Simon Nash

Caroline Malthus

Te Puna AkoAcademic Reading for PG

study

Intros

• You, your programme/assignment and one word you’d use to describe reading for study

• The one thing you’d like from this session• Us and Te Puna Ako Learning Centre

Learning OutcomesFollowing this workshop, be able to:

1. Identify purposes for reading for PG study

2. Adopt strategies to decide how to read a text

3. Practice reading selectively, actively and critically

• What do you notice about academic reading?

• What are the key issues for you in academic reading?

Which is your primary focus?What are the challenges in this

form of reading?• Reading for coursework

• Reading to write an assignment

• Reading for research

In PG study, why are we reading?

What can we gain from reading?

How can we evaluate readings?

• Type of material?• Purpose?• Likely audience?• Author credibility?• When written?• Lecturer’s and other’s recommendations?

Reading exercise (Reeves & Oh, 2008).

Read the title and abstract: What seem to be the key words?What’s the writer’s purpose?How would you expect the article to be

organised?What purposes might we have as readers of

this?

We need to read in different waysScanning: Looking for key information (e.g. dictionary)

Skimming: Looking for the main ideas or reading to follow ‘gist’

Study: Close reading, carefully and slowly

Skipping: Too difficult? Not relevant? Reading another text or part-text first then

returning to then to the original one

Task (Reeves & Oh, 2008).

Read the literature review section:

What’s the topic of each paragraph?What’s the work that the writer is doing here?

Examples of work the writer may be doing:

•Describing an issue•Explaining reasons•Defining keywords•Giving evidence•Comparing one writer’s view with another•Moving on to a new topic•Summing up what has been investigated before

Synthesising from different texts

Jones Smith Reagan Hernandez Kahlo

Reading and Notemaking• Record reference – publication details• Skim the text first to select – your purpose?• Summarise and paraphrase ideas• Clearly note quotes with page nos.• Note your thoughts, questions, difficult

sections• Use diagrams, maps, colours• Relate notes to classes, other reading, your

experience

Systems for scanning and making notes

Mindmaps: Example of a mindmapLinear or topic based notesNotemaking tableAnnotations in the marginsSummary notes

Task

Read the concluding section:

What do you think of the conclusions?How does it compare with the writer’s purpose?What else might readers like to know?

A critical thinker:

Questions and evaluates the information, for example:

• What is really important here?

• How does it relate to what I’ve read / learnt

before?

• What standpoint does the writer have?

• Are there any weaknesses in the argument that is

being put forward?

• What other opinions are there on this topic?

- Do I agree or disagree with the writer?

Active, critical reading

(Paul & Elder, 2002)

“There’s no point starting writing until I’ve done lots of reading”

What’s your view on this statement?

Consider:

• New skills take time to develop

• Think about reading as you read

• What new strategies will you try?

References

Paul, R. & Elder, L. (2002). Critical thinking: Tools for taking charge of your professional and personal life. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Financial Times

Reeves, T.C., & Oh, E. (2008). Generational differences. In J. M. Spector, D. Merrill, J van Merrienboer, M. P. Driscoll (Eds.) Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 295-303). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

RMIT University. (2005). Literature Review. Retrieved from https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_AssessmentTasks/04literature.htm

Learning OutcomesFollowing this workshop, be able to:

1. Identify purposes for reading for PG study

2. Adopt strategies to decide how to read a text

3. Practice reading selectively, actively and critically