Practical Tips for Reading Critically-Academic Prose
Adapted from Berkley's Teaching Guide for Graduate Student Instructors which was in turn adapted from Joshua Page's "Practical Tips for Reading Sociology" and ultimately stolen from one of my colleges. (See how this citation/plagiarism issue gets complicated quick!)
Always read with a purpose.
Scan and scope the text beforehand. (Consider reading the first and last sentence of each paragraph.)
Read to identify the logic of the piece. This means identifying the problem the author is trying to resolve...(Could also mean identifying the main point the author is making.)
Read differentially. Do not treat all printed text in the same manner.
Annotate the text as you read. Underline, highlight.
Mark passage that confuse. This can be language or concepts.
Notice the author's relationship with other scholarships. Footnotes? References? Work Cited?
Write up notes immediately after reading.
Reflect and evaluate.
Read the text more than once.
Not all of these are going to work for everyone and you have to work and developing your own system. I invite everyone to share their own tips or links to other useful guides on this page.
A note of sharing in the wiki:
Adding information to the wiki is not mandatory for the class. You won't be graded or given participation points. If, however, you have an idea that's working or you know something the rest of the class might not, the nice thing to do is share that information.
Practical Tips for Reading Critically-Academic Prose
Adapted from Berkley's Teaching Guide for Graduate Student Instructors which was in turn adapted from Joshua Page's "Practical Tips for Reading Sociology" and ultimately stolen from one of my colleges. (See how this citation/plagiarism issue gets complicated quick!)Not all of these are going to work for everyone and you have to work and developing your own system. I invite everyone to share their own tips or links to other useful guides on this page.
A note of sharing in the wiki:
Adding information to the wiki is not mandatory for the class. You won't be graded or given participation points. If, however, you have an idea that's working or you know something the rest of the class might not, the nice thing to do is share that information.