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Developing Academic Reading Skills

Developing Academic Reading Skills. Planning Research Chapter 2. Why Academic Reading?. Reading is the most critical part of the learning process. Reading often appears to students to be the most boring of all tasks BUT Your ideas about research will come mainly from reading

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Developing Academic Reading Skills

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  1. Developing Academic Reading Skills Planning Research Chapter 2

  2. Why Academic Reading? • Reading is the most critical part of the learning process. • Reading often appears to students to be the most boring of all tasks • BUT • Your ideas about research will come mainly from reading • Wide reading expands your perspectives

  3. Selective Reading • It is unrealistic to expect that you can read everything! • You therefore have to read selectively • Criteria for selection might be: • Learning outcomes of module • Your research question • Overall purpose of the assignment

  4. Is it worth reading this Paper? • Examine these three parts of the paper / project or article: • The abstract: • Dealing with the topic, results and findings • The introduction • Lining up the research • Where are the gaps? • The conclusion • Trying to convince the reader that this is worth reading!

  5. Reading the PaperAbstract • Approach to the investigation of the topic • Will report on what was discovered during the work • Analysis, discussion or results – in short • What is ”new” about the work?

  6. Reading the PaperIntroduction • This is where the authors make a promise • Like a contract between authors and the reader • Identifying relevant research gaps • At least some of them will be filled out!

  7. Reading the PaperThe Context of the Research • Reading the ”background” section will give you a better grasp of the situation that gave rise to the research • The ”real world” location into which the research problem might fit

  8. Reading the PaperThe Litterature Review • If you were an architct and we asked you to build a house in an earthquake zone, you would make sure that the foundations were strong and solid • This is how authors think of their dissertations and academic papers • Not just a description of others previous work, but the litterature review: • Appraises, compares and contrasts it with each other and relevant work

  9. Reading the PaperResearch Design • Discusses how the research was carried out – often called methodology or research design • Research Strategy: case study, survey, observations • Research Methods • Why these methods? • Population, the sample, data collection, interpretation, analysis

  10. Reading the PaperFindings • Do the findings confirm the litterature? • Do the findings dis-confirm the litterature? • Do the findings go further than the litterature? • There is no single manner or method of presentation of research findings

  11. Reading the PaperConclusion • The authors do not try to ”reinvent the wheel” but: • To deliver the promise given in the introduction section • Make a ”minor” contribution to the body of knowledge on the subject • Should be MORE than a summary, namely synthesizing the overall arguments presented in the paper, and • Highlight meanings • Emphasize contributions

  12. Extracting Value from your Reading • Finding the Claim • What question does the author pose? • What is the primary argument? • Why is this argument significant?

  13. Validity of the arguments? • 1. Evidence: • What evidence do the authors offer in support of their position? • How convincing is the evidence • 2. Counter-arguments: • What arguments are made in opposition? • What evidence was used in the refutation • 3. Effectiveness: • What were the strength of the article? • Did you get a clear picture?

  14. SQ3R Academic Reading Technique • Survey, Question, Read, Record, Review • 1. Survey (one minute): • Scan title, headings, figures and conclusion • 2. Question (30 seconds): • What is the research question? • 3. Read (takes some time): • Trying to find the answer to the question in each heading

  15. SQ3R Academic Reading Technique • 4. Record (no more than five minutes): • Make a few notes, use highlighter, write in the margin • 5. Review (no more than five minutes): • Test yourself by trying to recall some of the highlighted phrases • How does these points fit with what you already think or know?

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