Step 5: Read and take notes

For your deep dive, you will need to carefully read each source and take notes that will support you in your work. It is a good practice to keep a list of sources you will use and to also keep notes on every source.

Reading in college is often much harder than reading in high school. The readings are dense, and there is a lot of new vocabulary. Even more important is what you are expected to do with the material you read. In college, you are expected to manage your reading, take notes on what is useful to your work, and ensure that you understand what you read (which may mean finding and reading more sources to help you).

Having a set strategy to handle readings will help you get the information you need efficiently.

My favorite strategy is 3Reads:

1. Skim and skip through the material quickly, paying attention to things that are big, bold, or highlighted. This reading is there to help you understand the reading’s form and contents. Pay attention to titles, opening sentences, bold or colored words, and descriptions or call-outs. By the end of this first read, you want to know how long the reading is, how much time you’ll need to read it fully, and how you can structure your notes.
2. Read the material at a regular pace. If you understand the material, read a few paragraphs or even a page at a time and then stop, think about it, and take a quick note. If the material is very dense, has words you are unfamiliar with, or is hard to pay attention to, you may want to read one paragraph at a time and then stop to think about it and take simple notes (maybe 1 summary sentence or highlights of keywords and information). By the end of the second read, you want to know what the reading is about, main ideas that are covered, and how you can use this reading.
3.  Review the material and your notes, adding in key ideas, vocabulary, and your thoughts on how you can use the reading. This step is about making sure you are ready to use the reading in your synthesis. Consider what this reading tells you, why it is important in your work, and check to make sure that you have enough detail to work with the reading’s ideas without needing to reread often.

When taking notes, it helps to use a table to keep track of all of your sources plus 1 (or more) pages of notes specific to your readings.

A source tracker might be a table that contains these header columns and rows for each source, like this:

A note page for a specific reading might contain:

Lehman’s ISSP offers support and workshops on reading and note-taking.

For more information on reading and studying, look at:

• Excelsior College Online Reading Comprehension Lab
• OER Commons Note-Taking Strategies chapter
• Harvard’s Integrating Sources page