MN3104 - Orientation for Success in Higher Education

Week 5 - Reading and Research Skills

Lecture
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Today
1. Review tasks from last week
2. Reading and research Skills

Task for group presentation (more in seminar)

How to find resources
‘Simple’ reading skills
QOOQRRR (pronounced ‘cooker’)

3. Your portfolio

Today
1. Review tasks from last week:

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•
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Use the SMART Action plan to plan your work on the presentation and add it to your portfolio.

Reflect on your experience with your group: What went well? What could be difficult? How would you solve it?

Read about the topics covered today in the recommended books and web pages

Add your weekly entry to Your Portfolio (please find it on WebLearn)

What you will learn today (Learning Outcomes)

How to find resources for your academic reading at university
How you can make reading faster and better

What does reading mean?

What did you read today? Please write your answers down.

Reading in academia (Burns & SInfield, 2016)

You are not taught your degree, you read your degree
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 Structured brainstorm (Walk & Write) (see Burns & Sinfield, 2016, for further
details)
1. Why do we read?
2. How do you know what to read?
3. How much should you read for one assignment?
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 4. How easy or difficult do you find academic reading?

We will put you in groups and would like you to bring some answers to one of the questions

back to the class.

How to find resources (see Cameron, 2016)

1. Define your objectives
2. Identify options
3. Identify selection criteria
4. Searching possible sources
Search engines
Meta-search engines
Specialist Search engines
Library catalogues
Specific journals
Online repositories
Author websites
Online ‘digest’
Online essays
5. Your task: What is an example for this resource? Which resources are recommended, which not?

How to find out, if a source is going to be useful? (Lowes et al., 2004)

1. What is the title?
2. Who wrote it?
3. When was it published?
4. Has it been updated since it was written?
5. What is the main idea of the book and who is it aimed at?
6. What specific areas are covered in the book, and in what order?
7. Has the author written and introduction? What does it tell you?
8. How many sources did the author use?
9. Does the book have an index? If so, why might this be useful?
10. Has the author used illustrations or examples?

Please find now some sources for your presentation

Where could you look for them? Which books/sources would be helpful?

Based on what we learned today, what would be your criterion for a good source?

In your seminar you will work on this.

Activity: Test your reading speed (Cameron, 2016, p

94)
Note the time:

____________

Start reading a paragraph

Note the time again once you have finished:

:
 How many words did you read? ____________

How long did it take?__________

Calculate your reading speed: ____________

____________

‘Simple’ Reading Skills (Cameron, 2016)

Test your reading speed: Reading one line in a book per second - 600-700 words per minute
Check your eye movement
To increase reading speed to up to 1000 words per minute:
Increase the number of fixations per line
Eliminating backwards movements and wandering
Reducing the duration of each fixation

SQ3R (Lowes, at al., 2004)

Skim
Question
Read
Recall
Review

Activity: Skim (Lowes, at al., 2004, p. 171)

British couple hurt in earthquake

________British couple_______injured_______earthquake_______

Greece_____walking___cliffs_________island________ Lefkada_______earthquake struck,

_________rocks ______on them. _______tremor, _______6.4_________ Richter scale, _____early hours_________hospital

________leg. _________ wife _________head injuries.

Can you answer these questions? (Lowes, at al., 2004)

1. Where was the earthquake?
2. Was anyone hurt?
3. What were they doing when the earthquake struck?
4. How big was the tremor?
5. What treatment did Mr Steen receive in the hospital?
6. What injuries did his wife receive?

Underline the key words (Lowes, at al., 2004, p. 171)

At least 22 other people were hurt, including four rock climbers who fell into the sea and two Italian tourists hit by falling rocks. The
bridge linking the island with the main land was clogged by traffic as people tried to flee. (Source:

Metro, 15 August 2003)

Activity: Skim reading

Take a few minutes to read any article from today’s newspaper. First read the headline and try to predict what it is about. Then skim
read the text quickly to see if you were right.
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 QOOQRRR (pronounced ‘cooker’) (Burns & Sinfield,
2016)
1. Question – why am I reading, or reading with a purpose
2. Overview – reading with a context
3. Overview – choosing what to read and knowing what you are reading
4. Question – again
5. Read
6. Re-read
7. Review

1. Question – why am I reading, or reading with a

purpose (Burns & Sinfield, 2016)
New to subject and want to learn about it, get an overview
Already have basic understanding and want to explore the more controversial arguments or knowledge-claims – we are no
longer happy sticking to the basic texts.
The lecturer has mentioned something interesting and we want to find out what that person has to say.
We may have read from the reading list and followed up the people that the lecturer has mentioned in class and now we want to
find someone who no one else has mentioned at all.
Already reading extensively to find a whole series of quotes or references to find one quote to finish off
Overview – reading with a context (Burns & Sinfield, 2016)
To photocopy their syllabus and stick it on a wall, preferably one that is going to be viewed often.
To stick the reading list underneath.
To paste up module aims, learning outcomes and assessment criteria and exam questions from past papers.
That specific assignment questions should be stuck on this wall.

3. Overview – choosing what to read and knowing what

you are reading – first decision time (Burns & Sinfield,
2016)
1. Library - how many books and journals? Pace this reading over several weeks.
2. Book – scan the index to search for assignment ‘words’ on particular pages – and the contents pages to see if there are whole
chapters on your topic.
3. Chapter (or a journal article) – read the introduction (first paragraph) and the conclusion (last paragraph) first. What is this
about? Do I need to read
i. Why will I read it?
4. Paragraphs – read the first line of every paragraph. These topic sentences
r paragraph introductions tell you what the paragraph is about. Think about that too.

3. Overview – choosing what to read and knowing what

you are reading – second decision time (Burns &
Sinfield, 2016)
:
 Choose exactly what you are going to do
What do read in depth
What to scan

Tip: This active scanning device is really useful for summary and précis work.

4. Question – and question again (Burns & Sinfield,

2016)
Why am I reading this, now?

Make clear to yourself exactly why you are reading what you have decided

to read. Here a targeted brainstorm will help.

Ask yourself: • What key word am I reading around? • What do I already know on this topic? • What do I need to find out? • Which bit
of my assignment will it help me with? • Which learning outcome does it meet? • Where will I use this information?

1. Manageable chunks
2. Reading questions
What is the main idea?
What is the author’s argument?
Where is the author coming from?
Have I encountered similar arguments before? Where?
Have I encountered different arguments from this?
What evidence is being offered?
Is the evidence valid?
Do I agree or disagree with what I am reading? And why?
What is the author’s final point?
3. Reading resources – ruler, highlighter, paper clip, etc.

6. Re-read (Burns & Sinfield, 2016)

What were you reading for and why?
Do your annotations, marginalia and highlighting capture all that you wanted from the text?
Do you understand it all?
look over the notes
judging for yourself whether or not they are useful, useable and effective Aim: checking the quality of your own work as soon as
possible

You decide: Did I do a good job?

What are you going to do next?

Start thinking about how you want to plan your reading .

Please write one idea down of what you are taking home from the session

today.

References
:
 Burns, T. and Sinfield, S. (2016) Essential study skills: the complete guide to success at university. 4th edition. London: SAGE.
Cameron, S. (2016) The business student’s handbook: skills for study and employment. 6th edition. Harlow, England: Pearson.
Lowes, R., Peters, H. and Turner, M. C. (2004) The international student’s guide: studying in English at university. London: SAGE.

Please also see resources in study hub about Reading: https://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/studyhub/reading.html

Assignment 1: Skills review - the structure

1. Which three study skills that you have learned about in this module do you find most interesting? - Describe these three study
skills using the material covered.
2. How confident do you currently feel about them? – Rate your confidence level (1-10) and add examples to support your point.
3. How will you develop the three study skills that you have identified? – Put this into SMART goals using the study techniques
illustrated earlier in the paper.

Assignment 1: Skills review – criteria for marking

Demonstrates understanding of necessary skills to succeed at university based on the material introduced on this module
(weeks 1-7).
Shows realistic assessment of personal skills based on weekly reflection in portfolio entries.
Uses discussed study techniques to set SMART goals for personal development.
Is clearly written, formatted, and professionally presented. A cover sheet as the first page is included.

Your task for presentation in week 7 (w/c 4 November 2023)

Prepare a 8-minute presentation in a small team of 3-4 containing three of the skills we covered in

weeks 1-6. We recommend you follow these steps: • Week 3: Understand the assessment task fully by applying the journalism
questions. • Week 4: Find a team to work with (3-4 members) and organise how you want to work together,

when you want to meet, what you need to prepare (time management)

Week 5: Do your research about the chosen academic skills using academic sources (you might want to start with the reading
list). Make notes in the format you decided to use from now
n.
Week 6: Have a few ideas ready to practice your presentation skills in the sessions this week
Week 7: Present your work in a 8-minute presentation in your seminar and receive feedback
Week 8: Submit your Skills Audit (assignment 1) before Thursday 14/11/2023 before 3pm on WebLearn via Turnitin.

What did you learn today (Learning Outcomes)

How to find resources for your academic reading at university
How‘ you can make reading faster and better

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Your portfolio
Please think about the following questions and add your thoughts to your portfolio on WebLearn:

What? - Which aspect of today’s session did I find most interesting?

So what? - Why did I find this interesting/inspiring/worth writing down?
What’s next? - Things I want to do now are ...

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Task for next week

:
 1.

2.

3.

Find a chapter or longer paragraph in one of the text books and read it. Write a summary in your own words as part of your portfolio.
Reflect on your thoughts on finding resources and reading. What did you find out today? Read about the topics covered today in the
recommended books and web pages

4. Add your weekly entry to your portfolio

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Any questions?
See you next week.
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