Objective 11 – Build Research Skills

Objective 11 – Build Research Skills

Strategy – Reading with Purpose

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  If you are reading to gain a general overview of a topic as part of your preparation for discussion or the first step in thinking about your assignment, you start by preliminary reading. This involves skimming and scanning which is done by reading abstracts, introductions, and conclusions to get a general idea. Don't get bogged down in details at this stage. You want to get a general picture, so you are asking yourself questions such as: What are the main issues?, Are there any controversies, differences of opinion?, Is there general agreement?, Is the work current?, and So, now, what's my understanding of this topic?.
  

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  If you are reading for an assignment, the topic gives you a general focus for your reading, but it's not enough to allow you to decide what's relevant or irrelevant. It is still too broad. In tackling assignments, you will have to analyze the topic and keep coming back to it as you research. Out of this, you will have a list of possible questions which you have to answer in your assignment and will gain some idea of what your argument will be. These together will then determine what is relevant in reading your sources.
  

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  It is unlikely that any source matches your topic precisely. Only parts of what you read will be useful for your particular purpose. You will need to skim and scan to determine what is relevant by asking yourself how any particular aspects of what you're reading contribute to your answer. As you can see, the more specifically you focus on what your topic is, the more confident you are in selecting relevant materials.
  

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  Keep in mind your topic and the questions you've generated so you can decide what parts you need to read in detail and in depth. You need this kind of reading to fully grasp what the author is actually saying. Sometimes this may involve several readings. Furthermore, depending on the discipline, subject, or the particular author, it could sometimes happen that you could be doing well with a dense or difficult text if you could read even a couple of pages in an hour.
  

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  If you have many sources, you read them in relation to one another. As you are reading, you are thinking and deciding whether they agree or disagree or whether the same evidence, events etc. are given a different interpretation. If you are finding that the same ideas are expressed, you need to note the fact that lots of people agree, but you don't necessarily need to read it each time in the same detail. As you can see here, reading, note taking, and the eventual process of writing are interrelated.
  

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  Although you are reading different sources, remember that you are researching an issue. So, you are looking for ideas and information related to the issue. It’s important not to view your reading as reading a series of individual sources or confined to one source unless you are doing a critique of a particular writer or text. Otherwise, you finish up with a list of different authors' views and not your integrated view based on other people's opinions.
  

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  If you feel you are losing the plot or nothing or everything seems relevant, you need to return to your initial topic and as you are reading ask yourself: How does what I'm reading contribute to my answer to this question? or In what way could this support my argument? or Even though this is interesting, does it really relate, directly or indirectly, to my main argument? or Have I drifted way off the mark?
  

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  If you are reading to study, you still need to have your precise purpose in mind. Reading to study is really more studying than reading. Reading is only the means by which you access information with which you do something in the process of studying.
  

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  Your purpose could be to gain a general overview of the subject or a topic to be ready for the next lecture or as background for a tutorial session. This kind of preliminary reading may need you to do little more than scan.
  

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  Your purpose could be to clarify and gain a better understanding of points, issues, or topics from the lecture. This often involves using your textbook or some similar source. A textbook is not something you are likely to use from cover to cover. If you end up reading it from cover to cover, you are not likely to have done so in the given order nor have you probably read it all at the same speed or in the same detail or depth. You go to the parts you need because you want to learn why x does y or what kind of examples or diagrams the author has offered.
  

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  Your purpose could be because you have simply been told to read it. With such reading, you have to work out why it has been assigned:
  

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  Is it because it covers something not covered in lectures? To what extent is it important? Do you need to know it? If so, then read the relevant parts and integrate it with your lecture notes. If it's not clear whether you need to know it or whether it is just interesting but peripheral, then ask your tutor or lecturer.
  

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  Is it because it covers basically the same area as the lectures? In this case, you could skim and scan it to see if it is the same material presented in a different way, if it provides additional examples, if it has a different interpretation or emphasis. Even if it does cover the same areas as the lecture, it could do so in a way that suits you better, or provides you with a visual representation or a summary box or example that makes things click at a glance.
  

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  Is it because it provides detailed or three-dimensional illustrations or photographs to supplement descriptions and rough drawings presented in lectures?
  

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  Your purpose could be to gain an in-depth understanding of a very specific theorem, argument, process, or theory and to analyze a text. Once you identify the relevant part, you will read it in detail keeping questions in mind and testing your understanding. For example, you may be able to reproduce or calculate a theorem or problem, but what you really want to do is understand each step, the logical progression, and why it has been structured in this way. Of course, it is also helpful to know practical applications. Similarly in the case of argument, you know you understand it when you see the logic of it, when you can judge the strengths of it and can assess the evidence provided. Ultimately you want to be able to place this argument within the wider context of the subject.
  

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