Effective Reading and Note-Taking for Assigned Readings
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Effective Reading and Note-Taking for Assigned Readings
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Before You Read
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While You Read
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Taking Notes
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Avoiding Plagiarism
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Thinking Critically
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Evidence and Rhetoric
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Creating a Reading Summary
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Practice
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Reading Summary Template
Effective Reading and Note-Taking for Assigned Readings
Reading for academic purposes is very different than reading just for pleasure. When reading for pleasure we can skim
through uninteresting passages, and remembering details or even understanding what the author is trying to say is not
essential to our enjoyment of the text. Reading for pleasure is generally a passive experience. When reading academic
texts, it is important to read purposefully, interacting with the text in order to understand it, remember it, and form an
opinion about what you have read.
The following module will give you suggestions to get the most out of your reading and note-taking. While this module
focuses on the assigned readings that you will discuss in seminars, the skills can also be used when reading for research
purposes. A later module will discuss reading and note-taking for research purposes in more depth.
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Before You Read
Take a few minutes to get a better understanding of what you are about to read. This creates a framework into which the
new information can be placed, making it easier to remember and to refer back to in the future.
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Context: What can you tell about the text from its bibliographic information? Is it a recent work? Was it published
in an academic journal? Do you know anything about the author? Your expectations for an older text may be
different than for a more recent work. A work published in the 1950s, for example, may represent views that are
no longer commonly accepted. Likewise, the place of publication, whether a newspaper, popular press or
magazine, or scholarly journal can give you clues as to what to expect in terms of tone, style and content.
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Thesis and Structure: Try to get a sense of the author's main argument and structure before you read the
whole piece. Read the title carefully and look up any words you don't understand. Next, read the introduction and
conclusion. Try to identify the author's main argument or thesis and write it down in your own words. This can be
challenging but becomes easier with practice. Even if you don't get it "right," taking the time to think through what
you have read will make it easier to understand the article you are about to read. Next look through the
introduction and conclusion for clues to the structure of the author's argument and his or her main ideas. If there
is a table of contents or subheadings, read these as well. Make some headings based on your understanding of
the main topics and structure. You will then have a bare bones outline that can be filled in as you read.
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While You read
Reading a text from start to finish in a single sitting is the best way to get an understanding of the text as a whole. For
longer works, such as a book, break the work down into chapters, reading a whole chapter in a sitting. Interruptions,
stopping and starting, and anything that draws out the reading will make it more difficult to understand and absorb the text.
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In order to minimize distractions, don’t stop to look up every word you don’t understand. As long as you can
still follow the general meaning of the text, make note of the word and continue reading. Once you have finished
reading, go back and look up the words or concepts you still don’t understand.
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Avoid highlighting. Highlighting encourages a passive approach to the text and studies have shown that
students don't learn the material as effectively as when they take notes. By writing down the main points in your
own words, you will find you will save a lot of time when reviewing for exams and will have a better grasp of your
subject.
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Taking Notes
Note-taking, if done well, gives you a valuable tool when it comes time to review. Even more importantly, it helps you to get
a better understanding of the material you are reading by challenging you to pick out only the most important information
and summarize it in your own words. Effective note-taking requires purposeful reading.
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Read your article or chapter one paragraph at a time, pausing between each to summarize what the paragraph is
about.
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Each paragraph is like a mini-essay. It will have a topic sentence early in the paragraph that tells you what the
paragraph is about. Read the first sentence or two of each paragraph and try to identify the topic of the
paragraph, then read the rest of the paragraph. Pause before reading further to summarize and write down the
main point of the paragraph in your own words. By putting it in your own words, you will force yourself to think
critically about what you have read. Use point form.
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If for any reason you do use a direct quotation from the author, be sure to put quotation marks around it so that if
you use the note later in an essay, you will be able to properly cite it.
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Be sure to indicate on which page the information is found so that you can refer back to it quickly in seminar
discussion. This will also make it easier to cite the information properly if you use it in an essay.
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Avoiding Plagiarism
Avoiding plagiarism begins at the note-taking stage. While plagiarism is usually thought of as deliberate, it can also happen
as a result of poor note-taking that makes it difficult to tell where information came from, or whether a note was a direct
quotation or something written in your own words. Plagiarism is considered a serious offence, whether intentional or
inadvertent. It is your responsibility to ensure that you always credit your sources properly. Follow this note-taking checklist
to make sure your notes don't leave you vulnerable to plagiarism:
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Record all bibliographic information before you begin to examine a source.
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For all notes taken on a text, clearly indicate author, text, and page reference or URL.
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Place all direct quotations inside quotation marks. If you modify a quotation, use square brackets "[ ]" or ellipsis
dots "..." to indicate the changes you have made. E.g. "As women in Europe did sometimes fight, especially in
urgent situations... it is likely that some women did fight [in the Third Crusade]."
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Where possible, try to take notes in your own words rather than copying the exact words of the author. You will
understand the work better, and you will avoid possible unintentional plagiarism later, when you use your notes to
write an essay. Putting notes in your own words will also save you time at the essay-writing phase, since many
history professors discourage direct quotations in essays. Taking the time to paraphrase the material as you take
notes will save you from having to do this work later, under the pressure of an essay deadline.
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DO NOT cut and paste material from an online source into your notes. This is a very dangerous practice that can
lead to unintentional plagiarism, since later it may become difficult to tell which notes are taken directly from the
source and which notes are in your own words.
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As you paraphrase or put things into your own words, make sure that you do not borrow syntax or phrasing from
the original text. Using more than two or three consecutive words from your source or identical sentence
structure, even with different words, can be considered plagiarism. What you cannot put into your own words, put
inside quotation marks.
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Thinking Critically
After you have finished reading an article or a chapter, take a few minutes to think critically about what you’ve read.
Regardless of the nature of your reading material, you should not accept it as absolute truth. Even seemingly factual
documents such as a birth registry can reflect assumptions and biases, in the choice of data included and in the organization
of that data. Now that you have read the whole article or chapter, ask yourself:
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Context: What is the context of the work and what is the significance of that context? If it is an older work, how
do the ideas and values in the text differ from the ideas and values of our age? What are the underlying values
and presuppositions in the text, if any? How do they differ from contemporary values? How does this affect your
understanding of the text?
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Author: What can you tell about the author? What is the author’s purpose in writing the text? What are his or her
values, assumptions, and biases? Most scholars believe that no one can ever be truly objective since we are all a
product of the time period and culture in which we live. Be wary of any author who claims to be objective. A
credible author will acknowledge his or her biases and account for them in the text.
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Thesis: Go back to the thesis statement you wrote down originally. Has your understanding of the author’s thesis
changed? Take the time to tweak the thesis statement so it reflects your understanding of the whole article or
chapter.
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Thinking Critically: Evidence and Rhetoric
The author's job is to persuade you of his or her point of view. The author will use a combination of evidence, and rhetoric
to do so. Rhetoric simply means "persuasive language." Most writers use a range of rhetorical strategies to persuade their
readers. Many of these strategies are not faults; on the other hand they do not take the place of convincing evidence and
sound argument. Remember, if you are not reading critically, an author may affect you more by style than by content.
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Evidence: What evidence does the author use to back up his or her argument? Is the evidence relevant to the
argument at hand? Is there sufficient evidence to support the author’s conclusions? How else might the same
evidence be interpreted?
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Rhetoric: Look carefully at the author’s word choice or diction. Words carry both a literal meaning, but also some
less explicit connotations. Consider, for example, the difference between a “house” and a “home”, or between
“freedom fighters” and “terrorists.” Watch for unsubstantiated opinions, innuendo, and generalizations. Authors
will sometimes try to give their argument an air of authority with phrases like, “Research has proven that…” or
“History shows that…” Consider the author’s tone: A condescending writer can make the reader feel stupid for not
agreeing with the position advanced, while a lighthearted writer can be convincing simply by virtue of a pleasant
tone. For more examples, see “Strategies for Persuasion” in Trent’s Thinking It Through: A Practical Guide to
Essay Writing.
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Creating a Reading Summary
Once you have thought critically about your reading, you are in a better position to identify the most important information
in the text. A reading summary will help with information recall, and will keep your notes organized so that you are less
vulnerable to inadvertent plagiarism.
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Bibliographic Information: Start by recording the bibliographic information at the top of the page. The title,
author’s name, publication date and location all give clues as to the context and content of the article. In addition,
if you are researching for an essay, properly identifying the source for your notes will make it easier to cite them
correctly. This is imperative for avoiding plagiarism.
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Thesis: Restate the author's thesis in one or two sentences, using your own words.
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Main Points: In point form, note the author’s main points and evidence. Be sure to indicate which page the
information came from so that you can find it again quickly, if needed.
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Response: What is your response to the text? Are you convinced by the author’s argument? Be specific in your
critique of the text. Is the author’s evidence weak or strong? Are there holes in his or her logic? Does the author’s
bias negatively impact his or her argument? Use the suggestions in the “Critical Thinking” section, above, to help
formulate your response.
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Practice
Using either the supplied template or your own format, prepare a reading summary of your assigned readings for your next
seminar. Be sure to include the bibliographic information, thesis, main points, and your response.
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Reading Summary Template
Click here for a template you can use to complete reading summaries for your weekly assigned readings.
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