Reading and Making Notes

University students are typically exposed to a much wider variety of academic sources at university – including monographs, textbooks, journals, reports – and, crucially, a much larger proportion of their time is spent on independent academic reading, relative to their time in school.

There are lots of study skills texts which deal with academic writing in some form or other, but there are far fewer resources which provide helpful guidance about how to manage the early stages of an assignment. The quality of a student’s written work reflects the quality of their reading and note-making skills. If students don’t understand what their assignment is asking; if students don’t take control of their reading list and consult the most appropriate sources; and if students don’t end the process of reading with meaningful notes it’s very unlikely that they will score high marks for their assignment.

This book helps readers to take charge of their reading at university and provides succinct and practical guidance at key stages of the assignment. It helps students to understand what their assignment title means and how to identify useful, reliable academic sources. It helps students to apply different reading strategies, depending on the task at hand, and to approach texts actively so that they are questioning and evaluating materials as they go. In addition to reading strategies, the Pocket introduces readers to useful strategies and tips for note-making. The final part helps readers to make the most of their notes by engaging with and reviewing the material they’ve created.