Reading at University: A Guide for Students

Reading at University: A Guide for Students

Gavin J. Fairbrain and Susan A. Fairbrain

Open University; openup.co.uk

A List of the Sections and Sub-sections

By: Mezemir Girma, mezemirgirma@gmail.com

The authors are introduced as such: “Gavin published widely on education and applied ethics. One of the books he co-authored is entitled ‘Reading, Writing and Reasoning’. Susan works with the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service teaching literary skills in Manchester Schools.” One can easily say that they are avid readers deeply concerned about teaching and education. Surprisingly, the couple are not from the fields of language studies.

What I did in this piece is presenting to you a list of all the sections and sub-sections of the book. One of my aims is to help people who can’t access the book consider the issues in it. They can search the web to acquaint themselves with these issues. My second objective is to motivate people to read the book. If you, for example, have access to Debre Birhan University Libraries, you can get a copy at the social science library. You may also buy a copy from Amazon or anywhere abroad.

I really liked the book and the way it is presented. I wish I read it when I was a freshman. There are things I have been doing wrongly which I hope will change soon. I am considering my reading, note taking, writing and research skills and ways of improving them. As you might know, I am also obsessed with speed reading. This book has enlightened me on that too. Such new issues like ‘picking up intellectual cargo’ are also impressive for those of us reading books and articles written by experts in our fields of study. Do we really find this activity simple or difficult? There is also barking at text. This is like a disease in the reading community! Let us proceed to the contents of the book in question:   

 

An introductory note

The importance of reading as a student

Better readers make more successful students

Who is this book for?

What’s the point of reading as a student?

Is learning to read better really worth the time and effort?

But aren’t most students already competent readers?

Getting to know this book

What do we hope to achieve?

How to read this book

Tasks

Language and Style

Essays or assignments?

Style

First, second or third person?

Gender

Part 1: Thinking about reading and about yourself as a reader

Thinking about reading

So what is reading?

Growing as a reader

Old habits die hard

 Thinking about yourself as a reader

Slow reader

What are you like as a reader?

How do you read?

What do you read and why?

Part 2: Reading as a student

Thinking about your carrier as an academic reader

What and how do you read as a student?

Where and when do you do your academic reading?

Why do you read as a student?

Good and bad, positive and negative reasons for reading as a student

Academic readers of different kinds

What kind of academic reader are you?

Part 3: Developing your skills as a reader

Read faster? Read better?

Make your reading speed fit your purposes

Speeding up your reading

Thinking about your eyes

Guessing ahead, key words and meaningful chunks of text

Skimming, scanning and sampling

Is skimming worthwhile?

Visiting a book for the first time

 

Part 4: Active reading: developing a relationship with texts and their authors

Don’t be a passive reader and take what you read at face value

Overreliance on the authority and the reliability of academic texts

Approaching academic reading

How do you read newspapers and magazines?

Developing a strategic approach to reading

Sorting out your reasons for reading

Sorting out your purposes and expectations

Active reading: developing as a disciplined reader

Make meaning as you read

Evaluate the author’s success in communicating her ideas

Engage with the author

Decide on further reading

Approach the text with questions: decide what you want to get from it

Have specific questions in mind as you read

SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review

‘Having’ and ‘Being’: two ways of approaching reading

Part 5: Deciding what to read

What books to read: text books or academic books and articles?

Where should you begin to read when you are reading for an assignment?

Using reading lists

What do reading lists list?

Is it worth reading? Using structural features of academic texts

Using structural features of books

Title, blurb, publishing history

Contents, preface, acknowledgements, foreword

Index

Reference list/bibliography

Layout

Gutting a book

Using the structural features of journals and journal articles

Part 6: reading and note taking

Note taking as a student reader

The mindless note taker

How do we take notes?

Note taking that suits your own learning style

Approaching note taking in different ways

Underlining/highlighting and making notes on the text

Linear notes

Key wording

Pictorial notes/web diagrams

Comparing the usefulness of linear and diagrammatic notes

Using note taking to uncover content

Note taking as a way of focusing on content

Note taking as interrogation

Some important advice

Summarizing texts: paraphrase or precis?

Précising your own work

Part 7: Reading and writing

Reading and writing: two sides of the same coin?

Using your reading to develop your text

The patchwork approach

Citation and referencing: the practicalities

To quote or not to quote?

Part 8: Where to read and when?

Where to read?

Reading in familiar surroundings

Reading in libraries

Libraries aren’t always the best places to read

Grazing on library shelves

Reading in unfamiliar and strange surroundings

Reading in a cupboard

Strange libraries

Reading on journeys

Reading at work

When to read

Finding the best times and places for different reading tasks

Have you tried doing it standing up? (or reading when everyone else has gone to sleep)

Reading while waiting for others

Reading on holiday

Part 9: share your reading with friends

Sharing reading

Share books and other texts

Share out the legwork of reading

Developing your ideas by sharing your reading with others

Develop reading skills with friends from a different subject

A range of benefits

Part 10: reading your own work

Drafting and redrafting your essays

Read your work as if it were written by someone else

Copy-editing and proof-reading

Postscript

Getting round to reading

Rewards and carrots

Eating elephants – breaking down mammoth tasks

Reading for me and reading for them