Tips on university reading + some strategies and questions -- asking yourself some basic questions (and then working up to harder ones!) can improve your reading skills and comprehension
1. trying to figure out what the author is telling the
reader -- if you all 4 things at once = FRUSTRATION
read#1 (the quick read! -- to get your bearings) 1. Title: ____________________What kinds of associations are triggered in your mind by this title? Do you have any guesses or predictions as to what the article might be about? 2. Author's Name: Have you read any other pieces by this author? What background information (Marxist? Canadian? Vegetarian? Poet?) or context, if any, do you have that might indicate particular content matter or characteristic style? 3. Copyright Date and place of publication : What do you know about the time period when and/or culture where this article was written? If it's writen from a disciplinary perspective -- from the pespective of a filmmaker, a designer, a musician, a dancer, a film director etc. - what do you know about the discipline? 4. Assumed audience. Given your answers to 1, 2 & 3 above, what kind of audience do you think the author is trying to reach? 5. skim the article: introduction, section headings (if any) concluding paragraph. read the opening paragraph again thoroughly: What are your impressions of the article's introductory paragraph? What have you learned so far, and what do you think will be the main point of the article? (the thesis). try to write the thesis statement in your own words. Any clues as to *how* the author has built the article? -- does she say there will be five sections? is there a route map? are there headings? Some students find that making a map or outline can be helpful at this stage. Does the author/artist identify herself/himself
as speaking from a particular perspective? Can you make an assumption
re this? (on what basis?) Do you know how this perspective might relate
to ideas about art? (if the person is a graffti artist, for example,
it would be a fair assumption that they might approach the idea of high
art in a different way than a curator ta the Louvre -- you might not
always be right when you 'guess' like this, but remember, you're trying
to guide your own reading and undertsanding -- we always make assumptions
-- and change them! -- as we read). What do you know about this perspective
and how might it affect the kind of subject matter this author writes
about and the kind of argument being made? About the kind of artistic
practices they might support? If the author doesn't identify herself/himself in a particular way, can you make an identification based on evidence from the article? For example, if you think the text emerges from a Marxist, an art historical and 'art for art's sake' perspective ... (you get the idea) , cite a relevant passage from the text to support your view.
7. connection with your own ideas and artistic practices-- are you already feeling like you know what the reading will be about? do you think it will agree with what you know? disagree? is it all going to be new? can you think of ways the piece might connect to other things you've read in this course (or elsewhere). Does it remind you of something we've already studied? Is it in agreement or is it another point view? If it's a design article and you're in music (etc.), can you see any obvious points of connection? How can answers to these questions affect your reading?
NOW read all the way through, pausing only to puzzle through really difficult paragraphs, take notes on unfamiliar words. At the end, look up the terms. At this point you ought to be able to identify the main argument the author is presenting. *** once you've done this first read, have a break --have a cup of tea. do windmill dancing. play with your cat. make sculptures from aluminum foil (also good for frustration ;) *** The goal of the second, more thorough, read is to evaluate the effectiveness of the argument. 7.Argument Checklist: What kind of evidence is the author/artist using to support her/his views (other scholarly research? Interviews? Their own experiences making art? Something else?) Are you persuaded? How credible are the sources? (How) can you tell? Are there points which are simply assumed to be true (and not argued)? Is the argument internally cohesive? (you may not agree with the piece, but does it all go together and makes sense, given the assumptions made by the author? ).
8. The Conclusion: Do the conclusions follow from the evidence presented? (if the article is all about how graffitti isn't 'real' or 'good' art, and the author writes: "In conclusion, all graffitti artists must be put in jail" is that a fair conclusion, given the focus of the rest of the piece?)Are the 'facts' open to more than one interpretation? Could a person arrive at a different conclusion using the same information? If so, give an example.
Third read: where does it fit in the course? how might it fit with
what you do? 9. Overall Impressions and Course Context: A. What does this article contribute to your knowledge of arts and ideas? (both subject matter & style of presentation) B. How does this author's view and/or treatment of arts and ideas compare to other works on the course or other texts you've read/seen? Is it based in one artistic discipline? if so could some of the ideas still be useful when we think of other artitsic disciplines? Does it make you think of a counter-argument from the perspective of your own practices? Do the ideas presented influence/relate to many different kinds of art-making, even only one kind of art is mentioned? Do the ideas reinforce what various artistic practices might have in common (reacting to shared social/political events, like war, common responses to major shifts in ideas -- like the influence of theories like deconstruction in art schools? -- or technology (like the computer?)) . C. What assumptions of your own were challenged by this topic or argument?
After this reading you should have a clear appreciation of key apsects
of the text, an assessment of how appropriate or effective the argument
is and a personal evalution of its place in the course. Does this mean
you need to know *everything* ? of course not -- no one can work under
the pressure of having to memorize/perfectly undertsand every word of
university reading you are asked to undertake. But don't seel yourself
short -- don't give up without finding some nuggets, one or two ideas
that really make sense and that you can tie in elsewhere -- perhaps
you will retrn to this text and it will make better sense as the course
develops, perhaps you will see new connections. For now ask yourself
-- what *do* I understand? 10. What you undertsand/what you make
of the piece = an emerging analysis. An extended *analysis* of a piece (not just a reading -- think about how this can fit with films, visual art, music, theatre, dance, multimedia works etc.) would involve thinking about (at least!) all of the questions you've just answered and analyzing relationships among all of these variables. Analysis, in other words = description (what the piece is 'about') + your response (loved it/hated it/rang true or didn't... and why) + genre and form ( how is the piece 'built', how is it argued? ) + theory (school of thought? kind of artist? purposes? Social criticism? context? Emerges from a particular type of cultural theory? author/reader assumptions?) + relationship to course materials + historical and cultural context (when written/produced? Why? What else was going on at this time? What were other writers and artists saying? What was no one saying?) + author's intentions (sometimes obvious, sometimes not -- and you will need to consider your perspective on the issue of the relative importance of the intention of the author vs the piece's effect upon the reader (you? Other readers?)) + _____ and..... See how much in bound up with the task of analysis? that's why an essay that's mostly description doesn't go far enough. If you can apply this reading strategy (or some variation) to all your academic reading, you are well on your way to *analyzing* material. You will need this skill for all of your university work and it will help you to prodcue excellent research papers, written exams etc.
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