Reading
In class I’ve talked a bit about reading, and I wanted to follow up with a post. I’ve said that I believe all good reading requires writing of some kind, and I’ve encouraged you to adopt that position for your research. What, then, are the types of writing I believe you should do? Note-taking is the most important. For books and articles which I know I’ll go back to in detail, I take notes on every page, typing into the computer as I go. This also makes it easy to look up things in Wikipedia or other places (though sometimes I shut off my network to ensure I don’t get off task). I used to type in quotes, but realized this was a waste of time. Now I just note “good quote top 183″ or something like that. I use {brackets} to keep my commentary separate from the notes. Usually I read a page or two, then write, then read, etc.
For things which I may not need to refer to, but which are still important, I’ll write summaries after each chapter, maybe flipping back through the book to record a few page numbers and re-read some sections. For classes, this is the minimum. I don’t write in my books very much; sometimes a check mark or other note here and there, in part because I still use the library for a lot of books.
For things I’m not reading ultra-carefully, I usually write a short summary and note a few important passages. Sometimes I’ll write on my weblog about the text, with a few quotes, a brief summary, and a comment about the value of the text. (Here’s an example on an essay by Karen Kopelson.) If I know I’ll use it for a specific purpose, I’ll usually explain that purpose as well. This public performance is a very good way to force myself to really understand a book and make sure my reading is honest, if not painstakingly slow.
I skim a lot, especially when looking for sources related to a specific project or research question. I’ve talked in class about reading the introductions and conclusions of books first, or looking for a “secret decoder ring” in a review. I do that for almost everything I read. I also use Google to find summaries or other reviews I can rely on. Amazon.com reviews are often quite useful. (You already know skimming is a good idea. However, I’ve talked to enough graduate students who think reading should always be painfully slow and careful that I want to explicit about its value.) These outside sources have also helped me understand how texts are related to each other—and how different areas of English studies connect as well.
As I’m researching a particular topic, I keep a separate folder on my computer for each article, conference presentation, or syllabus. I make a list of the sources I’ve read in a plain text file, even things that I just take a look at and think “Nope, not that one,” or things which I don’t want to or don’t have time to read right away.
I made my habits of recording what I’ve read before services and software like LibraryThing, CiteULike and Zotero existed. Had they been around when I was in graduate school, I’d almost certainly be using them. And maybe someday I’ll change my ways.
Of course, these are my approaches, and you should come to your own by trying new things, talking with your mentors and committee members, and reflecting on your writing. I welcome your questions and comments here or in office hours.
I briefly glanced at those sites and am clueless to their intentions. I will examine them more, but I would like your opinion on which is best for me, a computer user who is often lost in the computer.
Start with CiteULike. It brings together databases in a pretty cool fashion. Make an account and put in the browser buttons. Then find an article in a database you want to save. Hit the browser button, and it’s saved. You can add notes, ratings, tags… pretty cool.
This tutorial is geared for medical scholars, but the concepts are the same.
Thanks for that detailed post, Bradley. I wondered how you wrote since you’re super-computer-literate. I’ve been using big index cards, sheepishly. The folder into which I slide articles is blue card stock. I organize the different sections of my research with those little silver and black pressure clips. I’ll go to the computer after I’ve done the note-taking and organizing of the cards, in the ancient way of my people.
Ha.
Go the way of your peeps. I do a lot of printing, too. I’ll often write a two-sentence summary of an essay or whatever and tape it to the wall above my computer so any time I stare off into space, I see it. Quite often, when it’s time to revise, I print out an essay and take scissors to it—literally cut and pasting, spreading it out on the kitchen table or the floor if it’s a really long piece. That’s one of the best things, for me, about taking notes on the computer; I can print them, highlight them for a particular need, and quickly get a visualization of the issue I’m thinking about.
Another core of my learning and pedagogy: looking at things in many ways. Comparisons. On screen, outlines, the whole essay…
Bradley thank you for the valuable information. you really look like a psychiatrist while taking notes in class, I guess note taking will not finish after becoming a professor, any way taking notes on the laptop is the best way to do it as you said,since you can simply copy and paste to look for more sources, I should start doing it that way!
I’ve the nasty habit of not taking organized notes on texts. I usually underline important passages and fill up the margins with mostly illegible scrawl, including “this ties to pg. 122.”
I do like to type out quotes, however, before writing a paper — everything I’ve underlined. This serves two purposes. One, I’ve got everything I’m going to quote in-text laid out in front of me. Second, and probably more importantly, it helps me analyze the work. There’s something mechanical and meditative about typing out 5 or 6 pages of quotes. Typing them out helps me digest them, run them through my mind. Otherwise I lose them.
I have a very short attention span. Short to the point where not once in college have I ever been able to take an entire class period’s worth of notes. Brain too skip-skip to stay on task for more than
@Mahmoud, the laptop is cool, but again, find your own way. Two reasons I like it: I type faster than I write, and my handwriting sucks.
@Craig, I agree that going back and re-reading is critical. For texts which I’m really hammering, I’ll often make reading passes as if I were editing, working through a text looking for one sort of thing only, and taking notes as needed. And since I’ve stopped typing in quotes the first time, yes, there’s a need to go back and get it.