Content

• Reading an academic text

• Learn how to Skim Read

• Taking notes and Paraphrasing

• What have you discovered?

• Tips for structuring

• Essay outline

• Basic tips for improving your writing

• Guide your Reader

Reading an academic text

Once you've found and evaluated an information source on your topic, it's time to engage with it!

Remember:  Not ALL the text may be relevant to your need.  Think about your purpose for reading

• Are you reading for a general understanding of a topic/concept?

• Are you reading for some specific information for an assignment?

 

Making sense of a text

Good authors will organise their information in a systematic way. Here are some typical ways that information may be organised in a text:

Past ideas to present ideas

Steps or stages of a process or event

Most important point to least important point 

Well-known ideas to least-known ideas 

Simple ideas to complex ideas 

General ideas to specific ideas  

The largest parts to the smallest parts of something  

Problems and solutions  

Causes and results

Now that you know about these practices you can start using them in your own writing too! Keep thinking while you're reading:

Find the main idea

Find supporting details

Make connections

Find cause and effect

Think about the author's purpose

Make predictions

Infer meaning

Distinguish between facts & opinion

Visualize for meaning

Use context clues

KEEP A DICTIONARY HANDY - AND USE IT!  It will help expand your vocabulary for writing as well.

Learn how to Skim Read

To save time, skim read the text first to get a sense of the layout and purpose of the content.

HERE'S HOW IT'S DONE

Preview:  Read only the title and headings, and look at any illustrations, or charts/tables -- look for concepts that match your need

Overview: Go back and read the Abstract (the initial summary, if there is one), and the first sentence introducing each heading, plus the concluding paragraph.  This gives you an idea of the layout and organisation of the text.

Inview: Ask yourself: “Does this text give me the information I require and where might it be located in the text"?  This is the section you should read thoroughly and make notes from.

When you use this method, the important points of the text should emerge, giving you a picture of what it is about.

Taking notes and Paraphrasing

Effective note-taking from readings is an essential skill for university study.  Good note-taking creates a bank of relevant points that you can use for your assignments.  It also helps you realize where your ideas came from and where you should acknowledge an original author.

To take good notes requires:

• Recognizing the main ideas in a text

• Identifying what information is relevant to your task

• Summarising or using diagrams to reduce the information

• Recording the source of the information

GUIDE TO NOTE-TAKING

NOTE: When you use your own words to represent the main ideas in a text, this is called paraphrasing.  This is a good skill to learn as it helps you to understand the concepts in a way that is clear to you.  It can take time but it will really help your understanding.

HOW TO PARAPHRASE:

Read a section of the text carefully, until you understand exactly what the author is saying.

Then look away and capture the main statements in your own words.

Afterwards, check your paraphrase against the source for accuracy.

Adjust phrases that match the original too closely.

BUT:  Even when you are paraphrasing you are still borrowing someone else’s ideas, so it’s important that you write down the details of the source where you found the idea.  You can make use of your paraphrase in your essay, but should acknowledge the source (See Module 7, Citing sources)

When making notes, you may also insert your own responses or even notes to yourself in square brackets.

For example,  [I disagree, because in SA it doesn't work this way] or,  [put this information in a table - supply source info].

What have you discovered?

1.  What are the readings telling you?

2.  How does this fit with what you already know?

3.  Can you answer the assignment?

4.  Is there anything missing?

5.  Have you discussed the topic with someone in your class?

Talking about it helps to clarify your thinking. 

Work through your notes and code the separate themes with A, B, C etc. This will make it easier to prepare your arguments and to locate relevant material while you're writing.

Tips for structuring

From your notes, select the information that will make the best argument or discussion.  It isn't reasonable to write about everything you discover about the topic, so choose a few things to discuss in detail that will demonstrate your understanding.

Make a list of all of the points you wish to make, and then group these points into common themes or categories.

Decide which is the best sequence for the themes.

Prepare a plan (see the example below)

Essay outline

The simplified diagram below shows what an essay should look like structurally. It is important that the introduction, body and conclusion are linked together as a whole. The introduction will contextualise the topic before stating the problem (specific topic). You may state your position (thesis statement) and then briefly outline what will appear in your essay.

A typical body paragraph has the following structure:

• a topic sentence which conveys the main idea of the paragraph and is commonly found at the beginning of a paragraph.

• supporting sentences which, using your research and citing your sources, provide discussion and examples which add to and expand upon the topic sentence.

• a concluding sentence can help to tie the paragraph together, or may raise a question that links to the next paragraph.

At all times, guide your reader through your writing by signalling when you are introducing a new topic and relating it to the whole assignment.

Basic tips for improving your writing

Constructing sentences

Ask yourself:  “What is the thing I want to say?”, then try to express that as simply as possible.

Try saying it out loud first before writing it down.  Be prepared to change it later on if you think of a better way of putting it.

Keep it simple.  Express one point per sentence.  This helps you avoid getting into a tangle of bad grammar or logical thought.  Long sentences are difficult to read and understand.

Read and re-read each paragraph aloud to check that all your sentences are complete and sound right.  See if you can improve the writing by trying out different ways of constructing the sentences.  Ask a friend to read it and comment on what is confusing.  Then try to make it clearer.  Get rid of unnecessary words.

Keeping to the topic

Keep your essay plan in sight.  You should be checking that each one of your paragraphs is relevant to the essay topic, and builds towards your overall argument or position.

Each paragraph should have a topic sentence which indicates the main point of each paragraph.  Does each statement in that paragraph relate to the topic sentence?  Check that you’re not wandering off into something irrelevant.

Style

Make sure the tone is not too informal:  e.g. write “there is” rather than “there’s” / “do not”, instead of “don’t”.

Try to state your own views in an impersonal way.  E.g.:  “It seems logical to assume that …..”  or “A more useful way of looking at the problem is ….”  rather than “I think”

Be careful of bias or prejudice in your thinking.  Your viewpoints must be honest but fair, backed up with evidence.

Guide your Reader

Signal words tell the reader where the argument is going.  Try inserting these words to help guide your reader.  (Table borrowed from “Essay Success”, Deakin University)      

MEANING	SIGNAL WORDS
Addition	in addition, again, also, and, besides, further, furthermore, moreover, too, similarly
Cause and effect	accordingly, as a result, consequently, otherwise, therefore, thus, as a result, so, hence, as a consequence
Comparison	similarly, likewise, in the same manner, also, as well as
Concession	otherwise, admittedly, however, nevertheless, of course, after all, nonetheless, indeed
Conclusion	in conclusion, to sum up, finally, lastly, to conclude, accordingly, overall
Connections in time	after a short time, afterwards, as long as, as soon as, at last, at length, at that time, at the same time, before, currently, earlier, of late, immediately, in the meantime, lately, later, meanwhile, presently, shortly, since, soon, temporarily, thereafter, until, when, while
Contrast	in contrast, although, and yet, but, however, nevertheless, on the other hand, on the contrary, conversely, whereas, alternatively, in spite of
Emphasis	undoubtedly, indeed, true, above all, most important, the main point here is
Examples	for example, for instance, in other words, in illustration, in this case, in particular, specifically, an example of this
Qualification	except for, admittedly, studies suggest that, perhaps, it would seem that, it tends to be the case that, may be, could be
Sequencing	firstly, secondly, lastly, finally, then, too