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مهارات أكاديمية / كتابة بحوث - قراءة - تقديم عروض - إلخ
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مهارة القراءة
Note-Taking and Reading You will spend a lot of your study time reading about your subject and taking notes from books, lectures, journals and other sources. This is a guide to how to get the most from your reading and notes (note-taking and note-making). Reading You will do a lot of reading at university, and it is important to develop good habits as soon as possible. Why read? Reading is an essential part of study. At university you are expected to pursue independent study, and reading will form part of this in almost all subjects. You will be given reading lists by your lecturers. These are sources which the lecturer thinks are important to an understanding of the subject and which will help you pass your assessments. They tend to be divided into Recommended Reading/Texts and Further Reading/Text. Try to read as many of the Recommended Reading/Texts as possible, and read the Further Reading/Texts if you have spare time after reading the Recommended Reading/Texts or if you are unable to obtain copies of all the Recommended Reading/Texts. You will also need to find other sources for yourself. The reading lists are guides as to what is useful, and you will be expected to look beyond these as you get further into your degree. Where to read It is best to read in places which are comfortable and free from distractions. This will vary from person to person - you might require silence to concentrate on your reading, or might prefer somewhere with some ambient noise, or even music. If you are unsure try out a range of places but remember that if you find music and noise even a little bit distracting then it is probably best to read without them as they will affect your productivity. Where possible read in natural light or a well lit room, so that you do not strain your eyes. Sit, or lie, in a comfortable position. Maintain good posture (straight back, feet flat on floor if sitting, etc). Find out what time of day suits you best for learning, when you feel most alert and active. It also helps to eat well, as you will find it harder to concentrate if you are hungry. 3 You will absorb more information if you have breaks. Try reading for 45 minutes then taking a 15 minutes break. Stay disciplined. Set yourself targets and stick to them. You could choose to read for a set amount of time, or have a target to read a set number of chapters, books, articles, etc. You should also stay disciplined with regard to your breaks, do not let them last longer than planned. Do not get distracted. Put your mobile phone away or have it set so it will not disturb you. If you are using a computer, log out of email, Facebook or any other distracting website. If you are revising with friends, do not distract each other. It is unfair to interrupt someone else’s work and you would not like them to do the same to you. Revising with friends can also help you stick to your targets, especially if you all set yourselves the same target. You can also help each other by making sure everyone takes breaks when they are needed, although if you take breaks together there will be a temptation to extend the break because you are enjoying being sociable – stay disciplined. Types of reading You are not expected to read every single word of every single source. One of the most important skills you will learn at university is how to read in different ways and how to decide which way to read each source. - Glance – read the title and any blurb on the back or inner sleeve of the book/journal to decide if the book contains relevant information. - Scan – as above but look at contents page, index, or introduction in order to get a slightly deeper understanding of the book or article. - Skim – read through the main body of the text, taking in the introductions and conclusions to chapters, or looking for keywords and names. - Speed – read through the main text using speed reading methods (see below). - Concentrated – detailed reading of the text, including footnotes and/or references. If you encounter a word you do not understand it is best initially to read on a bit in order to see if the word is explained or if the context of its use makes its meaning obvious. However it is always wise to read with a dictionary nearby so you can check on words which you are unsure of. If you are finding a text difficult, have a break. Sometimes you need to clear your mind and think about something else, do something else, or even sleep on it. This can leave you feeling #######ed and you might understand your source. 4 Active reading You will find that you remember more of what you have written if you are actively engaging with your reading. The best way to do this is to take notes as you go along. Note-making from books You will need: paper, a pen, a soft pencil, an eraser, books; or, a computer, a soft pencil, an eraser, books. Making notes whilst reading is just that – making notes. You are not being asked to copy down everything you have read, to do so would be timeconsuming and unnecessary. Good note-taking technique comes with practice. Select a piece of text. This could be as little as one page, or as much as one chapter or article. If you are reading one of your own books, you can read the whole text and underline anything relevant with your soft pencil (so you can rub the lines out when you are finished). However do not do this with library books or books borrowed from someone else, without their permission. If you want to try this technique on a library or borrowed book, you can photocopy the pages you want to read and write on the photocopies. Check the library’s rules on photocopying, as you are not allowed to photocopy entire books or journals. When you have finished reading the whole piece go back to the start and turn the bits you have underlined into notes. Paraphrase what you have underlined, and condense it into short notes. Do not copy what you have underlined, but rather put it into your own words. This will help your understanding as you will have to think about what you have read in order to turn it into useful notes. For example (from Ward, J. (1997). Latin America: Development and conflict since 1945. London: Routledge. p31) “Latin American development strategies remained too inward looking for too long, but the policy changes correcting this introversion, begun in the Southern Cone during the 1970s, and continued more widely after 1982, were excessively abrupt.” This can be condensed to: - Development strategies too long inward looking. 1970s (Southern Cone)/1982 (wider) changes to address this “excessively abrupt”. This halves the size of the useful passage, making it less time-consuming to record. The use of quotation marks around “excessively abrupt” indicates that it is the writer’s exact words. Short direct quotations can be useful in your notes if: 5 - The quote cannot be rewritten. - The direct quotation is useful, for instance in this example “excessively abrupt” could be useful as evidence of how people, specifically the author, viewed the development strategies of Latin America. As you do more note-making you will find that you become better at identifying what to write down and to leave out. Record exactly where you read everything you note down. When reading for essays this is essential so you can correctly reference what you use. - Keep all notes from one source together. - Write the author’s name, title, date, publisher and location (depending on what information is relevant for referencing the source you are using) at the top of each page you take notes on. - Record the page number next to each note. You might wish to record this information even if you are not reading for an essay as it is practice for good habits. When you have finished reading your source you could try creating a summary of the notes you have made, perhaps a single side of A4 paper. This will mean you have engaged with and thought about the piece twice. This will help you remember. Handy note-making hints - Use abbreviations – it will save time if you shorten words or phrases. There are plenty of common abbreviations (abbr.), for example (e.g.) “that is” (i.e.), “therefore” (and#8756;), “because” (and#8757;), “equals” (=), etc. - Make up your own abbreviations. You do not have to use any particular abbreviations, but it is important that you remember what your abbreviations mean or you will find your notes unreadable. You could make a glossary of abbreviations so you can cross reference any confusing notes. - Make a record of every source you take notes from. - Use your own words and condense your ideas into bullet points. - Notes do not need to be neat, if it helps then draw lines, use colours or even draw diagrams in your notes. Taking notes in lectures Taking notes in lectures is another skill you will improve at as you get more practice. Do not try and record everything your lecturer says. You will not be able to and it will result in you missing things throughout the lecture. Your notes should record the essential details of the lecture but they do not need to be exhaustive. Some lecturers will give out handouts which record important information, reiterate keys points, or reproduce their slideshow presentations. Lecturers 6 can also be contacted after lectures (usually by email but check this) if you want to clarify a point or ask further questions about the lecture. Do not feel self-conscious about doing this, it is a form of independent research and investigation which university students are encouraged to do. You will also find some courses have reading lists for each lecture, found in the module handbooks, which will give further reading to help clarify anything you heard in the lecture. Tips for lectures - Do not try to record every word. - Paraphrase, use your own words to condense what is said. - Listen – do not write anything until you feel you have understood the information or argument. This will keep your notes useful and prevent you taking lots of incoherent notes. - Use abbreviations (see above). - Do not feel pressured to take notes because the people sitting around you are – everyone has their own note-taking strategies, only take notes you think are relevant. - If the lecturer gives you a handout it is sometimes a good idea to write your notes on the handout. This will help keep your ideas together for each lecture, although this is not suitable for all handouts so use your discretion. Making long lists of notes is not always the best way to note-take. For some people the pace of lectures means they will take very few notes so they can absorb the information more thoroughly. These can be accompanied by noting down cues, which might not be comprehensible to the outsider, but which make sense to the person who wrote them. These can take the form of symbols, individual words, doodles or colours, amongst other examples. These more abstract ways of recording lecture information should only be used if you are confident that they will allow you to recall the information you need. For some people a combination of traditional notes and more abstract methods can prove useful, as you will have written words which can help with understanding the meaning of drawings or diagrams which you have not looked at for some time. Some note-taking abbreviations Some examples of note-taking abbreviations used in different subjects: X – The Greek letter chi, traditionally used as an abbreviation for ‘Christ’ it can be used for all related words, ‘Christmas’ becomes ‘Xmas’, ‘Christian’ becomes ‘X-ian’. and#936; – The Greek letter psi, used to represent ‘psychology’. and#934; – The Greek letter phi, used to represent ‘philosophy’. In its small form and#966; it can represent the ‘golden ratio’ in mathematics and architecture and art. 7 Greek letters also represent a wide range of mathematical, science and engineering concepts. Logic symbols are often used in mathematics and science to represent concepts and statements. They can also be used in note-taking: and#8756; - ‘therefore’ and#8757; - ‘because’ = - ‘equals’ and#8800; - ‘does not equal’ ¬ - the ‘logical negation’ symbol, ¬A means ‘not A’ and#8658; - the ‘implication’ symbol, Aand#8658;B means ‘if A, then B’ and#8660; - the ‘material #####alence’ symbol, Aand#8660;B means ‘A is true if B is true, A is false if B is false’ and#8707;- means ‘there exists’ and#8704;- means ‘for all’ The gender symbols: and#9794; - ‘male’/’man’ and#9792; - ‘female’/’woman’ There are also a wide range of words which are shortened in note-taking. Some examples include: adj. – ‘adjective’ adv. – ‘adverb’ c. – ‘century’ (if before a number indicating the century number, e.g. c.14th cf. – ‘see this for more information’ (e.g. ‘cf. previous week’s notes’) )/’circa’ i.e. ‘approximately’ * cts. – ‘continuous’ diff. – ‘different’/’difficult’/’differential’ * e.g. – ‘for example’ esp. – ‘especially’ fn. – ‘function’ mkt. – ‘market’ plt. – ‘parliament’ poss. – ‘possible’ ppl. – ‘people’ prev. – ‘previous(ly)’ *These are good examples of something all note-takers should be aware of – if you are going to use abbreviations, be consistent and use the same abbreviation for the same words at all times. If you are using ‘diff.’ for both ‘difficult’ and ‘different’, for example, you might find yourself unable to work out if you have taken notes about a ‘difficult crowd’ or a ‘different crowd’ when you see ‘diff. crowd’. It is best to apply the abbreviation to word which you encounter most frequently in your note-taking. 8 There are many more abbreviations in common use, and you are under no obligation to use all or even any. These examples are listed in order to demonstrate the range and diversity of abbreviations which can be used. Find your own preferred abbreviations, it is most important that you are able to read and understand them.
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