How to Read A 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

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?

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?

While You Read:

Read Your Book Three Times

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 reading

Second Time: UNDERSTAND Use 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 sections

Third Time: RECALL and NOTE- TAKING Use 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 pages

Things to Keep in Mind:

Avoid Marathon Reading You’ll get more out of three one-hour readings than one three-hour reading

Focus on Parts with High Information Content

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 book

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 need

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.

Use Your Unconscious Mind Read a book in several short sessions, giving your mind time to process it in between

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 book

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.

Credits This slide show is based on Paul N. Edwards’ “How to Read a Book, v5.0” ( Stack of books: Text background: Clock image: Jihopgood flicker account ( Author image: Question marks: Véronique Debord-Lazaro’s flicker account ( Three game pieces: Vista: Cleide Isabel’s flicker account ( Isabelhttps:// Man with colourful bubbles: Notebook: Table of contents: Book with notes: David Mulder’s flicker account Citation needed: ( Unconscious mind painting: Eduard Tomek, Child at piano: