An Introduction to Academic Practice: Academic reading

Throughout your course you will need to undertake a wide variety of reading including essential texts recommended by your lecturer and academic journal articles.  Because reading is such an important activity, it is worth reflecting on different reading techniques and when to use them. 

Three basic techniques are scanning, skimming and Intensive reading,

1. Scanning: this technique is used when you are searching for a specific piece of information for example looking in the index of a book.
2. Skimming: this involves getting an overall impression of a piece of text without undertaking any detailed reading. To do this you would look quickly through the contents of a chapter or a journal article paying particular attention to any headings and sub headings and perhaps read the introduction and conclusion. Skimming is useful if you are trying to decide whether a book or journal article would be useful to read.
3. Intensive reading: this involves reading and making notes and is the type of reading you will do when you are carrying out research for an essay, report or presentation.

 Before embarking on your reading think about the following:

·         Why am I reading this?

·         What information am I looking for?

·         What questions am I trying to answer?

This will help you to focus your reading and to read actively. You want to avoid a situation where you start to read something and then realise that you have read a page without taking anything in!   You also want to ensure that you make effective notes.

Avoid copying out pages or paragraphs of text as this may lead to plagiarism.

There is more information about Plagiarism in the section Academic Writing Style and how to avoid Plagiarism. 

This method can help with intensive reading.

Survey: Note down the full details of the source you are reading (author, title etc.) Have a quick look through the book or chapter or article to get a rough idea what it is about. If it is a book, have a look at the contents page and index.

Question: Think about the questions you are trying to answer after reading this piece of text. The survey you have just done and your own needs, for example an assignment title, will help you do this.

Read: Once you have some useful questions, then it becomes easier to find the answers to your questions and read those bits carefully, perhaps making a few notes.

Recall: Write down the answers to all your questions without looking back at the piece of text or your notes.

Review: Return to the piece of text and check your answers are correct. Go over anything incorrect or which could not be answered and amend your notes.

Using this method will help you to read actively and to make notes in your own words.

Remember to write down the details of all the books, articles and websites you use so they can be referenced and returned to. 

This online tutorial provides guidance on understanding your reading list.  It contains audio and video content.