each paragraph (in green), you get the broad storyline of the text: It's difficult to define globalisation; GATS is a major impact on globalisation of education; universities have encouraged internationalisation; not only do we get the big picture, but we also know where to find the details. If any of the main points are important to us. Of course, it's not always as easy as this because some writers don't habitually write the topic sentence as the first sentence. However, in most texts you'll be able to quickly find the topic sentence with a bit of practice.

[Slide 21: Close reading - Introduction]

The following slides: 22 [understand], 23 [analyse] , 24 [evaluate] , 28 [apply] will all have a checklist layout, ‘Ask yourself’...list of questions.

Description:

Narrator: When you've previewed the text and know that it will be useful, the next step is to closely read the text, which leads to reading critically. It's useful to see close reading from four different perspectives: Understand the content Analyse the argument. Evaluate the strength of the position made Enter the Closed Caption Text. Understand how you can use the text. Just a reminder that every step in the reading process involves asking questions. We've identified some key questions in each of the following, but for further questions that might help you with close reading, download the pdf. Remember, though, that they key questions to keep asking are how the information fits with what you already know, and how you might use the information. Add audio.

[Slide 22: Close reading - Understand]

Description: Comprehending more of the text

• What is the author trying to accomplish?
• What is the author’s position / view / message?
• What are the main points / claims?
• What are the recurring key words or phrases?
• Are the [key] words used ambiguously?
• What theory is used?

Narrator: Our first pass at reading is to skip and skim to get the gist of the text. When we read for understanding, we're reading for more detail. If there are words you don't understand, try to guess what they mean first, then circle them. Keep reading and when you've finished, find their meanings and re-read the sections of text around them.

[Slide 23: Close reading - Analyse]

Description: Identifying the component parts and how they’ve been put together

Questions asked for a journal article

• Does it have a typical structure?
• What theory is developed?
• What methodology is used?
• For a argumentative texts, what is the argument and how is it developed?
• For information-based texts, is there a logical flow of ideas?

Narrator: The second perspective is to analyse the text by asking questions that look specific elements in the text. This is where your reading becomes more critical. You're asking yourself how the text works to 'tell the story'. What are the component elements? How do they fit logically together? In reality, this perspective is often merged with evaluation, which is discussed in the following.

[Slide 24: Close reading - Evaluate]

Description: Looking at the strength and value of the text

• Have the stated claims been achieved?
• Is the study grounded in good methodology?
• What are the underlying assumptions and are they reasonable?
• Are the conclusions valid, credible, and reliable?
• Are there any biases?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses?
• Is there missing information?
• Do you reach the same conclusions?
• What evidence or examples have they used and have they been referenced to a reliable source?

Narrator: This is where we ask how strong and valid the text is. What is its value? Critical reading is central in this perspective. It's where we ask whether the intention of the author has been fulfilled in a satisfactory way. In other words, does the text do what it set out to do? Can we feel confident about the conclusions? Is there missing or misleading information? This is where we ask how strong and valid the text is.

[Slide 25: Close reading - Evaluate: Identifying arguments]

Description: Example of a claim: Smoking is bad for your health, with the following supporting premises:

• The link between smoking and respiratory disease is well-established.
• Smoking can lead to a heart attack.

Narrator: An argument is made up of a claim (sometimes called a proposition, contention or conclusion). This claim is then backed up with premises (also called evidence, or reasons).

Here's an example. We can claim that smoking is bad for our health by providing evidence (the two premise here). Claims and premises can be true or false. How do we judge? Next we'll look at some ways of judging credibility. Following that we'll talk about inferences. As mentioned we look at the weight of evidence or we make assumptions to infer the truth of a claim. Here's an example of assumptions and inference and how they relate to claims and premises. Take some time to read it and decide if the premises support the claim. If you suspect some of the assumptions that need to be true aren't true, you'll point out that the claim is weak. This is a large part of critical evaluation part of reading. For example if you're writing a review of the literature around a topic, you'll need to read many texts and construct a debate around the topic, arguing for a particular point of view. We often do this by grouping together authors who say the same thing and setting them in opposition to others, pointing out the relative strengths and weaknesses of each text. One of the main ways of deciding on the strengths and weaknesses of texts is to identify the claims, premises, and underlying assumptions.

[Slide 26: Close reading - Evaluate: Judging credibility]

Description:

[Text]

What is it that makes some knowledge claims more credible than others?

• The reputation of the author of the claim
• The context in which the claim was made
• The evidence or reasons provided
• The plausibility of the claim

[Example table - Claim]

Column 1. The sun will rise tomorrow: true

Column 2. Scientists have found evidence of life on Venus: false

Column 3. Red is my favourite colour: true or false

Narrator: This is not an exhaustive list , but it's a useful starting place. For instance, if you believe red to be my favourite colour, you could back it up by my reputation for not lying, or by corroboration from other sources, for instance noticing that most of my clothes are red, and I have a set of red folders on my desk.

[Slide 27 with the title: Close reading - Evaluate: Assumptions and Inferences]

Description:

[Text: Definitions]


Assumptions : Beliefs we take to be self-evident. They might be factual; they might not be.

Inferences: Conclusions we draw based on evidence or assumptions.

[Example]

Statement: Tall men are good basketballer. James is a tall man, therefore James is a good basketballer.

Explanation: We infer that James is a good basketballer because of our assumption that all tall men are good basketballers. However, our assumption is not valid, therefore our inference is poor.

Claim : James is a good basketballer

Premise: James is tall and tall men are good basketballers

Narrator: As mentioned, we look at the weight of evidence or we make assumptions to infer the truth of a claim. Here's an example of assumptions and inference and how they relate to claims and premises. Take some time to read it and decide if the premises support the claim. If you suspect some of the assumptions that need to be true AREN'T true, you would point out that the claim is weak. This is a large part of the critical evaluation part of reading. For example, if you're writing a review of the literature around a topic, you'll need to read many texts and construct a debate around the topic, arguing for a particular point of view. We often do this by grouping together authors who say the same thing and setting them in opposition of others, pointing out the relative strengths and weaknesses of each text. One of the main ways of deciding on the

strengths and weaknesses of texts is to identify the claims, premises, and underlying assumptions.

[Slide 27: Close reading - Evaluate: Assumptions and Inferences]

Description: Using what you’ve found

• How does the text contribute to the field / discipline?
• How do other authors view this issue?
• Are there opposing views? And, if so, how can I synthesis / reconcile these differences?
• How can I use this text in my assignment / thesis / research / life?
• Based on this text, what will my next step be?

Narrator: The final phase of close reading is thinking about how you will use the text. Although hopefully you've been thinking about this in each of the steps above, this is where you decide exactly how you'll use the information in the text. Will it add a new point to your argument in an essay? Will it add more information to a report you're writing? You also begin to think about what you need to read next. And that brings us back to the first step in the process of reading academic texts: Preparing initial questions. The next section suggests some strategies for keeping records of what you read.

[Slide 28: Close reading - Apply]

Description: Using what you’ve found

• How does the text contribute to the field / discipline?
• How do other authors view this issue?
• Are there opposing views? And, if so, how can I synthesis / reconcile these differences?
• How can I use this text in my assignment / thesis / research / life?
• Based on this text, what will my next step be?

Narrator: The final phase of close reading is thinking about how you will use the text. Although hopefully you've been thinking about this in each of the steps above, this is where you decide exactly how you'll use the information in the text. Will it add a new point to your argument in an essay? Will it add more information to a report you're writing? You also begin to think about what you need to read next. And that brings us back to the first step in the process of reading academic texts: Preparing initial questions. The next section suggests some strategies for keeping records of what you read.

Record keeping for academic note-making

[Slide 29: Record Keeping for Note-making]

Description: Topic slide: Record Keeping and Note-making

Narrator: As a researcher we end up reading large numbers of articles. If we don't make some sort of record of what we read, we've wasted our time. Even when we're just skimming the text, it's a good idea to make brief notes, but more importantly, when we spend a lot of time and effort in close, critical reading, we don't want to waste that effort.

[Slide 30: Collect notes, not texts]

Description: Twographic quotation boxes:

Quote 1: Collect notes, not texts

Quote 2: Be organised and systematic

Narrator: The idea is to collect useful notes, not a huge pile of articles. Of course, we also need to be able to refer to these later, so records need to be taken in an organised, systematic way.

[Slide 31: Two aspects of keeping records]

Description: Annotating is linked with Recording, the text of each is as followed:

Annotating: Your conversation with the text

Recording: You record of what you discussed

Narrator: Two aspects of keeping a record of our reading. First, we need to annotate the text while we read. Remember what that we said earlier that active reading means having a conversation with the text? This is captured when we annotate a text. Then we need to make a written record summarising our discussion. This could take many forms, for example, a fairly formal annotated bibliography, or adding notes to an EndNote library entry, or even capturing what we've read in a mind map. Now we're going to discuss each of these sections.

[Slide 32: Section 1 - Annotating]

Description: When annotating

• Identify the important ideas and information
• Trace the argument
• Add thoughts and reactions

Graphic of a sign post: ‘Look for personal signs posts of the texts’

Narrator: Writing and reading are closely related activities, so it's important that we write while we read. Good annotation is a form of critical reflection - you'll always understand what you're reading better if you write while you read. Annotating a text provides a quick signal to the important stuff in a text, but please remember to only write on personal copies of texts,

never a library copy (or a friends)!

[Slide 33: Annotation benefits]

Description: A grid split into 6-sections, emphasising on the following points:

• Enhances comprehension
• Promotes active reading
• Improves your writing
• Aids remembering text
• Collects your thoughts
• Identify your information quicker

Narrator: By writing down your thoughts in the margins as you read, you're actively thinking

and deciding on what is important and what is less so. This aids your understanding and remembering what the text is about, and also helps you find the information again more quickly. Writing and reading are closely related activities, so it's important that we write while we read. Good annotation is a form of critical reflection - you'll always understand what you're reading better if you write while you read. Annotating a text provides a quick signal to the important stuff in a text, but please remember to only write on personal copies of texts, never a library copy (or a friends)!

[Slide 34: Annotating techniques]

Description: The different types of annotation techniques shown visually on a graphic:

Underline

• claims
• main points

Vertical lines

• mains points > 2 lines
• emphasis

Circles

• unfamiliar words

Marginalia

• 1-5 summary
• comments / questions

Create lists

[visual example]

1. 1. point 1

2. 2. point 2

Use colour

Red: main points

Green: important supporting information

Blue: lists

Black: personal comments

Pencil: unknown words / phrases

Use symbols & abbreviations

! for surprise

? for question

d.e.f for definition

Narrator: Here's a common system for annotation. By underlining, numbering and using a small set of symbols, along with your questions, comments and 1 - 5 word summaries, you can create a well-marked up text that will help you with your understanding and writing later. It's useful also to create your own shorthand versions of words and concepts in your own area. For example, if your subject area is accounting you could substitute F.C. for 'full disclosure'. Also, our brain remembers colour well, so work out your system for using a variety of colours. A word of warning though, most people use highlighters for key points. The danger in doing this though is that it stands out so much that when you come back to the text you'll only see the highlighter material. Also, we sometimes read the same text for different purposes and your highlights may only refer to your first purpose for reading and will make reading for a different purpose difficult.

[Slide 35: Section 2 - Recording]

Description:

Headline: Recording forms the basis for synthesising information

Text: Three common ways of recording your reading:

• Writing the note outline
• Using a matrix
• Drawing a mind-map

Narrator: Now we come to recording summaries of what you read. These are more permanent records you make after you've annotated texts. They're important because they allow you to more easily synthesise information from a variety of texts when you construct debates in argumentative essays or literature reviews, or compare information for a report. There are many ways to do this; some people have a personal preference for one way over another, and sometimes your purpose for reading dictates the way you do it. We're going to briefly discuss three of the most common ways of recording your reading: writing a note outline, using matrices and drawing mind maps.

[Slide 36: Recording - Suggested note outline]

Description: [ Example of an note outline made from an research article and book chapter]. The type of information recorded to create an note outline include:

• Bibliographic details and location
• Key words (4-7 words)
• Research article: Summary (100 words)
• aims
• findings
• conclusions
• Book chapter: Summary (100 words)
• main argument, position, or aim
• key points
• conclusions
• Research article: Evaluation (100 words)
• content
• methodology
• limitations
• evidence used to support claims
• Book chapter: Evaluation (100 words)
• content
• structure (logical, clear?)
• bias or underlying assumptions
• evidence used to support argument/s
• Potential relevance (100 words)
• Rank

1. 1. = Very important

2. 2. = Important

3. 3. = Possible

4. 4. = Not relevant

Narrator: A note outline is one way to make notes that many find useful. Here is an example of what you might take note of if you were reading a research article, and another example for a book chapter or similar. Of course, the word numbers are only suggestions. Note that identifying keywords can help with digital searching in Word, Excel, EndNote, EverNote etc. You have the power to quickly search through notes to find related readings.

[Slide 37: Recording - Using matrices]

Description:

• Useful for getting an overview of information from texts
• Can be used for many reasons

[example: matrix table]

Topic: Parental influences on the child

Column 1: list the texts

Row 1: list the themes

For the text read, tick the themes which are included. This forms the basis of an matrix table.

Narrator: Writing and reading are closely related activities, so it's important that we write while we read. Good annotation is a form of critical reflection - you'll always understand what you're reading better if you write while you read. Annotating a text provides a quick signal to the important stuff in a text, but please remember to only write on personal copies of texts, never a library copy (or a friends)!

[Slide 38: Recording - Drawing a mind map]

Description: [example: mind map]

Start with the topic at the centre. Branch out to create different key points. Under each branch, dot points are made. You can also branch out from keypoints to include other supporting key points. Use arrows to link key points from one another.

Narrator: Mind maps, or concept maps, are useful for making notes because you need to understand they key points before you can construct them. The idea is to write dot points of each of the key points, ideas or arguments at the end of the first arms, then cluster secondary information or ideas around each of these. They also give you the opportunity to draw links between each of the arms. Here's a very simple mind map of a short text on the history of antibiotics.

[Slide 39: Thank you for watching!]

Description: ‘Thank you for watching!’. We wish you well with your studies.

Narrator: We hope you found some new and interesting ways to make the process of academic reading and note-making more efficient. If you would like more information about studying and writing, check out our Learning Lab ( ../ ).