OVERWHELMED BY READING?
Questions to ask before reading:
Do I need to get some background/context before I read this?
- Look up the subject or author before you begin if you are unfamiliar with the material
What will I have to WRITE concerning this reading?
- A discussion board post? What is the prompt?
- A summary and critique?
- Sermon? Exegetical paper?
- Integrate this into a final paper??
- A reflection paper? What are you meant to be reflecting on, exactly?
What do the title and sub-headings suggest about the content?
• What does it tell you about the topic, thesis or subject?
• What do you already know about the subject?
• What do you expect the piece to say about the subject based on the title?
Who is the author?
- Where do they teach? Seminary? University? Other published work?
- What would you guess are his/her affiliations? Denomination, movements they might be part of (feminist, archeologist, poet, activist)?
- When did they write?
Keep in Mind
Your reading is mining content for the information you need. It is almost never ideal to read like a novel (front to back in entirety). Read the ending first. Skip ahead to the important parts, skim over descriptions, focus on sub-headings, first and last paragraphs, lists inside of paragraphs, etc.
Try typing the prompt questions into a document before you do the associated reading. Type the subheads into the document as well and fill in as you read. As you become more proficient at this method, you can produce an excellent paper in less time. You can delete parts when you are done composing the paper, if necessary.
Use Turabian parenthetical citations for any paper with a single source, assigned to the whole class by your professor. Introduce the source to separate the author’s ideas from your own. When you have completed the outside source, end with a note like this: (Smith 1998, 324) (author’s last name date comma page number).