Reading critically for university study

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Reading critically for university study

• Helen Johnston,
• Learning Adviser

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3 key messages

• Know exactly why youre reading a text and what
  you might gain from it
• Use the structure and organisation of the text to
  find your answers
• Record your reading and thinking

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Exploring your questions Exercise 1.

• What is proving easy and what is difficult about
  managing your university reading?
• Form of small group (2 3 students), introduce
  yourself to the others and then discuss the
  reading demands of your program.
• what is interesting and easy to manage?
• what is challenging?
• what is difficult?
• Report back to whole group

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Reading critically

• You are expected to make informed choices about
  what you read. Informed by what?
• Your choice of readings will depend on your
  academic purpose and understanding about how to
  learn at uni.
• Reading critically means exploring and judging
  rather than taking material at face value

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You as the critic

• You already make judgements about many
  publications e.g. magazine ads, newspaper
  articles when you use your knowledge to form an
  opinion. You consider
• the motive of the writer/artist
• the genre and what its meant to do
• the credibility of the message
• the quality of the writing/ design/art form
• When you take a critical stance it is important
  to explain your reasons for your opinion.
• Your judgement about a publication might be
  positive, negative or a mix of both. This might
  really impress teenagers but not me because

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How can you critique experts?

• Students can resist critiquing experts for
  various reasons
• I dont know enough about the topic to make a
  judgement.
• If an author is published they must be very
  important. I do not want to show disrespect.
• You are not being asked to be disrespectful. You
  are being challenged to consider a range of ideas
  that are new to you, or new ways of doing
  research.
• You will notice important differences and
  similarities between ideas. Build on this
  analysis of texts.
• Aim to step beyond reporting on someones work
  Jones stated that X .

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Todays topic and article

• Topic Do Chinese students studying in Australia
  use effective learning strategies?
• Todays reading
• Smith, SN, Miller, RJ Crassani, B 1998
  Approaches to Studying of Australian and
  Overseas Chinese University students. Higher
  Education Research Development. Vol 17, no 3,
  pp. 261 275.

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Research Articles

• Research Articles
• are published in academic and professional
  journals
• demonstrate a disciplines ways of knowing and
  writing
• introduce the latest research in a field.
• Authors only get published if their work
• contributes to knowledge in that academic field
• meets the journals guidelines for authors
• is accepted after peer review.
• By understanding how and why knowledge is
  presented in certain ways you will be able to
• approach other new types of text more
  analytically
• locate the information that you need more
  effectively
• adapt to differences between disciplines
• explore and judge academic work.

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The various sections

• Academic texts have conventional structures. The
  text is highly organised into sections with
  different functions.
• The title must suggest content, attract interest
• The Abstract provides a snapshot of the article.
  It will state the authors intentions, the way
  the study was conducted, and the research
  findings. Language is succinct.
• The Introduction will be theoretical. Ideas and
  language may be difficult.
• provides the background and rationale for the
  study.
• demonstrates the authors understanding of
  current knowledge in the area cites many
  references
• states the problem to be investigated.
• outlines what will be presented in the body of
  the paper.

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Various sections contd.

• The Method describes how the study was done
• may be divided into sections (sub-headings)
• easier to read
• but your may need to understand research methods
  to evaluate the method.
• Results/Findings presents the findings of the
  study
• provides supporting information (evidence) in
  tables, figures and diagrams,
• links to appendices
• descriptive language can be easy to read

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Various sections contd.2

• Discussion relates the findings of the study to
  existing knowledge in the same field
• quite theoretical cites many references
• analytical writing each paragraph has a
  particular function, presenting a new idea/theme
  and then elaborating/explaining/extending on that
  theme
• Sub-sections likely.
• References show the quality of the writers
  knowledge give readers access to sources
• Bio-note (optional) provides plain information
  about authors

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4. Figure Overall organisation of the research
article (cited in Swales, 1990, p. 134)
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Some features of the language

• The writing
• is analytical about previous studies points to
  gaps or weaknesses in the previous research
• links the current work with previous work through
  the references to
• Known experts
• Recent work
• is explicit in stating the articles structure
  and purpose
• is concise and to the point
• states each point once no repetition
• subsections must relate to their headings
• may use quite long paragraphs
• may use a lot of sentence connectors like
  however.
• Some of these practices may be new to you.
• Adapted from Swales Feak (2000)

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Looking more closely at the language refer to
article

• Abstract very descriptive and precise.
  Immediately suggests the issue. Objective
  language, 3rd person.
• Opening sentence seems like a simple statement
  but the list of citations shows that the writers
  have read all those sources.
• First sentence is the topic sentence and
  indicates what this paragraph is about
• First sentence in the second paragraph links to
  the problem suggested in the first paragraph and
  shows what to expect in this paragraph.
• No redundancy detailed and careful editing

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Thinking critically about a source means asking
questions about it

• What has been recommended by lecturers?
• Why was it recommended? An expert? New theory?
  New issue?
• In what country was it published? Does that
  matter?
• When was it published? Does that matter?
• In what publication did it appear? Does that
  matter?
• Is this publication and author recognised in my
  discipline?
• Intended reader? If its not a discipline
  specific publication does that matter?
• Why was this text produced? Whats the authors
  purpose?
• What is the main message?
• Does the argument convince me? Why or why not?
• If its reporting on a research study do I need
  to be able to evaluate the research?

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Looking at the article

• Source is it for an academic or professional
  audience?
• Currency Is it a recent issue?
• Authors are they well-known, authoritative?
• References does it seem well supported by
  research?
• Sections do they seem to confirm the information
  about structure, language etc?
• Introduction can you see what the authors see as
  the gap in the research?
• Conclusion Does it refer to the findings and end
  with some broad statements?

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Exercise 2 Using the reading

• Topic Do Chinese students studying in Australia
  use effective learning strategies?
• Task Analyse the topic with your group.
• Would you use this article? Why/Why not?
• Which sections would you read closely? why/Why
  not?
• Does the article offer any evidence to support or
  refute the given proposition?
• Would this be a useful source? E.g.currency/author
  ity/ quality of source

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What impacts on your effectiveness as a reader?

• You know that your effectiveness and efficiency
  as a reader is influenced by internal and
  external factors.
• Internal
• Your purpose for reading a text
• Your background knowledge in the content area
• Your experience of the structure and organisation
  of the text type (genre) you are reading
• Your familiarity with discipline specific or
  professional conventions and language
• Your position humble student (empty jug) or
  critical thinker?
• Your approach for remembering what youve read
  e.g. note- taking and record keeping practices.
• External pressures family and financial
  expectations, deadlines,
• You may be finding that your uni reading requires
  new approaches to working and thinking about
  reading.

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1. Before you read, consider your reading purpose

• Your purpose for reading will determine how you
  treat a text, what you learn from it, and your
  approach to taking notes.
• You need to know your purpose for reading a text
  each time you read for study. Are you seeking
• factual knowledge in your field of interest?
• insights into recent research in your field who
  is doing what and what have they found out?
• the views of the experts in your field?
• a better knowledge base in your field?
• a broad grasp of the points of view of various
  experts?
• various points of view that will help you to
  develop your own thoughts in relation to an
  assignment topic?
• This will determine what sort of a record (notes)
  you keep of what youve read.

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2. Assess your background knowledge in the
content area

• Reading where you have sound background knowledge
  is easier because you can
• link new with known ideas
• build new terms onto your existing vocabulary
• compare and contrast new information with the
  known.
• Where you lack background knowledge you are going
  to struggle with
• understanding the basic concepts (lack of theory)
• technical and specialised vocabulary (overload of
  new vocab)
• Following any discussion of the issues related to
  the problem.
• Whenever you are reading in a new area you may
  find early set readings too difficult.
• What are some practical responses you could adopt?

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3. Always keep a record of completed reading

• Most students have so much reading to do they
  cant afford time to keep re-reading material.
  You need to keep notes.
• Good notes will
• record the bibliographic details that you may
  need later
• save you time by recording your textual analysis
  at the time of reading
• demonstrate that you have understood the original
  source and could write about those ideas.
• show how the ideas in one source relate to those
  in another.
• include your reaction to the reading (see white
  handout)
• help you to separate your own thoughts from those
  of the experts.
• Where a course has a lot of technical language,
  your notes can be supplemented by a glossary of
  new terms.

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Note-taking

• Poor notes will
• replicate the authors words
• show no analysis or understanding
• No notes will
• allow you to confuse your thoughts with those of
  the experts
• Force you to waste time finding sources again
• facilitate plagiarism because you will write
  about other peoples ideas as if they were your
  own.
• To improve your note-taking skills adapt the
  Reading Log (handout) and Interactive nots
  handout to suit your needs. Refer to the relevant
  Learning Guide.

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Where do you start?

• Start with sources recommended by your lecturers
  in Course Information and lectures or tutorials.
• Avoid random net searches only access
  recommended net sites such as specific internet
  journals or data bases.
• Select sources that best meet your needs because
  they
• are by recognised and/or recommended experts in
  your field
• have currency now (date of publication)
• are academic or professional publications within
  your discipline
• are relevant to your purpose.

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Reading management

• In your small group spend 10 minutes
• Using the yellow handout add to the list of
  strategies that you plan to use to manage your
  reading workload.
• Highlight the best three strategies.
• Can you explain to other members of the class why
  some strategies are more or less useful than
  others?

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3 key messages

• Know exactly why youre reading a text and what
  you might gain from it
• Use the structure and organisation of the text to
  find your answers
• Record your reading and thinking

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References and useful resources

• Learning Connection, Learning Guides
• Getting the most from your academic reading
• Summarising
• Note-making from reading
• Referencing
• Marshall, L. Rowland, M. 1999 A guide to
  studying independently. Longman, Melbourne.
• Northedge, A. 1998 The good study guide. Open
  University, Milton Keynes.
• Swales, JM Feak, CB 2004 Academic writing for
  graduate students. Cambridge University Press,
  Cambridge.