Reading and Note Taking for Essays

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.

Reading

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:

1. I did not read the whole book/article. I knew what I wanted and I searched through until I found it and then read the appropriate section closely and skimmed some stuff in that part that was not useful for my essay. I know what the author was saying in relation to the point I was making in the essay.
   In this case the reader has:
   • read carefully only selected parts
   • knows exactly what she is looking for
   • taken detailed notes on some parts of text
2. I managed to get a good grip on what the argument of the book was. I did read some sections carefully but I skimmed most of the book. I know what the basic theme is and I know what sort of evidence the author used but I don't know all the details.
   In this case the reader has:
   • read carefully only selected parts
   • at least skimmed all the material
   • taken detailed notes on the most important sections of the material and kept a less detailed record of the general structure of the material. (Rule of Thumb: Avoid taking notes on the examples offered)
3. I read the whole book through from beginning to end. I could not put it down. It was so fascinating that I missed my stop on the train and I finished it in 2 days. I have a few notes I wrote down after I finished it but I seem to spend most of my time in the pub talking about it so I know it pretty well anyway.
   In this case the reader has:
   • read carefully all of the material
   • not taken notes as they read
   • probably not been reading social science material!

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

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.

• DO make sure you record the full source so that you can include it in your bibliography
• DO try and record in your notes what page each point or quotation is taken from.
• DO record your reactions/assessment of the material as you go through it
• DO NOT take too many notes. Be very selective about what you record. (RoT: an article = 1 side of notes while a book = 2-3 sides of notes)
• DO NOT simply photocopy or underline/highlight as you read. You need to actively process what you read. The Osmosis Hypothesis ("I have photocopied and therefore I have absorbed the essence of what the author is saying") is unfortunately not true!
• DO NOTcopy out large sections of the text so that you can save yourself 500 words by lobbing in a large extended quotation (RoT: Only use quotations where they say what you want to say better than you can say it)
• PERHAPS try and represent the argument graphically (e.g. using boxes and arrows to show how the different parts of the argument link up).

Some General Hints

• Preview whatever you are about to read
  (Or "How to Use the Index and Not Feel Guilty")

  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).

• Reading, Writing and Thinking are not mutually exclusive activities

  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.

• Read in comfort
  (or "Tune In, Open Up, Read On")

  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.

• You get back what you put in
  (or "The Anchovy Rule")

  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.

• Use the footnotes/references to guide you in further reading
  (Or "The Joy of Endnotes")

  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?)

• Start at the End
  (Or "When They Don't Begin the Beguine")

  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.

• You will get better

  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.

• Be selective

  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.