How to read all the information you have accessed for your academic project.

1. read the information

2. see what is there

3. ?
? 1. title
2. headings

4. 3. diagrams
& tables

7. skim with focus

8. read the
introduction -
especially the first and
last paragraph

9. read the first and
last sentence in
each paragraph
The middle parts of a
paragraph seldom
contain anything new.
There is more likely an
example of explanation.

10. read the tables
and diagrams
occasionally a table or
diagram will be
uninformative, but often you
can miss out whole
paragraphs of text if you
have grasped what is in the
image

11. read the conclusion
concentrate on
• first paragraph
• last paragraph

12. questions & quotations
capture these as you READ
• note in margin
• write down
• type into capture sheet
• highlight
• underline
• copy out
• type into capture sheet

13. Choose 2 to 3 quotations:
• specific relevance to topic
• specially well phrased
• preferably short
more than 3
lines – use
an indented
block (See
Academic Guidelines
page 13)

14. write questions if
• don’t understand
• disagree
• not covered
find answers to
these questions:
• in other reading
• from you own ideas
OR
suggest further
research is needed in
that area

15. check: sense

16. info
relevant
argument idea
clear
start progression conclusion

17. Is it academically sound?
Does it satisfy you?

18. THEN …