Making a start: using your reading

in your academic writing

Year One, Seminar One

Pat Pye
patricia.pye@bucks.ac.uk
 Reading for assignments
 In order to write effective assignments, you
need to draw on your reading and then use
this information in a meaningful way.
 This does not mean repeating what an
author says word for word…
 Think of your notes from your reading as
your ‘ingredients’. It is up to you how you
use these!
Reading at university: different types
 As background to seminars and
lectures.
 Gaining more information
 Reading round a subject – a topic you
are interested in. This one is very
important!
 Reading to complete a specific
assignment
 Speeding up your reading

Speed read ing has be en found to be bet ter for understand ing than slow
reading.
(Buzan, 2007, p.84)

The above sentence has been deliberately split up. You probably
found it much harder to read. Try the reading speed test on the
following pages; at university, you will have to take in a lot of
information so it can be useful to speed up your reading.
Test your reading speed
 1 Read for 2 minutes – note starting and
stopping points.
 2 Count the number of words on three
lines.
 3 Divide than number by three to give
average number of words per line.
 4 Count the number of lines read
Test your reading speed
 5 Multiply average number of words per
line by number of lines read
 6 Divide the total by the number of
minutes spent reading
 7 This will give you a words per minute
(wpm) reading speed.
(Buzan, 2007)
 Understanding the different types of
reading
 The preview (parts of a book – blurb, title,
content, index). Deciding what is relevant.
 Scanning - for specific information. Read
with a question in mind.
 Skimming – getting a general idea of the
content.
 ‘Close reading’ – reading word for word /
may only be necessary with very complex
material.
Using your reading in an assignment

 You have different options:

1. You can use a direct quote. This is when you repeat the author’s
exact words and put them in quote marks.
2. You can paraphrase the author’s material, putting them into your
own words.
Question: Do you need to add a reference to your source?

For general ideas about using your reading in assignments, see

Godfrey (2013).
 Paraphrasing and direct quotes

 Answer: You do need to add a reference, whether it is a quote or a

paraphrase.
 When you read, you will need to pick out the key points to use in
your assignments.
 Using direct quotes: If you want to use the exact words of an author,
you should present this as a ‘direct quote’, with quotation marks
around the words used. See note below: you must avoid long direct
quotes. It is better to paraphrase.
 Do not ‘translate’ when you paraphrase (e.g. attempt to find
exact words to replace all the words in the original source).

Important note: avoid too many ‘direct quotes’ in your first assignment:
your lecturers will want to see that you have understood key terms and
processes. If you keep repeating the exact words of your sources, this does
not demonstrate understanding of your material.
A common problem with
paraphrasing…

 Students who are new to academic writing, often

attempt to paraphrase by replacing each word with
another word.
 If you do this, you can lose the meaning of the original
source.
 It is acceptable to keep some key words in your
paraphrasing.
 Plagiarism is using whole sentences / paragraphs /
sections, not individual words and phrases.
Adding references
 As you will see from this presentation,
there are short references (author +
date) alongside the material I have used.
 Then the long reference appears in a list
at the back.
 This is called the ‘Harvard system’ and
you will be using this for your
assignments.
Activity
 Read Section 3 of the Code from the NMC (2015), about
people’s physical, social and psychological needs.
 Pick out some of the key words / key points.
 Now use this information to write a short paragraph, answering the
question
‘How can a nurse respond to a patient’s different needs?’
Use your own ideas and also draw on the points made in the NMC
Code.
 Add a reference to the NMC Code. Remember: the short
reference goes inside your writing. The long reference goes at the
end.
References
Buzan, T. (2007) The Buzan Study Skills
Handbook. BBC Active: Harlow
Godfrey, J. (2013) How to use your reading in
your essays. 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan
NMC (2015) The Code Available at
https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/code
(Accessed: 24 September 2018)