Thirteenth Lesson

Reading as the part of writing

Reading and note taking

One way of approaching a new piece of reading is to break it down into manageable chunks and try to assimilate things bit by bit. There is close correlation here between your reading and your note taking, and this feeds directly into your writing. 

Making mind maps from reading

Some people find that making linear notes from reading does not always work very well for them and they prefer to create a mind map as more visual representation. This helps them remember what they have read because they can visualize the different notes that they have made and the ways that they relate to one another. 

Keep records

One good way of recording your references as you go along is to use record cards. On these you can put referencing information that you need about a book or article that you have read. You can also record brief notes on why you found it useful, you can refer to important page numbers and even record complete quotes if they seem relevant to you.

Making meaning through reading

It is you, the reader, who makes sense of what you read and the meaning that you will be able to make depends to some extent on how you are reading. We are concerned with the latter kind of reading in the two tasks that is as follow:

'Fitting together' reading

Approaching your reading so that everything that you are reading and studying fits together helps you to focus on your ideas, and both to synthesize and elaborate them.

'Analytic' reading

This is less concerned with reading to fit together with what you know already than with the analysing what you are reading as you go long. Again, this is an integral part of the strategy that you will need to adopt to read successfully for your writing.