ACADEMIC READING

AND NOTE-MAKING

Language and
Communication
Studies

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Learning Outcomes

By the end of the session, you should be able to:

adapt your reading to purpose.
use different approaches and strategies to the
reading of academic texts.
recognize different ways in which academic texts
are organized/structured
recognize various rhetorical functions when you
meet them in your academic texts

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Lecture overview

 What is academic reading?

 General reading problems of university
students in English L2 and FL contexts
 Effective reading strategies.
 Critical reading
 Organization/structure of reading texts
 Rhetorical functions in academic reading texts

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Test your reading speed

 Take your reading text;

 When I tell you to start reading, begin
from the top and keep going until I say
stop;
 Read at your normal speed to find your
present reading level
 When I say stop, stop right away and
mark the end of the line where you
stopped.
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Test your reading speed...
 Count the number of words in 7 lines and write that
down;
 Divide that number by 7. That is the average
number of words per line. Write it down;
 Count the number of lines you read and write it on
a piece of paper.
 Multiply that number by the number of words per
line, and you have roughly how many words you
read. Write down the number you get.
 You read for 5 minutes. Divide the total numbers of
words you read by 5 and you have your words-per-
minute.
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Test your reading speed

 150 wpm Insufficient

 250 wpm Average general reader
(slow for university)
 400 wpm Good general reader
(the minimum for effective
college-reading)
 600 wpm Strong college reader
 1000 wpm Excellent

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 Reading speed (Fry 1963a)
Speed When it is used Poor Readers Good readers
Slow Study reading speed is Read 90-125 wpm Read 200-300 wpm
used when material is 80-90% 80-90%
difficult and or requires comprehension comprehension
high concentration
Average Average reading 150-180 wpm 250-500 wpm
speed is used for 70% 70% comprehension
everyday reading of comprehension
magazines,
newspapers and easier
textbooks
Good Skimming is used Cannot skim 800+ wpm
when the highest 50% comprehension
rate/speed is desired.
Comprehension is
intentionally lower.
Academic reading

 Academic reading implies a departure from

everyday reading in terms of purpose,
quantity of and strategies for reading.
 It is about being selective i.e. Choosing
carefully what to read and not necessarily
attempting to exhaust all the books on the
reading list or course outline.

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General reading problems of university
students in EFL/L2 contexts

 Lack of vocabulary knowledge (Levine &

Reves, 1990).
 Failure to adapt reading strategy to purpose.
 Vocalization/sub-vocalization
 lack of practice in reading—especially large
amounts;
 faulty habits of attention and concentration;

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Effective reading strategies

 Effective reading strategies enable students

to adapt their reading to suit the purpose for
which the reading is being done.
 Such strategies include:

– Scanning
– Skimming
– Intensive reading

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Skimming
 Skimming is used if a person wants to gain a
quick overview of material and to see if the text
is useful. Skimming is not reading. It will tell
you about a text but you will not learn from it.
 Skim first sentences of paragraphs and pick out
keywords to see if it is useful.
 Focus on facts and concepts – does it answer
your questions? Focus on your essay question.
 Focus your attention on subheadings, bold,
italicized or underlined text, figures and
diagrams, graphs, charts or photographs if
there are any.
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Skimming...
 To use skimming to decide which books and journal
articles will be useful to you, look at the following
information:
Books
 Blurb (backcover)– read this to find out a little more
about the content and coverage of the book, who
should read it, it may also give you information about
different editions of books, for example what extra is
offered in a newer edition of a text.
 Title and author – titles and subtitles may provide you
with more descriptive information. Your tutor may
recommend certain authors, and in time, you will be
able to recognise other work by them.

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Skimming...
 Publication date – located on the back of the title
page. Check for most current edition. Some reading
lists may point to older texts because they have
produced an important contribution to the subject.
 Table of Contents – this can be in the form of main
chapter headings or perhaps listing the main headings
within the chapters. By looking at the contents pages,
you can see if the book covers the topics that you are
studying and how much coverage has been given to
the subject. A good indication of this is the amount of
pages the author has devoted to that particular subject.

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Skimming...

 Introduction – detailed overview,

possibly chapter-by-chapter summaries.
 Chapter headings/summaries – clues to
what chapters will cover. Summaries may
be provided prior to chapter. Use these to
judge whether chapters will be relevant.

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Skimming...

 Glossary – alphabetical list of subject specific

terms. Use this to build vocabulary, this will help
you when you are writing your essays.
 Bibliography – alphabetical list of all sources
that the author has used to write the book. Use
this to provide additional reading sources.
 Index – a list of topics that are covered in the
book. Use this to search quickly for your topic. If
it does not appear, the book may not be of use
to you.
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Skimming...

Journal articles
 Title/author of article – is the author a reliable
source?
 Publication date – how current is the article?
 Abstract – a summary of what the article is about.
 Headings – clues to what the paragraphs will cover.
 Tables and diagrams – is the evidence supported?
 Conclusions – what are the findings?
 Reference list – alphabetical list of sources used to
write the article.
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Scanning

 Scanning is different from skimming. It is reading

more carefully and a little bit slower.
 Scan for specific information – for example, a
quotation or supporting facts in an argument.
 Restrict scanning to about 20% of the text. Identify
topic sentences and evidence in each section.
Although you will only work with part of the text, careful
thinking, together with a sense of context gained from
skimming, will mean that you can see the text more
clearly and gain a stronger sense of the overall
meaning.

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Scanning...

 In books, read chapter introductions and

conclusions in more detail, and scan the
rest of the chapter. Scanning is where you
read only to pick up the essential details
and no more is read than absolutely
necessary.
 You can, like skimming, look for
titles/headings and formatting clues to help
you locate what you are looking for.

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Intensive reading

 Intensive reading is more purposeful than

skimming and broader than scanning.
 Purposeful because it is directed towards a task
such as an assignment, an examination, or a
presentation and therefore aimed at achieving a
deeper understanding of the text being read.
 Broader because it goes beyond looking for
specific information and looking at titles,
headings and sections or paragraphs.

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The SQ3R Method

 SQ3R method:
– Survey
– Question
– Read
– Recite
– Review

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The SQ3R Method...

 Before you read, SURVEY (SCAN) the text:

– title, headings, subheadings
– captions under pictures, charts, etc.
– introduction and conclusion
– summary or abstract.

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The SQ3R Method...

 QUESTION while you are surveying:

– Turn the title/headings into questions.
– If reading a textbook, read the questions at the
end of the chapter.
– Ask yourself, ‘What do I already know about this
subject?’
– Ask yourself, ‘What did the lecturer say about this
topic?’

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The SQ3R Method...

 When you begin to READ:

– Note all the underlined, bold or italicised words.
– Reduce your reading speed for difficult passages (but
try not to do this all the time).
– Check your dictionary only when you cannot determine
the meaning from the context. DO NOT check every
word.
– Give yourself permission to ‘miss’ the meaning of
some words. Aim for overall comprehension.
– Look for answers to the questions you first raised.
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The SQ3R Method...

 RECITE after you read each section:

– Orally ask yourself questions about what you
have just read.
– Write a one-sentence summary at the end of
each section.
– Underline/highlight key points.
– Make notes in the margin (or on a separate
piece of paper with the full reference included
in your notes).
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The SQ3R Method...

 REVIEW your reading:

– After you have finished the whole article or
chapter, write a short summary. Keep this
summary with the text.
– Never finish an article without doing some form of
oral and written review.
– If studying for an exam, go back through the text
and ask yourself questions (flash cards work
well).

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Critical reading

 Students need to take individual

responsibility for learning.
 Much more reading is needed than just the
lecture notes or course guide.
 Developing your reading skills is of
paramount importance.

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Critical reading ...

 ‘…it is not simply what you read or how much

you read but how you read that will crucially
affect your level of reading skill’ (Boddington
and Clanchy 1999, p. 1).
 How you read will impact on your
understanding of source material and the
way you incorporate these sources into your
own writing on a topic.

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Critical reading...

 Critical reading involves making judgments about

the value of what you are reading (Boddington &
Clanchy 1999).
 Instead of simply consuming information you are
expected to become a producer of information.
 You need to carefully assess what you read while
constantly asking yourself whether the information
you are reading is useful for the particular
assignment you are working on.

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Critical reading...

 To develop critical thinking and reading you need to

interrogate both the writer and the text. Use the following
questions to help you gain a critical perspective:
– What is this document about?
– Is it accurate? How do you know?
– Who wrote it? Is the writer an authority in this field?
– Is the writer trying to persuade you of a particular position?
– Is this argument based on a broad or narrow view of the issue?

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Critical reading (cont.)
 More questions:
– What evidence is offered to support the
argument?
– What hasn’t been included in the argument?
– What would a totally opposite point of view look
like?
– Do you agree/disagree with the position
presented by the writer?
– How did you come to this view?
– What do other writers have to say about this
topic?
– Does this text add anything ‘new’ to the topic?
– Is this document useful for your presentLCOS-111
research?
Purpose in reading

 Before you begin reading you need to define

your purpose.
 If researching for an assignment, are you looking
for an explanation, evidence for a critique, or to
fill gaps in your own knowledge of the topic?
 To ascertain the purpose of your reading:
– pay careful attention to your lecturer’s instructions, both
oral and written
– ensure that you fully understand the requirements of the
assignment
– use the marking criteria provided to guide your reading.
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80/20 principle
 Piscitelli(2004) recommends the ‘80/20
principle’.
 In most reading assignments, 80% of what you
need to know is in about 20% of the material.
 So you usually only need to skim read 80% of
the document and carefully read the relevant
20%.
 This will significantly cut down your reading
time.
 The purpose for your reading will dictate how
much of the text you have to read carefully.
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Refining your purpose

 Your purpose will change as you work through

your research tasks:
– when you first receive an assignment
– when you start to answer the assignment question
– as your ideas start to change
– when you decide you need to read different texts to fill
in any gaps in your emerging understanding.
 Boddington (1999) refers to this process as
‘refining your purpose’ (p. 10).

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Rhetorical functions in academic
texts

 Readers who recognize the rhetorical

functions a writer is using have better
reading speed and comprehension.
 Writers use language to describe, to narrate
a process, to define, to classify, to
compare, to give examples, and to explain
a cause and effect relationship among
others.

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Description

“The rhinoceros is a large primitive looking

mammal that dates from the Miocene era
millions of years ago. In recent decades rhinos
have been relentlessly hunted to the point of
near extinction. Since 1970, the world rhino
population has declined by 90 percent, with five
species remaining in the world today, all of
which are endangered. The white or square-
lipped rhino is one of the two species in Africa. It
in turn occurs as two subspecies, the southern
and northern...”

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Process narration

 In this rhetorical function, the writer gives

instructions to the reader or describes to the
reader the procedure(s) for doing something.

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Process narration

“The bamboo culm was cleaned and chopped into

segments of 3 cm 15 cm. The moisture content of
these chopped bamboo segments was kept at
10% by air drying. The carbonization process of
BC is as follows: (1) the chopped bamboo
segments were loaded into the chamber of a
mechanical kiln; and (2) the chamber temperature
was increased to 500 C with a rate of 100 C/h,
and this temperature was retained for 1 h.” (Chou,
Chen, Lin, Lu, & Wu 2015)

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Definition

“Hypnotherapy is a medical treatment that is used

while the patient is hypnotised. The word hypnosis
comes from the Greek word hypnos, which means
“sleep.” Under hypnosis, the patient is very
susceptible to suggestions from the doctor, who
uses these suggestions to aid in the
treatment...Mesmesrism, founded by Frant Anton
Mesmer, is often confused with hypnotism and
therefore with hypnotherapy.” (Langan, 2012: 249)

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Classification

 Sometimes writers will classify (i.e. Take

many things and separate them into
categories) for their readers.

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Classification

“There are many larger groups: genus, family,

order, class, phylum, and kingdom. Let us begin
with the first seven species. We belong to the
genus Homo and to these more inclusive groups:
(1) the family Hominidae, which includes, in
addition to Homo, extinct men not of the genus
Homo, and (2) the order Primates, which includes
also the lemurs, monkeys and apes. The three cats
- lion, house cat, and tiger - belong to the genus (3)
Felis. In general we can think of a genus as a
group of closely related species.”

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Comparison or contrast

 Sometimes a writer will compare two or more

things, processes etc. (i.e. show similarities)
or contrast them (i.e. show their differences).

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Comparison or contrast

“A one-million-fold increase in speed characterizes the

development of machine computation over the past
thirty years. The increase results from improvements in
computer hardware. In the 1940s ENIAC, an early
electronic computer, filled a room with its banks of
vacuum tubes and miles of wiring. Today one can hold
in the hand a computing device costing about $200 that
is twenty times faster than ENIAC, has more
components and a larger memory, is thousands of
times more reliable, costs 1/10,000 the price, and
consumes the power of a light bulb rather than that of a
locomotive.”
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Exemplification

 Writers will often provide examples to their

readers to explain statements or claims that
they are making. As a reader you should
recognize cases of exemplification when you
meet them in a text.

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Exemplification...

“Although Australia is known for having the

world’s deadliest snakes, snake bites are
actually quite rare in the country and, since the
development of anti-venom, fatalities have
been low – between four to six deaths a year.
This is in contrast to India, for example, where
bites may reach one million a year, with over
50, 000 deaths.”

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Cause-effect relationship

 Sometimes writers will want to show to their

readers a relationship between the cause
(i.e. why something is happening) and the
effect (i.e. the result or outcome) on
phenomena that they are explaining on.

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Cause-effect

“The effects of regular exercise can change a

person’s life. First, walking or running three miles a
day can burn about 250 calories. That adds up to a
weight loss of about half a pound a week even
without dieting! Over a year, about 26 pounds can
be shed...Perhaps most significantly, however,
exercise releases endorphins, compounds
produced by glands in the body, which help fight
depression and improve one’s emotional health.”
(Langan, 2012:213)

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Note-making

 The note-making styles for reading are the

same as those covered in the note-taking
(listening) lecture covered earlier.
– The Cornell Method
– The Outline Method
– The Paragraph Method
– The Mapping Method.

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Note-making...

 At your free time practice making notes from

the sample reading text given during the
lecture using any of the methods of note-
making above.

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THANK YOU

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