PHYS 280 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Reading to Write a Research-Based Analysis

Skimming

  1. For articles, skim titles, abstracts, and keywords to learn whether they are relevant to your research. For books, skim titles, prefaces, tables of contents, and indexes (reviews of books are also helpful, especially in better publications such as the NYT Book Review and scholarly journals). Avoid going down “rabbit holes” -- don’t over-read at this stage or spend too long aimlessly browsing.
     
  2. Collect relevant articles in a folder, with complete bibliographic information saved to your notes or to a citation program (such as Zotero or Mendeley, both of which are free and recommended).
     
  3. Skim relevant articles in more detail to ensure they are still relevant to your research (now that you have time to return to them). Review their bibliographies for other sources that might be relevant to your research and collect them. Note the names of researchers whose work is on topic and of interest to you.

Reading

  1. Before you read an article or chapter, make sure you have recorded all of the citation information you will need. Look up the citation system you are using and review the required elements for that type of source. If you are not using a citation program, make a template to fill in. (Always, every time.)
     
  2. Now, read each article you have set aside as relevant, highlight relevant passages (I use the highlighter function in a PDF reader), and take notes (never rely on highlighting/underlining/marking alone). In your notes, (a) capture the big picture (often found in the thesis, problem statement, research questions, scope, overall point, findings, and/or conclusions). (b) Make a note of striking information that is especially relevant to your research, such as points of debate or facts and data. (c) Make a note of any other sources mentioned that you think you can use. (d) Jot down questions or points of disagreement or useful ideas inspired by the reading.
     
  3. As you take notes, ensure that you are writing down page numbers, especially for direct quotations. Also, clearly mark the difference between what is summary, paraphrase, direct quotation (even short phrases), or your own idea (I use my initials – some researchers write “mine”). You can use a marginal or parenthetical annotation system such as SUM, PAR, QT, MINE. (Be relentlessly precise!)

Functional Reading Lenses

Researchers read foremost to use what they find to develop their own work. Here are some ways you might think about using what you read:

For alternative views and complicating factors* — A good analysis, like a good argument, takes into account the complexities of the topic under study. You should read sources looking for ways in which they frame the topic differently from others, emphasize different aspects of the topic, combine factors in novel ways, or introduce a new factor you hadn’t considered.

For models of reasoning and analysis* — As you read, you’ll find sources that perform certain types of political and technical analyses that seem especially valid or clever. Even if the subject of that analysis isn’t useful to you, you may want to adopt that method in your own work. Make a note of it.

For data to use as empirical evidence* — Remember that evidence never stands on its own in supporting a point. The value, and sometimes the nature, of the evidence must be explained and its source carefully documented.

For reasoning to use as support (that is, conceptual evidence)* – Although an analysis of a topic is not an explicit argument, the researcher is making an implicit case that the analysis is unbiased, accurate, and insightful, that it takes into account the most relevant factors and provides new and interesting ways of viewing these and their relationships. As you read sources, look for convincing reasons others have given for understanding the topic as you do, to share with your readers and validate your perspective. Convincing reasoning should be unbiased and well supported with evidence.

For reasoning to use as material to develop ideas and lend credibility -- Look, too, for points of difference, uncertainty, and outright disagreement that you can introduce to and evaluate for your readers. These points will help to complicate your analysis, so that it is more interesting and informative. These points will also help to convince readers that your analysis is fair and complete, since readers are likely to have encountered them in other treatments of the topic or to have thought of them on their own (perhaps with different conclusions than you have come to about them).

For quotations that put ideas or perspectives into “just the right” words (i.e., insightful, telling, characteristic). Avoid quoting when a paraphrase or summary will do. Use just enough of the quotation to illustrate your point. Considering analyzing the quotation’s language to help your readers to interpret the quotation in the same way you do.

 

Developed by Kelly Searsmith (* see The Craft of Research, 4th Edition)