The end of the semester is looming. Students and academics alike are cramming for exams, final papers, and research projects. Heavy reading is unavoidable at these times. From scholarly articles, to research literature reviews, to several chapters in textbooks, to literary books for classes, down to a variety of articles for papers and research. How can one manage to read, digest, and apply, all this material?
Well you are in luck. I have a background in Neuroscience and am currently involved in the legal / public policy realm. Heavy reading comes with the territory. Let me share some tips and tricks you can use to survive the stacks of books on your desk!
Categorize & Identify
First of all, identify the type of text you will be reading. This affects the approach you will be taking while reading the text.
Is your text a primary source? Secondary source? Is it a research paper or review paper? Is it an autobiography or biography? Is it an objective piece of an Op-Ed piece?
Is it an article, a scholarly journal submission, a book, a class textbook reading, and so forth?
Does the reading provide quantitative data or qualitative data? Is it empirical or non-empirical?
Take a pen and jot down near the title, the type of reading this is. You can annotate digitally, if you are using a laptop or ipad. By identifying the types of reading, you can then categorize your readings for that subject matter.
Based on your situation, assess which type of reading is of the utmost importance. Start with those first, as most of your attention and focus will be at the start of your reading sessions.
Skim With Strategy
Know what you are looking for before going in. What type of information are you looking for? What is your main question? What are you supposed to be learning?
Academic texts can be very lengthy and convoluted. It is just not feasible to read every single academic text on your list, letter for letter.
You must skim, but with strategy. Know what you are looking for and start skim reading. Read the introduction to have a grasp on the context of the material. Then skim ahead and read the subsections that seem to have titles relevant to what you are looking for. Assess whether you found the information you needed. If not, you may have to slow the skim and read a few more sections with more attention. If you have found what you need from that particular text, move onto your next text.
Chunking
When reading, chunk your information. Read 2-3 paragraphs. Mentally summarize and repeat back to yourself in a few sentences what you just read. See if that small excerpt makes sense. This helps you consciously engage with the reading and determine if it is helpful to your purpose or not. Rather than reading multiple paragraphs passively, read in small chunks, reflect, and decide.
Abstract & Discussion
Most academic texts will have an abstract, synopsis, or summarizing introduction of some sort. These texts often also have a discussion section near the end. Start off by skimming the abstract to see is the subject matter of the text is truly relevant to your goals. Then skim through the discussion to see if the context being discussed and the rationale being given actually seem reliable and informative. If so, you can then delve into the text completely. If not, toss it aside, and move on to the next text.
Reading the beginning and the end will help you identify whether that text is worth reading through or not. Some academic texts may seem as if they are relevant to our purpose, but may not be upon closer examination.
A lot of academic reading is simply weeding out what isn't needed and focusing on the information worth keeping.
Brief Notes & Annotations
Take brief notes in bullet points as you go. You can take notes in a handwritten or typed manner. I prefer using an app and website called Notion. I can create a page on Notion, dedicated to the topic I am learning about, then jot down all the relevant information I find during my reading sessions.
You can also annotate directly on to the text if you wish. Keep these notes brief and to the point. Try including citations for the texts you are reading. This way you will have all your informational points and citations in one place when it comes time to write a paper.
Do Not Highlight The Whole Page
I know it is tempting. I know everything seems important. But truly ask yourself, what is of the utmost importance. Try to highlight as little phrases as you possibly can. Force yourself to stick to the essentials. This will make it much easier when you skim through that text later and need to find the most important points.
Enjoy The Process
Sitting down and digging through wordy texts can be tiresome and a bit boring at times. But, you can always make more of an experience. Gather all your books and texts, sit down in a cozy place, light a candle if you wish, grab a beverage you like, turn on your favorite music, and just commit to the pursuit of knowledge. It truly is what you make of it!
Happy reading, hope this helped!
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