Back to School: Keep an Academic Reading Journal
Aside from partying, the thing you're probably going to practise most in college is read. Assuming you're at all serious nearly your pedagogy, you'll read so much that words will come up out your ears. Unfortunately, much of what you read will also go pouring out your ears, or and so information technology will seem looking back.
Ane of the all-time habits you tin develop in college — or even in loftier school, if y'all have the discipline — is to keep an academic reading journal. This is more or less what information technology sounds similar: a journal recording everything you read, with an added layer of academic analysis. The thought is, you record what you read, key ideas and quotes from the text, and your own reflections on the work, assuasive y'all to fairly accurately recreate your initial reading at a later on date, pershaps a much subsequently appointment.
Why do this? There are several reasons. First, because if you're smart, y'all'll employ material from one form every bit source material for research papers in after classes, and it's better to accept that material at mitt rather than having to re-read the volume. 2d, because you volition often come across the same material, or fabric bythe aforementioned author, later in your education, and tin can go back and review your initial impressions. And third, considering while much of what you're being asked to read now mightnot seem fairly relevant, yous'll be surprised, ten, 20, or more years down the line what yous find yourself wishing y'all could remember of some book or article you lot read equally a sophomore.
Creating the Academic Reading Periodical
An academic reading journal doesn't have to be anything fancy — in theory, a composition book or notepad will suffice, provided information technology's durable plenty to last many years. Even meliorate, a hardbound diary or Moleskine-style periodical will give you enough of space in a durable format. If you're technologically inclined, a personal wiki, discussion processor file, or even database tin can be used on your PC. When I was doing my dissertation research (which requires you to read literally everything in your research area) I kept a reading periodical in an Access database, synced to a database program on my Palm PDA. The indicate is, you'll take to figure out the medium that'southward nigh comfy for you lot, comfortable enough that you lot'll use information technology consistently.
There is no standard for what an academic reading periodical entry should wait like, only I recommend capturing the following pieces of data:
- A total bibliographic citation. Use whatsoever style is prevalent in your field, or whatever you know best: MLA, APA, or anything else. It doesn't thing, so long as you make sure to get all the pieces of data you'll need to produce a bibliography in any style necessary.
- A short synopsis of the volume or article. This can exist copied from the back cover text or abstruse, or just sketched out in your own words.
- Quotes from your reading. Re-create out any quotes you would otherwise highlightor underline — anything you remember captures some essential point in the text. You don't have to exercise this as you read, if yous adopt to read with a highlighter or underliner — copy them out when you're done, in that example. Make sure yous become the page number(due south).
- A personal response to your reading. 200 or and then words capturing your impression of what you've read. Why is it of import (or not important)? Whatis the author trying to say? Who was influenced past it, or influenced it?Have a look at my mail How to Read Like a Scholar for more advice on academic reading.
- Questions raised by the text. Challenge your reading material! Think of a set of questionsthe material leaves unanswered, or that undermine the conclusions reached. These questions might somewhen form the basis of a research project or larger critique.
- Any other notes, thoughts, arguments, or feelings almost what you've read.
When I started keeping a reading journal using a Moleskine a couple years ago, Iprinted out a template that I kept in the back pocket to remind me of what I should include in my entries.
One last thing
While non-fiction is my bread-and-butter, and thus this post might have seemed to lean more towards academic material, don't hesitate to include fiction and poetry among the books in your reading journal. The truths in fiction are often — maybe fifty-fifty usually — more truthful than the truths in non-fiction. Shakespeare'south truths trump Einstein'due south over and over — after all, we've revised our understanding of relativity, only Hamlet will forevermore have been poisoned and killed in the Swell Hall at Elsinore.
Source: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/back-to-school-keep-an-academic-reading-journal.html
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