Assignment | ENGL 1302 Annotated Bibliography (Davis-Bibb): Reading Strategies

The articles you find can be challenging to read, but to write about your topic you must read. As you begin to read and select information, remember to set up    to help you unify this process. Some time-saving reading strategies include:

• Skimming and Scanning

Skimming is intentional, rapid reading of content. It is more like a preview. In a search result, look at the titles of articles, the summary or background, and the subjects listed that describe its general content (see below).

As you read a textbook or an article, look for chapter headings, subtitles, words highlighted or in italics to judge relevance to your information need.

Scanning is a strategy more focused on locating identified keywords or phrases. Both reading strategies are active, intentional and focused exercises. 

• Three-pass Approach

This reading technique was developed by researcher (S. Keshav, How to Read a Paper) for other researchers preparing for a conference or paper. This is a simplified version: 

• First pass: 5-minute process of reading the title, abstract, introduction, section and sub-section headings, conclusions. After this 5-minute investment, you know if the content is relevant or helpful for your needs. 
• Second pass: Read the article more carefully, note terms you don't understand, or questions you may have. Is the paper well written? Mark relevant passages. 
• Third pass: Detailed reading. Intentional selection of ideas or passages you plan to paraphrase to support your writing. Create or capture citation and identify format for in-text citations. 

Some articles may be popular (everyone reads newspapers) or scholarly (the audience is academic). Scholarly content is more complex, terminology specific and generally longer than popular source types. Good stuff and easy to identify - Click on the image of this interactive page from UNC Libraries: 

Skim the Abstract, read a few sentences in the Introduction, and skim the subtitles, charts and figures. Scan for keywords in the Conclusion. If the content is relevant and helpful to your research, save the article for more in-depth reading. 

Video: Reading Academic or Scholarly Articles