Reading to Write--the Scholar's Stance

        You probably already know that it's advisable to take notes when reading.  However, where and how you take the notes, what you write, and what you do with them can make all the difference between success and failure when you turn to write about what you've read.   Think about the page as an expanse of RAM memory which you can program to remember certain kinds of information as you read and, before and after you read.  The better you program your notes as you read, the faster and better you'll be able to produce writing based on those notes.

        First, start to read with the pen in your hand.  Use the pen to keep your eyes focused on the page when you're not writing, and use it to mark the text when ideas rise up that must be important.   If you stop before finishing the text, make sure your last notes fully capture the sense of what the text has and hasn't accomplished.  That last note becomes your lifeline into the reading process when you restart.  I recommend that you do not use highlighters instead of actually taking notes with a pen or pencil.  I know this sounds like a mere stylistic choice, but it's extremely important to understand the mental difference between running a highlighter over a piece of text and (even!) underscoring it or circling it.  The highlighter can be used to underscore and to circle, of course, but it is very awkward to use for writing text of your own.  Never underscore or circle anything without at least labeling it to indicate why it is important ("1st reason," "thesis," "main objection," if you're reading persuasive argument; "role of trad. Black churches as cooptable infrastructure" or "media spreads non-violence message" if you're reading a history of the Civil Rights Movement).  How is this affected by using highlighters?  If you're holding a highlighter as you read, you're less likely to put it down to pick up a pen.  I know whereof I speak!  When I failed calculus at Lehigh in my freshman year, I had the most thoroughly highlighted calculus text on campus, but never a note did I take.  The highlighter only speaks in the context of what it highlights--in you memory it makes no trace.  Writing does.  That memory trace is what you really are trying to construct, in addition to giving yourself a short-cut for reviewing the text before class and before you write.

        Second, in addition to notes in the margins to record quick indicators of important things (see above), stop periodically to annotate the top or bottom of the pages to summarize what's going on there.  Stick to phrases or lists of words.  Never go for more than a few pages in an important reading without pulling the most important ideas to the top of the page (or the bottom), or to a separate note page, in your own hand-writing.  Again, you want to create review aids, but you also want to reinforce the memory traces of the most important things in the text.  You must review those "super-notes" before writing, so make them represent the emerging threads of information that you think are likely to turn into insights, or are likely to be on the exams because they're most important.  In doing so, you are stacking those big ideas in your own mind, as well, so that when you turn to write you will have an easier time manipulating them to find new things to say about them.   Remember, the ideas in the order the source gave them to you still belong to the source, but those same ideas, reorganized and turned into a new recognition of order, begin to belong to you (suitably cited for source dependence, of course).  When you recombine sources' ideas to create new ideas, you can create original intellectual property that belongs to you, as long as you cite the sources you use.

        Third, if it takes you more than one reading to finish the source, review your previous notes before you start to read again, and get your mind back into the rhythm and logic of the text before you try to re-enter it.  You may not have stopped at the most logical spot, but if you reread the notes, you'll be able to detect whether you're in the middle of something or at a "cusp" between major steps in the text.  if you've made no notes yet because you're just starting, pre-read it to write notes indicating its beginning, end, and major sub-divisions.  Think about why it's organized that way and write down any questions that raises for you. 

        What are you looking for to annotate?  The structure of academic argument is predictable because the scholars you're reading all learned the same methods of presenting information.  You will see one of two patterns: evidence, examples or other data, followed by an assertion about what they mean (inductive reasoning) or an assertion about meaning followed by evidence, examples, etc. (deductive reasoning).  Always pull the assertions' key phrases to the top of the page or to your notes page, and you should note key examples.  The literary text usually proceeds by stages often called "scenes" (whether it's a drama or not), though lyric poems usually have thematic divisions produced by repeated words or ideas.   Part of your task is to find the divisions the author has created and to ask yourself what logic governs those divisions' locations.  Sometimes scene divisions set up tests for the readers, and in other cases the divisions encourage our speculation.  Literary texts which use characters pose a special challenge for the reader.  When we start a novel or story, we are like a stranger at a party thrown by the author--notes when characters are introduced will help you keep track of them and their characteristics.  Remember the "narrator" also is a kind of character, even when it's third-person omniscient.  Watch for the narrator's attempts to influence your judgment and remember, the narrator is not the author.

        What do you do if it's a borrowed book, especially a library book?  Take your notes on those 3x5 cards old-fashioned writing handbooks always advise you to use for information gathering, or use self-adhesive note paper ("post-its").   This is what students used to do all the time when books were rarer, there were no Xerox machines, and borrowed library materials were more often used for research.  Have a stack of cards by your side and use them as you would the page space, inserting them into the text at the correct page if it's a book.  But remember to jot the page number on the card, and be very careful to use quotation marks when your note contains the source's exact words!  Trust me--you will not remember to do this before writing, and when the card falls out, it's very hard to locate where it belonged.  You also can use 3M "Post-It"™ notes for this purpose, but librarians tell us that the glue on those notes will damage some book papers, and it always leaves a residue behind that eventually causes more harm.  For the sake of students who come after you, use the cards.

        Finally, if you are using borrowed texts (books or periodicals) and discover that they have been vandalized, don't just put them back on the shelf.  Notify the librarians immediately so replacements can be arranged.  As a scholar, you have a responsibility to all other scholars to help preserve and to help repair damage to the legacy of scholarship we have inherited from previous generations.  Obviously, students who tear pages out of library materials or mark them up are not scholars, nor have they anything about them that resembles a scholar other than a deceptive resemblance to a human being.  Fortunately, with your help, their damage nearly always can be repaired.  If you are attempting to use an assigned web page and discover broken hyperlinks or other malfunctioning parts, notify the page's owner so that repairs can be made.