How to Read An Academic Book
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Transcript:
How to read an academic book.
This short Library video will show you how to read a book for university-level research-based assignments.
Selecting Books
When selecting a book consider the following: What information do I need for my assignment? Does this book relate to my research topic?
Now evaluate the book. Ask yourself: What is its purpose? Who is its intended audience?
Look for cues that this is indeed a scholarly text and not a popular text. If unsure ask your librarian.
[The following textbook is shown as an example of a scholarly text: Urban Ecology: An International Perspective on the Interaction Between Humans and Nature. The novel mircoserfs, by Douglas Coupland is shown as an example of a popular text.]
Anatomy of a Book
Strategic readers use certain parts of a book that signal important or relevant information like the table of contents, back cover, inside cover, and forward or introduction. These areas tell us whether this book will meet our needs.
[A generic book shows examples of the table of contents, back cover, inside cover, and foreword or introduction.]
The back of a book often contains the index: An alphabetical list of terms, names, and subjects complete with corresponding page numbers.
[An example of an index is shown from the same book.]
Finally, references and end notes not only help us evaluate the quality of a book's supporting evidence, but they can also lead us to additional sources.
[The references appear in the book before the index.]
Skimming
After you’ve decided which parts of the book to focus on, skim those selected parts to help you decide what you will need to read more thoroughly later.
Skimming refers to reading only main ideas to help get an overall impression of a text - to help you evaluate whether you should read parts of the book more thoroughly. A few minutes of preliminary skimming can help you save time in the long run.
When you skim, pay special attention to: Introductions and conclusions, chapter titles, headings and subheadings, charts, diagrams, graphs, and the beginning and end of each section or chapter.
[An example book chapter is shown with the areas to pay special attention to highlighted.] Taking Notes
Taking notes and recording page numbers of important points saves us having to re-read later for a potentially useful passage.
[Pans out to show a sticky note with annotations of specific chapters and pages of interest.]
Thinking critically, mark sections to record any underlying assumptions, beliefs or values, arguments and conclusions, and evidence presented.
Some scholarly texts, written for highly specialized audiences, can be content heavy and take longer to read.
Be prepared to rule out difficult books, or divide your reading into smaller sections, space out your reading, and use a dictionary and other resources to better understand the content.
Need help? Ask Us. Chat, E-mail, phone, or drop by. You can also book an appointment with a learning specialist through the University of Guelph Library website.
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[Music: Summer by Benjamin Tissot. Retrieved from bensound.com.]
[This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.]
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