Cleveland State University
ESC 720
Research Communications
Lecture 4 – How to Read
Dan Simon
How to Read
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Reading Basics Video (Blackboard)
Video Review
Find Sources
Summarize Sources
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How to Read: Video Review
• Your short-term memory can handle between
3 and 7 chunks of information at a time
• The average attention span is about 90
minutes; after 90 minutes, we need a 15minute break
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How to Read: Video Review
• Read with your hands: preview the article by
flipping through pages, turn section headings
into chunks
• Don’t read for more than 90 minutes at a time
• Take a refreshing break every 90 minutes
• Draw pictures to help you remember what
you’ve read (Moonwalking with Einstein)
• Define your goal: are you reading for a quiz, a
test, or to write a paper?
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How to Read: Video Review
• Do not carefully read through every paper
– This is one of the differences between reading for
research, and reading for pleasure
• Carefully read only your core sources
• Make yourself comfortable
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How to Read
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4.
Reading Basics Video (Blackboard)
Video Review
Find Sources
Summarize Sources
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How to Read: Find Sources
• Virtual Reference Desk: Encyclopedias, books,
theses, articles
www.ulib.csuohio.edu/research/vrd
• Academic Search Premier: IEEE Xplore,
Compendex, etc.
www.ulib.csuohio.edu/research/databases
• Databases in your subject area
www.ulib.csuohio.edu/research/databases/subject.html
• Google Scholar – http://scholar.google.com
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How to Read: Find Sources
• LexisNexis: Newspaper articles for general
background information – not source material
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe
• CSU library catalog
http://scholar.csuohio.edu
• OhioLink: Books and book chapters (~ 1 week)
http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search
• Interlibrary Loan (~ 2 weeks)
www.ulib.csuohio.edu/services/ill
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How to Read: Find Sources
• Find and read a few non-academic titles for
your own general background information
– Web sites, Wikipedia, newspaper articles,
magazine articles
• Find 40 titles in the databases – academic
books, journals, and conference papers
– No magazine articles
– No web sites
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How to Read: Find Sources
• Out of 40 titles, only about 25 will be available
(some will be missing, others don’t arrive in
time from interlibrary loan, others don’t relate
to your subject well)
• Skim your 25 sources and make a quick
decision: yes or no?
• Save only those that relate well to your
research question
• Select the 10 best sources for careful reading
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How to Read: Find Sources
• Evaluate your source list
• Do you have too many or too few sources?
– Do you need to expand or limit the publication
dates?
– Is the relevance of the sources to your subject too
broad or too narrow?
– Do you need to expand or narrow your topic?
• Do a few of your sources seem especially
relevant? Check their reference lists.
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How to Read: Find Sources
• The Engineering Librarian can help you find
more sources, or narrow down your list. Make
an appointment at:
www.ulib.csuohio.edu/services/ask
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How to Read
1.
2.
3.
4.
Reading Basics Video (Blackboard)
Video Review
Find Sources
Summarize Sources
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How to Read: Summarize Sources
Summarize the article
• In a few seconds, glance through the article. What do you expect it to be
about? Section headings, tables, and pictures can give you clues.
• Next, carefully read the abstract and conclusion. Now what do you expect
the article to be about?
• Next, read the article somewhat carefully. What’s different from what you
expected?
• What are your personal reactions to the article – excited, challenged,
confused, bored?
• Write the main point (focus, thesis) of the article in one sentence
• What are the broader implications (social, technological, ethical, etc.) of
the main point?
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How to Read: Summarize Sources
Summary structure
1. Bibliographic details
2. Your reactions
3. Your questions
What’s the point of writing a summary?
• It helps you systematically study your source material
• It helps you organize your source material
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How to Read: Summarize Sources
Summary structure: (1) Bibliographic details
• Full reference (author, title, date, etc.)
• Qualifications of the author
• Number of references (a good source for other material for
your report)
• Focus or thesis (one sentence)
• Significance of the thesis to the author (the “so what”)
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How to Read: Summarize Sources
Summary structure: (2) Your reaction
• Intellectual: reasoning, evidence, conclusion stimulates or
bothers you
• Ethical
• Intuitive: something about the paper stimulates or bothers
you, but you don’t know why
• Cultural
• Timing: something about the paper reminds you of something
else – another article, a person, an event, etc.
• Concentration: the article concentrates on only a few things,
and forgets something important
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How to Read: Summarize Sources
Summary structure: (3) Your questions
• What questions about your topic does the paper raise in your
mind?
• How does the paper’s thesis relate to your report?
• The answers to your questions may require more research
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How to Read: Summarize Sources
Example: (1) Bibliographic details
• Full reference: A. Kapti and M. Yucenur, “Design and control
of an active artificial knee joint,” Mechanism and Machine
Theory, vol. 41, pp. 1477-1485, 2006
• Qualifications: University faculty
• Number of references: 12
• Thesis: A newly proposed active leg prosthesis with a rulebased controller gives better performance than passive
prostheses.
• Significance: The new prosthesis helps amputees with daily
living activities.
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How to Read: Summarize Sources
Example: (2) My reaction
• Intellectual: Active prostheses should always outperform passive ones.
What is the contribution here?
• Intuitive: There are not enough details (PID control parameters, rule
parameters, and so on). Position control is used in stance phase.
• Timing: Other active prostheses are proposed in the literature, but
discussed only briefly in this article.
• Concentration: The article is very skimpy on details. It mentions various
activities (sitting, standing, etc.) but does not give experimental results. It
does not mention any drawbacks of the proposed design (for example,
power consumption).
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How to Read: Summarize Sources
Example: (3) My questions
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How many different modes are needed in prosthesis control?
How accurately do we need to control knee angle?
Are there other aspects of gait we need to control?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of active control?
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How to Read: Summarize Sources
Example: (3) My questions (continued)
• Author’s thesis: A newly proposed active leg prosthesis with a
rule-based controller gives better performance than passive
prostheses.
• My thesis: An active prosthesis with impedance control can
improve prosthesis performance.
• Relationship: The two theses are similar, except: (1) the
author’s thesis involves rule-based trajectory control while
mine involves rule-based impedance control; and (2) the
author’s thesis uses only one performance criterion while
mine uses several.
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Conclusion
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Lots of short study sessions
Skim lots of material
Carefully read a limited amount of material
Use the library to find source material
Use informal sources for background info
Distill 40  25  10 formal sources
Spend 2 minutes each on 25 sources to narrow
them down to 10 sources
8. Three-part detailed summary of 10 sources
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Acknowledgments
• CSU Writing Center
www.csuohio.edu/academic/writingcenter
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