Reading, thinking, and writing at a graduate level

Reading critically

Reading at a graduate level requires students to not only decide what and how much to read but also to make sure they're reading critically, which involves more than skimming text for a general understanding. Trent University's Academic Skills (n.d.) provides this helpful overview of what it means to read critically:

You must carefully consider the argument, context, author, and author's perspective, while at the same time you must be aware of your own perspective and bias.

• Try to judge arguments on their merits: be aware of how your own bias may affect your judgment.
• Where a text comes from and who it is written for can affect meaning. Think how the historical and cultural context influences the reading.
• What does the author hope to achieve (to convince the reader, arouse sympathy, inspire indignation)? You may see an author emphasize certain points but ignore others in an effort to achieve his or her purpose.
• Do not accept authorities unquestioningly. Authorities do not always agree; the word of one is not indisputable.
• Watch for generalizations. Does the author draw conclusions on the basis of similarities between things that are not similar?
• Does the author think in extremes, ignoring possibilities in between? Anything neatly divided into polar opposites should be suspect.
• Watch for faulty reasoning. Does the author avoid a question, talking around it by tackling other issues? Does the author avoid answering the question? (Read Critically, para. 1)

Please visit Reading Critically (University of Guelph McLaughlin Library) for questions to guide your critical reading process.

There's just so much to read!

It's not unusual for graduate-level courses to have required and suggested readings. The required readings share key content for the course, and suggested readings offer additional information if students are interested in further developing their understanding of a topic. However, the sum total of both required and suggested readings may be impossible to accomplish, at which point students need to decide how to approach those readings. For suggestions on how to approach reading for classes where the instructor has assigned more readings than can realistically be read in their entirety, see "Reading for Classes" in Reading for Graduate School (OWL at Purdue).

Reference

Academic Skills. (n.d.). Efficient and effective reading. Trent University. https://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/how-guides/how-use-sources/research-process/efficient-and-effective-reading