This session is designed to help you find the books and journal articles you need quickly and easily, using library catalogues and online academic resources. It explains the various scholary format and offers tips on active reading and notemaking.

1. How to decode your reading list
Dr Emma Coonan
Research Skills Librarian, Cambridge University Library

2. Course overview
1. What is a reading list anyway?
2. What’s what in scholarly formats
3. LibrarySearchPlus
4. What next?: active reading and notemaking

3. 1. What is a reading list anyway?

4. Is it …
• A list of everything you must read for
your course or supervision?
• Something you approach in order by
starting at the beginning and working
straight through?

5. • Collection of pointers to things that
may be useful
• You have to select where to start and
what to read
• Interaction between the question/title
and your particular perspective
• Availability is also an issue

6. Why are you reading?
• To understand a concept?
• To gather specific facts?
• To identify the structure of an author’s argument?
• To find alternative views so as to challenge an
argument?
http://sfl.emu.edu.tr/dept/alo/active4.htm

7. How will YOU choose what to read?

8. Prioritize your reading

9. 2. What’s what in scholarly formats
(and what will they do for me?)

10. What’s what in scholarly formats
Dixon, Thomas (2004) How to get a first.
Routledge: London.

11. What’s what in scholarly formats
Davidson, D., ‘Locating literary language,’
in Literary Theory after Davidson, ed. Reed
Way Dasenbrock (University Park:
Pennsylvania State UP, 1993)

12. What’s what in scholarly formats
Tip: if you’re asked to
read a chapter, don’t
read the whole book!
Davidson, D., ‘Locating literary language,’
in Literary Theory after Davidson, ed. Reed
Way Dasenbrock (University Park:
Pennsylvania State UP, 1993)

13. What’s what in scholarly formats
Kieling, C. et al. Child and adolescent
mental health worldwide: evidence for
action. The Lancet, 378(9801): 1515-1525.

14. What’s what in scholarly formats
Kieling, C. et al. Child and adolescent
mental health worldwide: evidence for
action. The Lancet, 378(9801): 1515-1525.
Tip: journal article references
tend to have a string of
numbers at the end

15. 3. LibrarySearchPlus

16. http://searchplus.lib.cam.ac.uk

17. Your supervisor:
“ There’s a great article comparing Ingres
and Delacroix, by a guy called Shelton. I
can’t remember which journal it’s from …
”

18. Find your material

19. 4. What next?
Active reading and notemaking

20. Active reading
Always ask: “what’s in it for me?”
• What’s relevant/useful for my own argument?
• What other work does this piece link in with?
• Does it spark any lightbulb moments?
• What might be a white rabbit?

21. Beware of white rabbits
Ideas and arguments
that lead away from
your topic
Maintain your critical distance
Keep asking: how does this contribute to my
understanding/my argument/ my essay/my research?

22. Active notemaking
Image: Beth Kanter, flickr.com

23. Tagging
• Subject-based keywords – e.g. “entropy”, “Derrida”
• Logistical – e.g. “chapter2”
• Evaluative – e.g. “low priority”
• Pragmatic – e.g. “read”/”unread”

24. Futureproof your notes
Make sure you can identify:
• Which parts of your notes are quotations (including single
significant words)
• Which parts are paraphrases of the author’s points
• Which parts of your own writing are a response to the
argument or inspired by ideas in the text
Will you be able to tell the difference in a month’s time?

25. Active notemaking
http://tlc.uoregon.edu/publications/studyskills/Double%20Entry%20Notes.pdf

26. Questions?

27. Emma Coonan
Research Skills Librarian
research-skills@lib.cam.ac.uk
http://training.cam.ac.uk/cul