As many of you know, reading is absolutely key to academic writing. It’s where we gather things to say and springboard into new ideas. Many students see reading as a chore or a punishment. I find reading is a way to nourish my thinking. So I’m always trying to encourage students to look at reading kindly. Those of us who teach writing are often quick to say ‘read critically’ without explaining what this means. While it does mean critiquing the paper, it also means reflecting on it in terms of your own views. Here’s a paper I came across today that does a great job of explaining reading: Corrigan 2014 Attending-to-the-act-of-reading. He even has a tool so that you can assess if you are reading actively or not.
Cecile
Cecile Badenhorst 