You have mentioned that you read a lot of academic writing, so I was wondering how you annotate your reading? Or any tips on reading academic writing. Thank you!
Tips on Reading Academic Writing, & My Explanations & Experiences (pure tips are highlighted in bold)
Thank you for the ask! I'm not a professional, but I will share what I've found useful as a student/soon-to-be grad. Besides the few times that my professors have required us submit formally annotated bibliographies, I usually do not take them in any neat, organized way. When I read an academic text, I often underline/highlight if possible (if I have an ebook version or paper version to do so) while focusing on key words/key concepts and inserting any associated words/concepts that come to mind. I also copy/paste (or use iPhone's text scanner in the photo app) specific terms or phrases that I want to remember or that stick out to me. I primarily use my Notes app bc it syncs from my laptop to my phone. If I'm doing a close-reading and wish to take my time, I read over each paragraph (or in rare cases when I really wish to do an even closer reading, each sentence) and I attempt to then summarize it to myself in as few words as possible. This last part appeals to my own personal learning style though, which I'll discuss further on below.*
I scan every text for the most important parts, keeping in mind that each paragraph contains its own sub-topic. A paragraph is like a scene in a film or a play, and each one has its own beginning, middle, and ending. By reading the first or last sentence of a paragraph, you can usually glean what the whole paragraph is about. The first and last sentences of a paragraph are the most important. Likewise, the opening and closing paragraphs of an essay exist to summarize the most important parts of the entire essay. The thesis statement (the main idea of an essay, or the "TLDR summary" to put it into Reddit terms) is usually located at the end of the first paragraph of an essay. Also, this all applies to formal academic writing; not so with casual or creative writing. If I am desperately trying to absorb information and don't have the time/energy to fully study something, what I do is allocate the work's thesis statement, and try to summarize in my own terms the "main point(s)" of the work.
Another invaluable piece of advice is to build your vocabulary and keep vocabulary lists for heavy reading (a list of terms and their definitions). Some academic papers or textbooks will include these in their works. For years, I have kept a sacred list called "Words" which is simply a list of terms that I either struggle to remember or that I've had to look up the definition of. But specific topics get their own vocabulary list, especially if it's something niche or a list of terms only used by a specifer writer or in a specific theory or sub-field. A lot of academics/writers/philosophers invent terms to more easily explain or describe their concepts. Heideigger, considered one of the most interesting but difficult philosophers to understand, is especially difficult with this. It feels like learning a new language sometimes to read his work. But academic reading is often a matter of the writer putting forth new ideas and/or explaining complex things, and so it is often slow, heavy reading, which requires patience.
My biggest piece of advice is to look up lists of learning styles and try to experiment with each of them until you find which one(s) work best for you. Maybe review your earliest memories from school or past memories where you felt like you were excited to learn. Try to implement these while reading information to see what method is most beneficial & comfortable. Everyone learns differently and no two people are exactly the same. Don't feel bad if methods working for others aren't working for you; this is an opportunity for further exploration.
*My individual learning style is "learning by teaching," which means that in order to retain information, I recapitulate it to myself, or make up imaginary scenarios where I have to teach or explain the information to others, or occasionally I do so in real life by info-dumping the information to interested people (or here on my blog). By explaining a subject, it deepens my own understanding of the subject, because you have to understand something well in order to be able to regurgitate it in your own words. If I get stuck and find myself unable to explain something, then this allows me to see where I'm lacking knowledge, and what I need to review. I recall implementing this learning style in some of my earliest memories. Around ages 3/4, I would pretend to be a teacher in an imaginary classroom while practicing my letters and numbers.
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