This is the first of four hand-outs designed to help you as you prepare your assessed work. The others are "Essay Structure", "Referencing and Bibliography Construction" and "Essay Presentation" Any comments or suggestions are welcome.
Intellectual Health Warning: These handouts are for advice only. How to study is, by definition, a personal question and so these handouts reflect my personal preferences and are only meant to make you think about what is the best way for you to study. Ask around for advice from other sources and experiment with what suits you best.
We read different things in different ways. We read a Martin Amis novel in a different way than we read a Lasagne recipe or an A-Z of Brighton or our latest copy of Beer-Mat Collectors Monthly. Social science sources (try saying that three times quickly) should be read in a manner appropriate to what they are trying to say and how they are trying to say it.
There are basically three ways you can read materials for essays:>
You are most likely to be reading in the first and second way when you are preparing for essays. No single method is correct. You need to fit the way you read to the what you want from the material. (Rule of Thumb = When you become an advanced method two user you should be able, in the right conditions, to work through a book in 2-3 hours [including coffee breaks])
Taking notes is a vital activity when reading because it forces you to mentally process the material and because it gives you a record of what you have read. In many ways the former is more important than the latter. If you really understand something you will probably remember it for long enough to include in your essays without necessarily needing to resort to your notes.
When taking notes:Try and work out where this work fits into the general literature (e.g. look at the preface and see who is thanked, and check out the bibliography or recurrent references, use the index etc.). Try and work out how the work is structured (look at the Contents, check if the preface or introduction has a summary of the main theme and Chapter explanations).
Use the writing process as an aide to thinking. Start writing before you finish reading (you will never finish reading because there is always one more thing you could read). Try and think through the structure of your essay as early in the process as possible.
You learn better when you are comfortable. For some this might involve total silence in an isolated woody glade in the sun, while others feel comfortable in a confined space with lots of people around and with Oasis blasting from the stereo. Try and set up the conditions that allow you to read most effectively.
Be prepared to spend some time really focusing on your reading. Make sure that you have "quality time" with the materials. Remember that much of what you read is complex and may not "grab" you the first time you read it. Give yourself the chance to get something out of what you read. Social science sources are like anchovies: You need to put in the effort of trying them a few times and then you can decide whether you like them or not.
See which authors' names reoccur frequently and cross-reference this with other things you have read (i.e. is there a key text that all authors on a subject seem to cite? Might it be a good idea for you to read this?)
Be prepared to see the book/article as a tool. There is nothing that says you must start at page one and work through to the end and there is nothing to stop you looking at a part of the book more than once.
As with so much, reading and note-taking are specific skills which you will develop as you use them. Make an effort to improve those skills.
Organise your reading, spend time on materials that are good and be prepared to abandon materials that are irrelevant to your topic. The key to successful reading is to be selective and to read what you need. The fact that a book or an article is in the library is not a testimony to its quality. Use your own judgement.