In college you are going to be assigned lots of kinds of reading. You might read novels, works of nonfiction, and different kinds of articles. Your instructors have a whole vocabulary about books and articles that you might not have developed yet. For example, in your English literature course, you might be asked to select a work of non-fiction from a particular time period. When you go to the library, you need to know how non-fiction is different from a novel, is different from an anthology, etc. Otherwise, you might spend a lot of time reading a book that won’t work for the assignment you have been given.

In addition to knowing what the types of sources are that you might be assigned, this chapter will give tips on how to read them. In the last chapter you learned that you need to approach different reading differently. The same is true for other kinds of sources. The way you take notes on a novel will be different than the way you take notes on an article, etc. By the time you are done reading this chapter, you will have a better sense of the different types of reading you might be asked to do and how to approach it.

Different Kinds of Sources

Below is a list of common sources you might be assigned in college along with a definition and common situations in which students might be assigned these kinds of sources.

Novels

You have likely been reading novels since you were very young. Here is the most important thing to remember: Novels are always made up– in other words, an author created characters and events that don’t exist in “real life.” For example, all the Harry Potter books are novels. Novels can be very realistic and can even be based on real events, but the actual people in the novel are products of the author’s imagination. Novels are usually multi-chapter. Some people call novels “works of fiction.” Whenever you hear the word “fiction” or “novel” that means that whatever you are reading is made up.

Why Do We Read Novels in College?

You will certainly read novels in English literature courses, but you might be assigned them in other classes as well. For example, in a psychology course, if you are studying treatments for mental illness, your instructor might assign you a novel about a person with a mental illness and the treatment they received.

Non-fiction

Non-fiction breaks down into many categories– but, as a rule, non-fiction is any book that isn’t made up. Cookbooks, books on how to be successful in relationships, and gardening how-to books are all non-fiction.  Books about the role of African Americans in the Civil War, how women’s roles have changed over time, how and why people vote the way they do, etc. are also all non-fiction.

Two other types of non-fiction are commonly assigned in college: Biographies and autobiographies. A biography is a book someone wrote about someone else. If an author carefully studies a political leader and writes about them, that is a biography. An autobiography is a book someone writes about themselves. Biographies and autobiographies are true– as least as much as research and memory can make them.

Why Do We Read Non-Fiction in College?

It is common for history and sociology instructors to assign non-fiction so you can thoroughly learn about one time-period, battle, event or issue. Textbooks usually cover lots of information broadly. For example, there might be a chapter section on African Americans’ contributions to the Civil War, but your instructor might assign a book that will get in-depth on those contributions.

Essays

Often, students call essays “stories.” But stories and essays are different. Stories are made up, while essays are not. Essays are usually fairly short– between 2 and maybe 40 pages. While they may contain true information, the heavy focus is on helping the reader understand the writer’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs, and/or to persuade them to believe something or do something. For example, a woman might write a 15 pages essay on what it is like to care for her father, who has Alzheimer’s. While her essay might contain true information about Alzheimer’s and the treatments for it, the major point of the essay is for the author to share the challenges and joys of looking after her father. Essays are often written to persuade readers to think or do something. For example, you might read an essay that argues we should raise the minimum wage, or another essay that says we should not have a minimum wage at all. Both essays’ authors might use facts and statistics to support their arguments, but the major goal is to get readers to agree with them.

Why Do We Read Essays in College?

Instructors assign essays to get students to think critically, or to understand an issue more thoroughly. They will often ask “Do you agree with this author?” Or they will have students read essays that argue two different things and ask students to decide who they agree with and why.

Articles- Popular and Scholarly

Students often call articles “stories” as well. Again, stories are made up, while articles are true. Articles fall into two basic categories: popular and scholarly.

Popular Articles

Popular articles show up in newspapers, websites, and magazines and their major purpose is to inform readers about something– results of a school board election, ways to keep your sanity during the holiday season, what is happening with the national debt, what pesticides are present in our foods. As a rule, authors leave their personal opinions and experiences out of articles since the purpose is to inform.

Why Do We Read Popular Articles in College?

If your instructor has assigned a popular article for you to read, they usually have one or more of the following goals:

1. They want to give you information about a current event. Let’s say you are in an astronomy class and just recently, a new spaceship collected data from the solar system. This is new data– it isn’t in your textbook since the data wasn’t around when the book was written. Your instructor wants you to have this updated information.
2. They want to give you an in-depth look at a concept, person, or event from your class. For example, you are reading about a particular artist in your Art History class. Let’s say that your instructor finds an article about how that artist influenced an entire generation of new artists and started a movement. They might assign that article for the class to read so you will have a more well-rounded perspective on that artistic movement.
3. They want to give you a different perspective. For example, let’s say you are learning about the factors that cause people to become unhoused. Your instructor finds an article that challenges what you are learning by suggesting another factor that isn’t discussed in the rest of your course components.

Scholarly Articles

Scholarly articles are often very difficult to read. They are written by professionals for other professionals to read so they can use that information to improve their work. For example, if a cardiologist (heart doctor) tried a new treatment for a heart condition on 500 patients, they might write an article about that treatment for a publication that other cardiologists would read. The article would be full of jargon— or language you might only know if you were a cardiologist, since the article is for them. Scholarly articles have special characteristics that set them apart– they have an abstract at the beginning, (a paragraph that sums up the purpose of the article and its major conclusions) they often describe or summarize studies and they are peer reviewed, which means that experts who know about the subject (in our example– other cardiologists) read the article and say, “Yes! The research in the article is well done and this article is good enough to make it into our publication!”

Why Do We Read Scholarly Articles in College?

Instructors will often have you read scholarly articles whenever you have to write research papers. Scholarly articles usually focus on research the authors have done directly– which makes them great sources to use to make a point. For example, let’s say you want to do a research paper for your English class on how exercise helps elementary school children learn. You would find a scholarly article written by someone who researched the importance of exercise for learning. Using the work of this scholar allows you to make it clear you have done your research and you are worth listening to.

Journals

In your classes, you might hear your instructors refer to journals. Right away, you might think “Oh, I know what that is. A journal is a notebook you write your thoughts and feelings in.” And yes– that is a type of journal, and for some classes, you might be asked to keep a journal. However, there is another type of journal– a professional publication. A journal is a type of magazine designed for people in a profession. English teachers, dentists, psychologists, doctors, lawyers, social workers and people from hundreds of other professions have journals specifically for them. Journals are full of scholarly articles, as well as popular articles, all geared toward helping people do their jobs better. For example, a journal for lawyers might contain a scholarly article about how certain types of punishments are more effective than others for first time offenders, but five pages later, there will be an essay written by a lawyer about how she balances a challenging law practice and being a mom.

Why Do We Use Journals in College?

You might be asked to read scholarly articles that come from a journal that relates to your class. For example, if you are in a psychology class, your instructor might ask you to find a scholarly article in a journal that relates to treating a psychological disorder.

Anthologies

An anthology is a collection of short stories, or essays. Usually, each work in an anthology is written by a different person. Anthologies often have a theme– for example, an anthology might consist of short stories all written by a particular group of people– like midwestern authors. Or about a particular subject– such as essays about how the American family has changed since the 1950’s.

Why Do We Read Anthologies in College?

Instructors might assign anthologies if they want you to have a collection of works on a similar theme or written by a similar group of people. Usually, their goal is to help students develop a really deep and clear understanding of an issue or of the values of a certain group of people. For example, if you took a literature class called, “Science Fiction and Fantasy,” you might have an anthology full Science Fiction and Fantasy stories. When you are done reading that anthology, you will have a good idea of the characteristics of Science Fiction and Fantasy.  If you are taking a climate change class your instructor might have an anthology of essays written by different authors with multiple perspectives on climate change.

Periodicals

Another term your instructors might use is periodicals. Periodicals are ANY publication that comes out periodically– which means “at regular intervals.” Some periodicals (like newspapers) are published every day or several times a week, while magazines might be published once a month. Journals often come out four times a year– or every three months. If you hear your instructors talking about an article in a periodical, they just mean that an article appeared in a publication that comes out at regular intervals.

Tips for Reading Different Sources

Students might say, “Our instructor assigned this novel or this article and it doesn’t have anything to do with what we’re learning.” Another common complaint is “The instructor assigned this book or article and never said anything about it.”

First of all, there is always a reason why your instructor assigned that particular book or article. Your job is to figure out what you are supposed to “get out” of it. Secondly, your instructor might not talk about the book or article because they assume you are reading it and taking notes on it. They may believe it is clear to you why they assigned that book or article. In college, you can’t assume your instructors will jump up in front of the class and say, “You have to read this book by this date, and here is a reading schedule.” Instead, they assume you have read the syllabus and figured out a reading schedule for yourself.

Below are suggestions about how to read and take notes on different kinds of sources.

Novels

If you have been assigned a novel, usually it is because the things that happen to the characters in the novel relate in important ways to concepts you are learning in the class. For example, if you are in an African American History course, you might read a novel about an African American family who lived during the Civil Rights movement so you can see how the Civil Rights movement affected that family.

How to Read Books: Novels or Non-Fiction

Step 1: Read the syllabus and all assignments related to the novel. Even if your first writing assignment about the novel isn’t due for several weeks, read it anyway. Why? Because the assignment will give you clues about what to notice when you read the novel. Let’s say, in your Psychology class, you are reading a novel about a woman who suffers from major depressive disorder. One of the points of the class is that people with mental illnesses experience barriers to getting help and that society can and should do a better job of removing those barriers.

Even though the assignment over the book isn’t due for three weeks, you read it and here is the prompt for the paper you have to write: “In the novel, the main character, Lydia, suffers from depressive disorder. In this class, you are learning about common barriers people with mental illnesses face to receiving treatment. Select three barriers our character faces, describe them, explain why they are common barriers and suggest ways to overcome them.”

Now you know what to mark, underline and note when you read in the novel– the barriers to receiving treatment.

Step 2: Develop a notetaking system. Usually, for novels, simply underlining or highlighting important passages is good enough, but in a 328-page novel, how are you supposed to remember where you underlined what? Here is a simple way to do it:

Fold a sheet of paper in half so it fits in the book. Clip a pen to it and use the pen/ paper as a bookmark. Set up the piece of paper something like this:

Try to write very briefly so you don’t overwhelm yourself with information, and if “Brief summary of action” and “Connection to important concept” are not good column headings for your class, replace them with headings that fit better.

Most instructors are happy to help students study and do homework more effectively. Consider showing your notetaking system to your instructor to see what they think of it. They may have some really great suggestions.

Step 3: As you get closer to the assignment you need to write, sort out your evidence. Go through what you have written on your sheet of paper and put stars next the “evidence” you think will relate most closely to the assignment you need to do.

Essays and Popular Articles

As a rule, the goal of the author of an essay is to get readers to understand their viewpoint and/ or connect with them emotionally. The goal of an article is to inform readers about an event, situation, person or idea. Unless an essay or article is really long, try to simply take notes on the document itself– i.e write in the margins or on sticky notes you place next to information you want to mark. If the essay or article is in electronic form and you don’t want to print it, see if you can use an online note-taking app of some kind.

Step 1: As you read the essay or article, mark the following types of information:

1. Things that confuse you (places where you aren’t sure what the point is)
2. Places where it seems the author is making an important conclusion
3. Places where it seems the author is justifying or providing reasons for their conclusion
4. Any sentences that give you clues about the structure of the article. Below are examples:
   1. Number sentences:  i.e. “There are three reasons by we should change XYZ law . . . .” Sentences like this tell readers that the author will likely list and discuss each reason.
   2. Comparison sentences: “Similar to,” “different from” or “There are important similarities/ differences between X and Y” indicate that an author’s purpose is to compare and contrast two or more things.
   3. Cause/ Effect: “X caused Y” or “X led to Y . . .” shows that the author’s purpose is to show how one thing caused another.
   4. Process: “The first step is to . . . . .” or “The first thing that needs to happen is  . . .”indicates that the author wants you to understand process.
5. Anything that reminds you of another source you are reading for class
6. Anything that touches you personally because you can relate to it

Step 2: Come up with a color coding or a symbol system for each type of information above. For example, if something confused you, put a question mark by it. If something seems to be an important conclusion, write “conclusion” beside it, etc. Or, if you like colors, highlight all confusing things in yellow, all conclusions in pink, etc.

Step 3: When you are done reading the essay or article ask yourself this question: “What major conclusion or conclusions does this author come to?” and/or “What do they want to persuade readers to believe or do?”

Once you’ve answered the question that seems the best fit for your article, make a list of reasons why you believe this is the author’s main conclusion. Here is a made-up example: let’s say you read an article that makes the point that American school lunches are very unhealthy compared to the school lunches offered in other parts of the world and that has lead to a series of health and behavior issues for school children. You could write something like this:

Main Conclusion: American School lunches are unhealthy compared to many other countries and this has lead to health issues.

Reasons the author gives to support this conclusion:

1. America spends less on school lunches that other countries, which results in low quality foods high in fat, sugar and salt.
2. American children have higher rates of obesity than children in other countries
3. American children suffer in greater numbers from behavioral problems than children in other parts of the world.
4. These behavior problems can be linked to diet