We’ve all been there. You have a paper to write. You have chosen your topic, but you don’t yet have an argument. All you have is that stack of big non-fiction books from the course reading list that you dutifully checked out of the library but haven’t been able to bring yourself to crack open. In theory, this pile on your desk has all the information you need to write your paper, but it would take you weeks to read every book cover to cover and your assignment is due in ten days. Unsure of where to start?
Here are five tips for getting through that stack and shaping your paper as you read.
START WITH THE INTRODUCTION
It may seem simple, but the best place to start, as usual, is from the beginning. Read the introduction. Or, rather, only the very end of it. Whether the book is a monograph, written by one author, or an edited volume with chapters from different contributors, its introduction will invariably contain a few paragraphs—usually the final paragraphs—describing the basic contents and argument of each chapter. Rather than plunging into a chapter whose title sounds promising, only to find that it is not in fact about the topic you had hoped for and that you have now wasted twenty minutes, read this synopsis carefully. You should be able to tell easily which section will be most useful. Flip straight to it.
LEARN TO SKIM READ
Now that you’ve chosen what to read, how should you read it? Give the chapter or article a quick once-over. Make sure you understand what the introduction is saying, then start to speed up. Roughly pass over the first and last sentences of each paragraph, skipping long examples, case studies, or tables of facts and figures. Slow back down again for the conclusion. This will give you a sense of what information the chapter contains and whether you find the author’s argument compelling. If the educated guess that brought you to that chapter was right and the content is useful for you, you can go back and pick out the information you need. It can be easy to get bogged down by academic writing, which is designed make everything seem important, but it’s important to stick to your guns. If something is not relevant to your topic, skip ahead.
CHECK IN WITH YOUR RESEARCH GOALS
You might find yourself asking, how do I know what is relevant? This will evolve as you read. As you expand your knowledge of your topic, you will also be more equipped to narrow it down to what truly interests you about it. Ask yourself: what do I want to learn about in more depth? Your answer will help you decide where to direct your research. Am I hoping to find examples for my paper, such as quotes from primary source documents, or to learn biographical information about someone, or to point me towards a useful case-study? Or am I reading this in order to talk about the author’s argument in my paper, as something around which to shape my own points? Always pay attention to the argument—every piece of academic writing should have one. Maybe the first book you read argued for a certain position, and the one you are now reading disagrees. Where do you stand? The answers to these questions will help you determine what kind of information you want to mine from the book in front of you and are already helping you to structure your own arguments and ideas.
TAKE NOTES EFFICIENTLY
If you take notes as you read, it can be easy to waste time writing down extraneous information that turns out not to be significant to the author’s argument, or random tidbits that you will not end up using in your paper, or a quote that the author restates in a more compelling way later. Consider not taking any notes until you have skimmed the whole chapter. Then ask and try to answer the research questions you outlined above. Once you have a sense of how the material you have just read might serve your purposes, you will be able to take targeted and usable notes. If you realize that you are looking for a specific piece of information, write that down. If you are interested in positioning yourself the against the author’s thesis, or in alignment with it, try to summarize the argument and main points in your own words. (This can later be transplanted directly into your paper.) Then, write down a quote that exemplifies the argument, always marking clearly that you have copied it out verbatim and noting the page number. Your paper is coming together now!
PAY ATTENTION TO FOOTNOTES
This final tip might seem counterintuitive. After all, aren’t footnotes nitty gritty details, exactly the kind of thing you should skip when you’re in a time crunch? Yes and no. Paying attention to footnotes can be useful, even when you are limited for time. If you are reading a chapter and realize that the idea presented there will form the core theme of your paper, but the book at hand does not go into sufficient depth, turn to the footnote for that paragraph. It is likely that the author has cited other scholars who have written extensively on that subject. Read the note, find the longer bibliographic entry in the list of works cited, and write down titles that sound interesting. Then make these the next ones you read.
Keep reading actively as you work through your course list and continually reevaluate the arguments you are mustering for your paper. With each book, chapter, and article, your research questions will become clearer, and you’ll be able to read faster and more effectively. The first book is always the hardest! And, best of all, because you read efficiently and took notes effectively, when it comes time to start writing, you won’t find yourself staring for hours at a blank page—you will already have everything, from thesis to outline to evidence, that you need to write a great paper.
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