Reading and note taking preparation for study
1 Reading and note taking 1.1 Preparation for study One of the main purposes of this unit is to help you develop two kinds of skills: the general skills of being a student some skills which are particularly associated with the way social scientists work. Both are of fundamental importance to your success in studying other courses. This unit is about the very basic study skills of reading and taking notes. These are basic in the sense that they are the foundation for all successful study. But that does not mean they are simple. If you have no recent experience of reading academic texts you need to re-learn your reading skills. Reading magazines, newspapers or fiction is a useful basis, but entails very different skills from academic reading. The same goes for taking notes. Scribbling down the important bits of a recipe from a television cook or underlining some interesting advice from a magazine article helps, but of course there is a lot more to taking notes from a social science text. So we suggest that you spend the time working on these skills. Then, when you need to use these skills, you will be able to use them quickly, effectively and with more confidence.
