Developing Academic Reading Skills

1
Developing Academic Reading Skills

• Planning Research
• Chapter 2

2
Why Academic Reading?

• Reading is the most critical part of the learning
  process.
• Reading often appears to students to be the most
  boring of all tasks
• BUT
• Your ideas about research will come mainly from
  reading
• Wide reading expands your perspectives

3
Selective Reading

• It is unrealistic to expect that you can read
  everything!
• You therefore have to read selectively
• Criteria for selection might be
• Learning outcomes of module
• Your research question
• Overall purpose of the assignment

4
Is it worth reading this Paper?

• Examine these three parts of the paper / project
  or article
• The abstract
• Dealing with the topic, results and findings
• The introduction
• Lining up the research
• Where are the gaps?
• The conclusion
• Trying to convince the reader that this is worth
  reading!

5
Reading the PaperAbstract

• Approach to the investigation of the topic
• Will report on what was discovered during the
  work
• Analysis, discussion or results in short
• What is new about the work?

6
Reading the PaperIntroduction

• This is where the authors make a promise
• Like a contract between authors and the reader
• Identifying relevant research gaps
• At least some of them will be filled out!

7
Reading the PaperThe Context of the Research

• Reading the background section will give you a
  better grasp of the situation that gave rise to
  the research
• The real world location into which the research
  problem might fit

8
Reading the PaperThe Litterature Review

• If you were an architct and we asked you to build
  a house in an earthquake zone, you would make
  sure that the foundations were strong and solid
• This is how authors think of their dissertations
  and academic papers
• Not just a description of others previous work,
  but the litterature review
• Appraises, compares and contrasts it with each
  other and relevant work

9
Reading the PaperResearch Design

• Discusses how the research was carried out
  often called methodology or research design
• Research Strategy case study, survey,
  observations
• Research Methods
• Why these methods?
• Population, the sample, data collection,
  interpretation, analysis

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Reading the PaperFindings

• Do the findings confirm the litterature?
• Do the findings dis-confirm the litterature?
• Do the findings go further than the litterature?
• There is no single manner or method of
  presentation of research findings

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Reading the PaperConclusion

• The authors do not try to reinvent the wheel
  but
• To deliver the promise given in the introduction
  section
• Make a minor contribution to the body of
  knowledge on the subject
• Should be MORE than a summary, namely
  synthesizing the overall arguments presented in
  the paper, and
• Highlight meanings
• Emphasize contributions

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Extracting Value from your Reading

• Finding the Claim
• What question does the author pose?
• What is the primary argument?
• Why is this argument significant?

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Validity of the arguments?

• 1. Evidence
• What evidence do the authors offer in support of
  their position?
• How convincing is the evidence
• 2. Counter-arguments
• What arguments are made in opposition?
• What evidence was used in the refutation
• 3. Effectiveness
• What were the strength of the article?
• Did you get a clear picture?

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SQ3R Academic Reading Technique

• Survey, Question, Read, Record, Review
• 1. Survey (one minute)
• Scan title, headings, figures and conclusion
• 2. Question (30 seconds)
• What is the research question?
• 3. Read (takes some time)
• Trying to find the answer to the question in each
  heading

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SQ3R Academic Reading Technique

• 4. Record (no more than five minutes)
• Make a few notes, use highlighter, write in the
  margin
• 5. Review (no more than five minutes)
• Test yourself by trying to recall some of the
  highlighted phrases
• How does these points fit with what you already
  think or know?