Strategy 1: The 4 C's

If you're struggling to make sense of an article, focus on four key overview aspects of any journal publication:

• Context - What is the setting for the study?
• Concepts - What key theories does the article use in the methodology?
• Content - How would you summarize the content of the article?           
• Conclusions - What key findings are in the results?

This strategy can help in making sense of the overall structure and key points from an article. For most conventional articles, context will be in the first 1/3 of the article, concepts and content in the middle 1/3, and conclusions and findings in the final 1/3.

Strategy 2: SQ3R

This 5-step process is useful for helping you to keep your brain focused and active whilst you read and can be useful in preparing for exams:

1. Survey
   • This first step helps with prioritizing and sorting through reading to decide which articles or chapters will be most useful to read first.
   • Skim through the text, making a quick note of any sections or important keywords. Start with the abstract, introduction, findings and conclusion. If these look relevant, skim the rest. If not, stop and move on to your next text.
2. Question
   • Put the text to one side and write down three questions you want the text to answer. This will help focus your reading and filter out excess information.
   • Your questions might be very basic at this stage, or you might just have a topic or keyword in mind from a lecture or seminar that you need to investigate. You will get better at developing critical and analytical questions the more you use this strategy. 
3. Read
   • Read the text looking for answers to your questions. Highlight the text or make notes. Treat this as a hunt for information to help answer your questions or to find information on your key topics.
4. Recall
   • Put your notes to one side and try to recall the information you have read. Talk through the key points (ideally talk them through aloud, working with someone else) and summarize the text. 
5. Review
   • If you get stuck, look back at your notes make a note of anything you're not sure about. Re-read the text to check your understanding.  Any points you are still uncertain about can be good areas for further reading or to discuss in more detail in seminars or tutorials.

Strategy 3:  Thematic tables

Thematic tables are an effective way of taking systematic notes to allow you to identify trends in the literature and talk about multiple sources at once in your literature review.
Decide on 5-8 categories for taking notes - these can be based on the subheadings for your literature review, the structure of the article, or on ideas you have for evaluating and analyzing the articles.
Try to find categories that will work across multiple articles so that you can start comparing your notes right away.

Two typical approaches are a) categories for evaluating experimental evidence from journal articles, and b) categories for analyzing themes in journal articles from the social sciences:

Example of a Thematic Table

Strategy 4:  Critical questions

Wallace and Wray presented five critical questions which are helpful for maintaining critical questioning whilst you are reading and writing.
Make a template with the following questions, and use these to frame your reading and note-taking:

• Why am I reading this?
• What are the authors trying to achieve in writing this?
• What are the authors claiming that is relevant to my work?
• How convincing are these claims, and why?
• In conclusion, what use can I make of this?

Source: Wallace, M. & Wray, A (2016) Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates. (3rd Ed) London: SAGE

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