Reading in Graduate School

Sean Lawson, Ph.D.Department of Communication

University of Utah

(Prepared for the Department of Communication graduate professional developmentseminar, University of Utah, 24 October 2008.)

What, if anything, is distinctive about reading for graduate studies (e.g., goals,habits, challenges, etc., compared to other kinds of reading)?

Knowing what is distinctive requires comparison. Compared to undergraduate reading,reading in graduate school is more about mapping and understanding networks ofarguments within whole literatures. In undergraduate, the goal of assigned reading wasusually for the student (you) to gain some sort of content knowledge from the reading.For example, in a history course, you might be assigned a book on slavery in theAmerican South in the 1850s. You are most likely being assigned this book becauseyour instructor believes it will give you the best depiction of slavery during that timeperiod--i.e. the goal is for you to learn the historical content found in the book. At theundergrad level, you are not typically being asked to talk about the author's method,their use of evidence, how their argument/interpretation compares to that of otherscholars, etc. In graduate school, however, that is exactly what you need to do. Thisdoes not mean that you do not need to know content. What it does mean, is that youwill be more focused on getting the "lay of the land" of entire fields of literature. Whatarguments have been made? How do they relate to one another? Who are thescholars in this field? Where does each stand; what does each contribute? Who is inwhich "camps," representative of which schools of thought, etc.?

What does it mean to 'read deeply'? Why is this important, and what are somespecific suggestions for enacting it?

Reading "deeply," in my view, does not mean knowing every last detail of an individualwork. (Save that effort for works that are particularly important in a field, or particularlyimportant to your research project.) Rather, "reading deeply" is about reading tounderstand a work's place within a larger ecology or web of works--think "deep ecology"or "deep web." To do that, there is some basic information you will want from eachwork you read:

• What is the author's main argument?• What are the author's supporting arguments, evidence, and methodology?• Where does this work stand in relation to the larger ecology of the literature(s) to

which it belongs? What does it contribute? Of which camps or schools ofthought is it representative? (Of course, you first need to know which

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literature[s] it belongs to and what the camps are within those literatures. If not,then you will need to answer more basic questions about literatures and campsfirst. Maybe on your first pass through a work, the main benefit of your readingwill be to help you identify a literature or camp. Subsequent readings may berequired to fully understand, in a more nuanced way, the position of the workwithin the literatures/camps that it initially helped you to identify.) In terms ofassessing contribution, you might think in terms of the following questions:

◦ What are this work's empirical contributions?◦ What are this work's methodological contributions?◦ What are this work's theoretical contributions?◦ What are this work's practical contributions?

• What can this work contribute to my own work? (In this regard, it is important todo "generous readings." It is easy to take a very narrow, literal view, to discardas irrelevant anything that does not directly address that in which you areinterested. In most cases, however, it is possible to take away something ofvalue, whether it be something about your topic in particular, or a more generalinsight about research practice, methodology, theory, etc.)1

Graduate study -- and coursework in particular -- typically involves a high volumeof reading. How can we manage this reading load well, and what are somespecific ways to minimize feeling overwhelmed? Put another way, how is itpossible to read deeply amid so much material?

The key is to have tools (both intellectual and technological) to help you. You can't justsplash around aimlessly. You have to read with purpose and direction. That meansthat for each and every piece that you read, you should try to answer the questionsoutlined above. At first, this will seem mechanical and might slow you down.Eventually, however, you will come to implicitly ask and answer these questions ofeverything you read; you won't really have to think about it anymore, you'll just do itinstinctively. These questions are valuable "intellectual tools." You can enhance theeffectiveness of these tools through the use of technological tools like citationmanagement applications, note-taking/writing applications, or database applications. Inparticular, a simple database with entries for each work you read, with fields for each ofthe questions above, not only provides "technological enforcement" encouraging you toanswer each of these questions every time, it also allows for more consistentcomparison between and among sources.

How might reading practices shift at different points in an academic career -- e.g.,coursework, comprehensive exams, thesis or dissertation, early faculty years,and so forth?

1. These questions come from Kim Fortun's exam preparation course in the Department ofScience and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Those who have takenthe course with Kim and/or worked with her as a committee member (as I have), areindebted to her for taking issues of scholarly practice seriously, as well as requiring herstudents to do the same.

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Though, in general, your reading during graduate coursework will still focus on contentto a great degree, you will see a noticeable shift towards thinking about wholeliteratures. In many cases, the reading you do during coursework will turn out to beyour "first pass." You will likely come back to many of those sources for a secondreading during your preparation for exams. To make the process of exam preparationless tedious and more effective, it is valuable to start thinking about the questions aboveearly on, even during your coursework reading. Finally, when you switch to thesis ordissertation research, you will likely read each work in a literature relevant to yourresearch in a much more close and detailed way. For some of these works, it may beyour third or fourth time reading them. Additionally, you will likely devote more of yourfocus to "mining for sources," finding "leads" within notes and bibliographies. You willalso be focusing more on the last of the four questions above--i.e. what can this workcontribute to my own work--but also, using your reading to apply question three aboveto your own work--i.e. where does my work fit into the literature; what empirical,methodological, theoretical, and practical contributions am I making?

What sorts of things should we emphasize or prioritize in the various moments ofintellectual development?

My schematic of the general progression: Undergraduate & Graduate coursework =Content (ideas, concepts, events, etc.) ---> Graduate coursework & Exam preparation =Mapping (mapping literatures as ecologies/webs of arguments and individuals) --->Thesis/Dissertation = Situating (carving out your own niche within the literature). Asdiscussed above, each of these activities makes slightly different demands on the focusof your attention while reading.

(How) can technologies assist the development of sound reading practices?

Technologies, while extremely helpful (even essential in my opinion), cannot do yourthinking for you. There are three basic kinds of software application that can be of greatvalue in helping you to manage your sources, stay focused on the essential questions,compare your sources, and manage your own thoughts about and reactions to yoursources. The creation of a simple database in Access, FileMaker, or OpenOffice can bevery helpful for creating standardized annotations for each of your sources. Createfields for each of the questions above. Then, use the database not only as an electronic"worksheet" to answer those questions each time, but also as a tool that will allow youto sort, shuffle, combine, recombine, and compare your sources based on the answersyou provided. It may also be possible to create custom fields for each of the questionsin a citation management application like EndNote, Reference Manager, Bookends, orBiblioscape. (NOTE: While each of these typically contains a "notes" or "abstract" field,those generic fields leave you free to write whatever. It would be better to have asystem that encourages you to answer the above questions each time. Remember, it'snot just about filling in blanks or entering data for the heck of it. That blank field with a

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blinking cursor can be an impetus for you to think about the question associated withthat field. And later, when you need to remember, or when you need to compare andcontrast, you'll be glad you did the exercise.)

Of course, a citation management application, like one of those mentioned above, isgood for helping you to organize, manage, and store your sources. In most cases, youcan attach PDFs of articles to the entries in the database. Instead of having random filefolders, you can organize your sources with one of these databases. Think of them asiTunes for scholarly articles. Of course, as mentioned above, they can provide a placefor annotating and note-taking as well. Finally, when it comes time to write your exam,thesis, or dissertation, they allow you to spend more time thinking and writing, and lesstime on the mindless details of bibliographies, citation styles, etc. Some time spent upfront to get your output styles set correctly and to get the application to integrateproperly with your word processor will save you untold time and trouble at the end.

Finally, it is good to have an application that can serve as a dumping ground for randomthoughts of various types (e.g. leads to new sources, brainstorms, short essays, notesto self, a research journal, etc.). Word processors are not very good for these kinds ofmessy, random bits and pieces. However, these messy, random bits and pieces areabsolutely essential to doing good work. You can't remember everything. You need asystem in which you can dump your thoughts, freeing you to stop thinking the samethings over and over for fear of forgetting them, a system that lets you feel safe thatonce you've put your thoughts in, you can find them and use them later, that they're notlost forever. Again, random word processor files in various folders don't really do that.Word processors are good for processing words, getting finished texts ready for primetime, styling them up and making them look good. For daily jotting of thoughts andearly-stage writing, you need something more like a personal (not public), desktop blog.There are several applications available that do this kind of thing, but the one I preferand have used extensively is Evernote, a free, cross-platform application.

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