Academic Reading Strategies

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ACADEMIC READING

STRATEGIES
ACADEMIC READING REQUIRES A MORE
ACTIVE, PROBING AND RECURSIVE
STRATEGY THAN DOES RECREATIONAL
READING. IT IS ESSENTIAL SKILL FOR
COMPLETING A WRITTEN
ASSIGNMENT.READING STRATEGICALLY
IS INTEGRAL TO THE PROCESS OF
UNDERSTANDING YOUR TOPIC, FINDING
RESEARCH MATERIALS,AND
DEVOLOPING YOUR IDEAS.
 FORMAL LANGUAGE AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE ARE ASSOCIATED WITH PARTICULAR
CHOICES OF GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY.

FORMAL LANGUAGE INFORMAL LANGUAGE


 FORMAL LANGUAGE IS MORE RIGID  INFORMAL LANGUAGE IS MORE EASY
AND LESS PERSONAL, OFTEN USED GOING AND ADAPTIVE,OFTEN USED
IN PROFFESIONAL OR ACADEMIC IN CASUAL OR FAMILIAR SETTINGS.
SETTING.  IT ALLOWS FOR CONSTRACTIONS,
 IT AVOIDS CONSTRACTIONS AND SLANG, AND SOMETIMES BENDS
SLANG, AND ADHERES STRICTLY TO GRAMMATICAL RULES FOR THE SAKE
GRAMMATICAL RULES. OF EASE AND FLUIDITY.
 THE CHOICE BETWEEN THE TWO
DEPENDS ON THE CONTEXT AND
THE AUDIENCE.
CONSTRACTIONS,RELATIVE CLAUSES WITHOUT A
RELATIVE PRONOUN AND ELLIPSIS ARE MORE
COMMON IN INFORMAL LANGUAGE.

SO IN THIS SENTENCES…..

1. SHE HAS DECIDED TO ACCEPT THE JOB.


2. SHE’S DECIDED TO ACCEPT THE JOB.

WHICH ONE IS UNACCEPTABLE IN ACADEMIC


WRITING?
WHY CONSTRACTIONS,RELATIVE CLAUSES WITHOUT
PRONOUN AND ELLIPSIS ARE MORE COMMON IN INFORMAL
LANGUAGE?
 CONSTRACTIONS,RELATIVE CLAUSES WITHOUT A RELATIVE
PRONOUN, AND ELLIPSIS ARE MORE COMMON IN INFORMAL
LANGUAGE BECAUSE THEY MAKE CONVERSATION MORE
NATURAL,EFFICIENT,AND FLUID.
 FOR EXAMPLE;
 CONSTRACTIONS (LIKE DON’T OR I’M) MAKE SPEECH FASTER AND
MORE CASUAL.
 RELATIVE CLAUSES WITHOUT RELATIVE PRONOUNS (LIKE “THE
MAN I SAW” INSTEAD OF “THE WHOM I SAW”)SIMPLIFY SENTENCES
AND MAKE THEM MORE DIRECT.
 ELLIPSIS(OMISSION OF WORDS)ALSO SIMPLIFIES AND QUICKENS
SPEECH,AS IN “GOING TO THE STORE?”INSTEAD OF “ARE YOU
GOING TO THE STORE?”
PARALLELISM IN ACADEMIC READING
STRATEGIES
 REFERSTO THE USE OF SIMILAR STRUCTURE IN
RELATED WORDS ,PHRASES, OR CLAUSES. IT
CREATES A SENSE OF RHYTHM AND BALANCE
WITHIN A SENTENCE. AS READERS, WE OFTEN
CORRECT FAULTY PARALLELISM- A LACK OF
PARALLEL STRUCTURE-INTUITIVELY BECAUSE AN
UNBALANCED SENTECE SOUNDS AWKWARD AND
POORLY CONSTRUCTED. IT HELPS TO IMPROVE THE
CLARITY,FLOW,AND CONCISENESS OF YOUR
READING AND UNDERSTANDING.
"He came, he saw, he
conquered."

This famous quote from Julius Caesar uses


parallelism by repeating the structure 'He +
past tense verb’.

is
is
str an
uc ex
or tur am
bo e o ple
hm t h f t of
i c . p a h e pa
rts se ra
, m nte lle
ak nc lism
in e i
g i s wh
t b th e e r
al e
"Like father, like son."

an
ce
d

“ SKIM THE CONTENT, SCAN FOR
DETAILS,AND SUMMARIZE THE
INFORMATION.

THIS STRAGTEGY INVOLVES QUICKLY GOING
OVER THE TEXT TO GET A GENERAL IDEA,
LOOKING FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS, AND
SUMMARIZING THE MAIN POINTS.
PURPOSES OF ACADEMIC READING
 INFORMATION COMES FROM REPUTABLE SOURCES: WEB SITES
AND BLOGS CAN BE A SOURCE OF INSIGHT AND INFORMATION,BUT
NOT ALL ARE USEFULL AS ACADEMIC RESOURCE.THEY MAY BE
WRITTEN BY PEOPLE OR COMPANIES WHOSE MAIN PURPOSE IS TO
SHARE AN OPINION OR SELL YOU SOMETHING. ACADEMIC SOURCE
SUCH AS TEXTBOOKS AND SCHOLARY JOURNAL ARTICLES, ON THE
OTHER HAND, ARE USUALLY WRITTEN BY EXPERTS IN THE FIELD
AND HAVE TO STRINGENT PEER REVIEW REQUIREMENTS IN ORDER
TO GET PUBLISHED.
 LEARN HOW TO FORM ARGUMENTS: IN MOST COLLEGE CLASSES
EXCEPT FOR CREATING WRITING,WHEN INSTRUCTORS ASK YOU TO
WRITE A PAPER , THEY EXPECT IT TO BE ARGUMENTATIVE IN
STYLE.THIS MEANS THAT THE GOAL OF THE PAPER IS TO RESEARCH
A TOPIC AND DEVELOP AN ARGUMENT ABOUT IT USING EVIDENCE
AND FACTS TO YOUR POSITION.
EXPOSURE TO DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS:
 ONE PURPOSE OF ASSIGNED ACADEMIC READINGS
IS TO GIVE STUDENTS EXPOSURE TO DIFFERENT
VIEWPOINTS AND IDEAS.FOR EXAMPLE,IN AN
ETHICS CLASS,YOU MIGHT BE ASKED TO READ A
SERIES OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY MEDICAL
PROFFESIONALS AND RELIGIOUS LEADER WHO ARE
PRO-LIFE OR PRO-CHOICE AND CONSIDER THE
VALIDITY OF THEIR ARGUMENTS. SUCH EXPERIENCE
CAN HELP YOU WRESTLE WITH IDEAS AND BELIEFS
IN NEW WAYS AND DEVELOP A BETTER
UNDERSTANDING OF HOW OTHERS’ VIEWS DIFFER
FROM YOUR OWN.
 Purposes for reading
 People read different kinds of text (e.g., scholarly
articles, textbooks, reviews) for different
reasons. Some purposes for reading might be
 to scan for specific information
 to skim to get an overview of the text
 to relate new content to existing knowledge
 to write something (often depends on a prompt)
 to critique an argument
 to learn something
 for general comprehension
READING STRATEGIES FOR ACADEMIC TEXTS
 PREVIEW:YOU CAN GAIN INSIGHT FROM AN ACADEMIC TEXT
BEFORE YOU EVEN BEGIN THE READING ASSIGNMENT. FOR
EXAMPLE, IF YOU ARE ASSIGNED A NONFICTIION BOOK, READ THE
TITLE, THE BACK OF THE BOOK, AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.
SCANNING THIS INFORMATION CAN GIVE YOU AN INITIAL IDEA OF
WHAT YOU’LL BE READING AND SOME USEFUL CONTEXT FOR
THINKING ABOUT IT.YOU CAN ALSO START TO MAKE CONNECTIONS
BETWEEN THE NEW READING AND KNOWLEDGE YOU ALREADY
HAVE, WHICH IS ANOTHER STRATEGY FOR RETAINING
INFORMATION.
 READ:WHILE YOU READ AN ACDEMIC TEXT, YOU SHOULD HAVE A
PEN OR PENCIL IN HAND. CIRCLE OR HIGHLIGHT KEY CONCEPTS.
WRITE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS IN THE MARGINS OR IN A
NOTEBOOK. THIS WILL HELP YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU ARE
READING AND ALSO BUILD A PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH THE
SUBJECT MATTER.
 SUMMARIZE: AFTER YOU AN READ ACADEMIC TEXT, IT’S WORTH
TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE A SHORT SUMMARY- EVEN IF YOUR
ADVISER DOESN’T REQUIRE IT. THE EXERCISE OF JOTTING
DOWN A FEW SENTENCES OR A SHORT PARAGRAPH CAPTURING
THE MAIN IDEAS OF THE READING IS ENORMOUSLY
BENEFICIAL:IT NOT ONLY HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND AND ABSORB
WHAT YOU READ BUT GIVES YOU READY STUDY AND REVIEW
MATERIALS FOR EXAMS AND OTHER WRITING ASSIGNMENTS.

 REVIEW:IT ALWAYS HELPS TO REVISIT WHAT YOU’VE READ FOR


A QUICK REFRESHER.IT MAY NOT BE PRACTICAL TO
THOROUGHLY REREAD ASSIGNMENTS FROM START TO
FINISH,BUT BEFORE CLASS DISCUSSIONS OR TESTS, IT’S A GOOD
IDEA TO SKIM THROUGH THEM TO IDENTIFY THE MAIN POINTS,
REREAD ANY NOTES AT THE END OF CHAPTERS ,AND REVIEW
ANY SUMMARIES YOU’VE WRITTEN.
 Strategies
 Strategies differ from reader to reader. The same reader may use different
strategies for different contexts because their purpose for reading changes.
Ask yourself “why am I reading?” and “what am I reading?” when deciding
which strategies to try.
 Before reading
 Establish your purpose for reading
 Speculate about the author’s purpose for writing
 Review what you already know and want to learn about the topic (see the
guides below)
 Preview the text to get an overview of its structure, looking at headings,
figures, tables, glossary, etc.
 Predict the contents of the text and pose questions about it. If the authors
have provided discussion questions, read them and write them on a note-
taking sheet.
 Note any discussion questions that have been provided (sometimes at the end
of the text)
 Sample pre-reading guides – K-W-L guide
 Critical reading questionnaire
 During reading
 Annotate and mark (sparingly) sections of the text to easily
recall important or interesting ideas
 Check your predictions and find answers to posed questions
 Use headings and transition words to identify relationships in
the text
 Create a vocabulary list of other unfamiliar words to define
later
 Try to infer unfamiliar words’ meanings by identifying their
relationship to the main idea
 Connect the text to what you already know about the topic
 Take breaks (split the text into segments if necessary)
 Sample annotated texts – Journal article · Book chapter
excerpt
 After reading

 Summarize the text in your own words (note what


you learned, impressions, and reactions) in an
outline, concept map, or matrix (for several
texts)
 Talkto someone about the author’s ideas to check
your comprehension
 Identify and reread difficult parts of the text
 Define words on your vocabulary list (try a
learner’s dictionary) and practice using them
 Sample graphic organizers – Concept map ·
Literature review matrix

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