Reading for writing

To succeed in your studies and research, extensive reading is essential – the trick is not to read quickly, but effectively. Like any skill, reading can be practiced. Establishing good reading habits is key: reading actively, using appropriate techniques for each task, and creating reliable notes and summaries. Reading highly specialized academic resources requires advanced skills, such as interpreting graphs, tables, statistics, abstracts, indexes, and bibliographies – all this ultimately to support and improve your own writing.

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Active reading

What are you reading for?

Active reading means knowing your purpose. What is to be the outcome of your reading – are you reading to learn, analyze, or write? Set a clear goal before you begin:

I want to get an overview of a topic. ↓

You will need to skim quickly a wide range of sources to single out the most relevant and important ones. Focus primarily on article abstracts, book contents, resumés (final summaries), or section and chapter headings. To learn more on searching for and mapping academic sources, check out our guides on AI tools for research and searching NTK resources.

I need to find out a particular fact or confirm specific information. ↓

You will need to scan relevant resources methodically for whatever particular information you’re looking for. You can either search through electronic articles and e-books using keywords, or, in case of printed books, use their indexes.

I need to read up on a particular subject in preparation for an exam. ↓

Reading actively is essential if you are to remember what you read. It is not about highlighting or underlining key passages, re-reading a text many times over, or even learning it by heart. To see what kind of approaches actually improve your ability to remember what you’ve read, check out this reading guide. The key to learning by reading is to ask questions before, during, and after – and to link the new with the already known as you go along by means of notes and summaries.

I’m reading for writing. I’m compiling a literature review as part of my thesis. I want to publish an academic article on a specific topic. ↓

Reading for writing requires you to be:

highly organized when it comes to searching for, sorting and storing resources you will need to process,
highly focussed on selecting only those resources that are relevant and useful to your own work,
highly methodical in how you deal with all the sources actually used in your work.

How to read critically

Academic reading differs from everyday reading not just in how methodical and meticulous you need to be when using your sources, but in the assumption of an underlying critical attitude.

Critical reading is considered part of critical thinking. To learn more:

Check out the Critical Thinking entry in the freely available Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
What are the main differences between critical reading and ordinary reading? Check out this table for a basic overview.
Where to start? Learn about the six key reading habits in Interrogating Texts from the Harvard University library.

Here you’ll find definitions of the main steps in critical reading: analysis, interpretation, evaluation. ↓

Analysis is a methodical description of the form and contents of a text in answer to the following questions: How is the text structured? What does it contain? How does it present its ideas, arguments, conclusions? What characteristic patterns of thought and/or language does one find there?
Interpretation means placing the text in a wider context in relation to its form and contents. It starts from what has been analysed, relating the uncovered patterns to historical, cultural, political or scientific developments, including the current state of affairs in a particular discipline. It elucidates aspects of the text by placing them in the context of a tradition, a line of inquiry, or established practice. It reveals the text’s wider theoretical or practical significance.
Evaluation means we decide on whether the text has value, mainly from two different perspectives. First, to what extent does it fulfil the intention of its author or publisher? Second, what exactly does it contribute to existing literature, especially to our current state of knowledge, to education, to other important human practices and activities?

Solitary reading

Most reading techniques recommended to students – such as the SQ3R, SQ4R, and PQ4R – have three things in common. They require the individual reader to

ask questions before starting to read as well as while reading,
use a variety of ways to re-present or repeat whatever has been read: draw a map or a picture, rehearse key insights out loud, write a summary in your own words, and similar;
keep linking the new with what is familiar or already established. This means, e.g., linking theoretical statements to relevant empirical evidence, illustrating principles with practical examples, and so on.

Learn more

in this 15-minute YouTube video by Justin Sung on How to Remember Everything You Read.

Reading in a group

In a group, individual readers can assume particular roles that collectively promote everyone’s active reading. One reader can be assigned the role of visualizing the reading, another given the task of asking questions and moderating the debate, a third can concentrate primarily on integrating partial insights into larger wholes and placing them in the right context.

Learn more

in this freely available presentation.

Reading questions

What to ask and what questions to avoid?

Questions before reading ↓

In what social context does the text make sense? What kind of text is it? Does it belong to a particular genre?
Who is the author? Does it matter? If so, why?
Who published the text? Is anyone responsible for its truthfulness and correctness? Has the text gone through a peer review of some kind?
When and where was the text written? Why does it matter? Is the text up-to-date?
Quickly skim through the text: what topic does it deal with? What does it contain, in a nutshell?
What assumptions and expectations do I bring to the text? What am I trying to get from the reading?
Can I read it with an open mind? Before reading, write down your expectations, assumptions, and biases.
What is the end goal of my reading? How is this going to affect my attitude and approach to the text? Am I going to write about it?

Questions while reading ↓

Choose questions that are directed toward opinions rather than unambiguous facts. Thoroughly examine the theory and methodology that underly the text’s approach to the topic.
Look for weaknesses in argumentation: e.g., statements that are too general, gaps in data, illogical or otherwise faulty conclusions.
What are the sources of data or ideas used in the text? Are they relevant and reliable?
Compare what you’ve just read with other reputable sources on the topic.

Advanced questions ↓

Did the authors use state-of-the-art methods and approaches? Is their work in line with key principles of academic work?
Are they using appropriate sources? Are they citing them correctly?
Is their theoretical approach or practical method suitable for the topic in question?
Are all the results presented clearly and in full?
Is their argumentation logically coherent and consequential? Have they presented relevant and reliable evidence in support?
Are their conclusions relevant, reliable, and sufficiently significant?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of their approach in comparison with other work on the same topic?
What is their contribution to the current state of knowledge – especially in comparison with rival theories, methods, and approaches?

Why note-taking and summarizing matter

Learning to take notes and make summaries is an essential skill in all reading for writing, but especially in writing for publication. Why?

To get an academic article or a book published, all your sources must be acknowledged and all your claims supported by evidence. You need to be able to rely on your notes and summaries for completeness, accuracy, and representativeness.

As soon as you start reading, keep in mind:

All use of others’ work – whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized – must be clearly acknowledged and properly cited for verification.
All use of others’ work must be in accordance with copyright law and your home institution’s code of ethics (or its equivalent).

As soon as you start taking notes of any kind, pay attention to the following:

always distinguish between primary and secondary citation,
always distinguish between direct quotation on one hand, and paraphrases and summaries on the other. Learn more in our guide to citation management.

Using AI tools for notes and summaries

Find an overview of suitable AI tools in our guide to AI tools for research. Why not leave note-taking and summarizing to AI?

Why AI can help ↓

There are many free and paid AI tools suitable for the automatic generation of academic summaries, and they are constantly improving. The main ones include chatbots and “research assistants” (e.g., ChatGPT, NotebookLM, or Coral AI), AI tools developed for text analysis (such as Anara, ChatPDF, or Humata), as well as AI platforms like SciSpace.
An automatically generated summary of an academic article can serve as a substitute for quick skimming of texts.
If an AI tool can generate a summary in response to a targeted question or request – for example, to extract the methodology used in a study – it can help you with more detailed navigation through a large number of sources, mapping of a specific topic, or preselecting the most relevant texts for in-depth reading and comparison.

Why AI can fail ↓

Even the most advanced generative AI tools used for text analysis still have significant limitations. This applies not only to the risk of so-called hallucinations – factually incorrect or highly misleading outputs – but also to the fact that the user does not have full control over the AI tool’s settings or the process of generating a specific output.
The quality of outputs further depends on the subject area and language: AI tools generally perform better in English than in “minor” languages such as Czech (if they support them at all).

Every AI generated summary must be carefully checked for accuracy and representativeness – including all references to sources apparently used in the process.

Note-taking

Note-taking is essential if you:

need to extract essential information from the text,
wish to remember what you’ve read more easily and/or for longer,
need to return to the text much later, e.g., to take an exam on it, or to write about it.

Note-taking techniques differ mainly in whether you write notes in the margins of the text, or keep them separate; and whether you take notes by hand (regardless of the medium), or tap them out on a keyboard.

Notes in the margins: The simplest and most effective note-taking technique, especially if you prefer to read on paper or a lot of your reading is only available in print. It is perfect for reading through and sorting out a large number of potentially relevant sources. Software applications are now available that can convert highlighted passages in a digital document into an electronic version of margin notes.
Separate notes: Taking notes and storing them separately from the text is common when you read for writing. Learn more on: the zettelkasten method, the Cornell method, mapping, bullet lists, and the three-column method.

Choose a note-taking technique that best suits your particular reading material and goal as well as your discipline. Note that disciplines can differ in their customary citation preferences: paraphrase and summary are much preferred in the natural sciences, whereas direct quotation is much more common in the arts and humanities.

Learn more about note-taking

in this University of York online library guide,
in this Newcastle University video guide, or
read How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens on the zettelkasten method.

Learn more on note-taking by hand ↓

According to a number of experimental studies, note-taking by hand tends to be more conducive to understanding and remembering what you read than using a computer keyboard (see, e.g., Mueller and Oppenheimer 2014), due to the following factors:

greater tendency to either highlight or type everything out word by word without processing it in your mind/your own words (“First I’ll note it down, and only then think about it.”);
limited options to re-present the reading in something other than words (e.g., figures, drawings, maps, symbols, and similar);
greater presence of computer-related distractions (internet connection, social media).

Paraphrases and summaries

To improve your understanding as well as your recall of a text, it helps to process your reading as you go along and using your own words.

Summarizing as one reads is ideal for this purpose: it is an integral part of some note-taking methods recommended above, e.g., the zettelkasten and Cornell methods.

How does a summary differ from quotation and paraphrase? ↓

When you quote, you stick to the exact wording of the original source. The quotation tends to be set apart from the rest of your text by being indented and/or inserted within quotation marks. It also needs to be linked to a bibliographic citation.

When you paraphrase, you stick to the meaning and structure of the original source while using your own words to represent it. The paraphrase, too, must be clearly acknowledged and linked to a bibliographic citation.

When you summarize, you use your own words without attempting to preserve the wording or structure of the original text. The aim is to extract key insights in relation to your own goal or argument. Summaries, too, must be clearly acknowledged and linked to a bibliographic citation.

Learn more about paraphrases and summaries:

For a brief description of the difference between paraphrase and summary, see this guide from the University of Toronto.
For a more detailed illustration of the key differences between quotation, paraphrase and summary read this library guide from the Harvard University.

Academic reading

Reading for writing in the academic context is inseparable from other academic activities, such as searching for relevant, high-quality sources, citation management, research data management, and scientific communication (writing for publication).

Besides the key skills of note-taking and summarizing, reading for writing entails mainly the ability to ask advanced questions and to read academic publications with an in-depth understanding of their structure(s) and customary ways of representing information.

Advanced questions ↓

Did the authors use state-of-the-art methods and approaches? Is their work in line with key principles of academic work?
Are they using appropriate sources? Are they citing them correctly?
Is their theoretical approach or practical method suitable for the topic in question?
Are all the results presented clearly and in full?
Is their argumentation logically coherent and consequential? Have they presented relevant and reliable evidence in support?
Are their conclusions relevant, reliable, and sufficiently significant?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of their approach in comparison with other work on the same topic?
What is their contribution to the current state of knowledge – especially in comparison with rival theories, methods, and approaches?

How to read academic articles (videos) ↓

How to Read a Scholarly Article, a two-minute instructional video.
How to Read and Comprehend Scientific Research Articles in five minutes.
How to Read a Scientific Article in two-and-a-half minutes.
Reading and Note-Taking for Research, a two-minute video tutorial.
How to Read Better, a 16-minute YouTube video on how to improve your reading skills by Jared Henderson.

How to read graphs, tables, and statistics ↓

Check out this YouTube video playlist for a Crash Course in Statistics.
See this online university guide on the C.R.E.A.T.E.S. method.
For annotated links to other freely available guides see Reading and interpreting graphs, plots, & statistical data in our STEMskiller.

Speed reading

Reading can be practiced just like any other physical skill. To learn more, check out the following resources:

4 Steps to Read Difficult Texts Faster, a 15-minute YouTube video by Justin Sung.
BUZAN, Tony, HARRISON, James (ed.). The speed reading book: read more, learn more, achieve more. New ed. Harlow: Pearson, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4066-4429-6.

However, no speed reading technique will remove the need either to slow down while reading a demanding text or to re-read something you’ve already read but forgot.

Learn more from So Much to Read, So Little Time: How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help?

Reading on screens

Reading is a physical activity: the success of your reading depends on how well you are able to concentrate and for how long. It is affected by the environment in which you read and by the technologies used.

It is now common to read on screens, despite certain disadvantages associated with them. How do you adjust various screens to make reading easier? To learn more,

check out this guide to reading on screens from the Cambridge University – including links to various accessibility aids and apps, or
find useful advice on how to read in the digital environment in Managing Your Reading, an online guide from the University of York.

Critical thinking and reading

English books available in NTK:

BURNS, Tom a Sandra SINFIELD, 2016. Essential study skills: the complete guide to success at university. Fourth Edition. Los Angeles: SAGE. Sage study skills. ISBN 978-1-4739-1901-3.
CHATFIELD, Tom, 2018. Critical thinking: your guide to effective argument, successful analysis & independent study. First Edition. Los Angeles; London: Sage. ISBN 978-1-4739-4714-6.
COTTRELL, Stella, 2023. Critical Thinking Skills: Effective Analysis, Argument and Reflection. 4th ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Bloomsbury Study Skills Series. ISBN 978-1-350-32258-5.
GREENE, Stuart a April LIDINSKY, 2018. From inquiry to academic writing: a text and reader. Fourth edition. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, Macmillan Learning. ISBN 978-1-319-07123-3.
HOPKINS, Diana a Tom REID, 2018. The academic skills handbook: your guide to success in writing, thinking and communicating at university. Los Angeles London New Delhi Singapore Washington DC Melbourne: SAGE. SAGE study skills. ISBN 978-1-4739-9714-1.
WALLACE, Mike a Alison WRAY, 2021. Critical reading and writing for postgraduates. 4th edition. Los Angeles: Sage. Student success. ISBN 978-1-5297-2765-4.

University guides freely available online:

Active Reading Strategies: Remember and Analyze What You Read: a guide to active reading from the Princeton University.
Critical Analysis: Reading Critically. University of Cambridge Study Skills: a guide on critical reading from the University of Cambridge that includes videos, exercises, templates, and checklists.
Interrogating Texts: Harvard University library guide to six key reading habits recommended to all first-year students at the university.
Managing Your Reading: University of York subject guide on how to manage university-level reading that focusses on working with digital documents and e-resources.
10 Strategies to Improve Your Reading Comprehension for College: an instructional guide on how to read with comprehension from Purdue University Global.