One of my main concerns when I see students seek advice online, as I’ve made explicit in earlier blog posts of mine, is that many folks recommend that they should ALWAYS SKIM EVERYTHING and later (at some undetermined point in time) they should choose which readings they must come back to and read in more depth. As I’ve said repeatedly, students and scholars alike should develop a broad repertoire of reading strategies. There is no magic bullet, and there are risks to the ALWAYS SKIM strategy which I outlined in a Twitter thread earlier this week.
I have 2 sub-pages under my Resources tab: Note-Taking Techniques https://t.co/lKZe0IgfGQ and Reading Strategies https://t.co/nJFSmuJNBm I suggest different reading strategies (skim/meso level/in depth) and note-taking techniques (index cards, Everything Notebook, Cornell Notes)
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 5, 2019
I have read a ton of my fellow professors encourage students to “just skim and when you find the right article/book, THEN you can read in more depth”. I would be down with this strategy if students were used to reading in depth throughout their studies. I am not certain they are. There is a lot of heterogeneity in reading speeds/material density but also on the purpose of said reading materials. For example, in my class, I always tell my students: “this lecture will ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE that you read very much in depth article A, B and C. Skim D if need be”.
Example: if it’s a class on foundations of institutional theory, I can easily tell my students: “read Ostrom 1990 Ch 3 in depth, North 1990 Ch1 in depth, and Hall and Taylor 1996 – from H&T you should totally do a synthetic note that includes a table on 3 neoinstitutionalisms”. People who teach institutional theory may frown at the fact I didn’t include Williamson. Personally, I believe one can learn institutions with Ostrom, North, Hall and Taylor. THEN go in more depth with Williamson. Anyhow, this is just an example of guidance I offer my students.
The truth is, life in academia (as I tell my students) is about developing a repertoire of strategies. For reading. For writing. For organizing. There is no “one size fits all”. https://t.co/dQvzmr9lZx Skimming is suitable for when one is preparing to enter a new field, e.g.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 5, 2019
If you tell your students to just skim you can’t be surprised that they haven’t comprehended important concepts, Skimming and triaging are excellent skills to develop. But we need to teach students to read in depth first, to capture material and really absorb it, THEN skim.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 5, 2019
This second round entails going over your notes of these 30 articles (which you may have processed by reading quickly using AIC, then dropping your notes into an Excel Dump https://t.co/KljF5N1qml & triaging and saying “oh, I need to go back to X, Y and Z and read in more depth”
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 5, 2019
P.S. Grateful to @jenfronc @GretchenSneegas and @MsHouseMD who recommended @jbhamilton__ to check my website. To this day, it still blows my mind how many people recommend my resources and how many faculty members assign my materials as support for their students. So thankful.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 5, 2019
I really do hope that folks in higher education will take to heart the message that if you teach your students to strategically choose and skim, you should also teach them to do The Second Round of in-depth reading.
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