SUGGESTED APPROACHES

TO READING ARTICLES FOR YOUR DISSERTATION.

Some techniques have been found useful when students are reading large amounts of
material. The following suggestions may be helpful for you. You might like to photocopy
this form and to use it for every key article that you read. Alternatively I can send it to
you as an email attachment if you email me a request

On completion of the form the summary sheet at the back should be stapled to the front of
the form. This will provide you with an ‘alphabetically organized’ or ‘topic organized’
record of your reading. It will also ensure that you have quick and easy summarised
access to those authors and ideas you may wish to include in your Dissertation chapters.

Students are advised to develop the practice of entering electronically into their
reference list EVERY article that they read. Separate computer files for each letter (or
group of letters) of the alphabet are recommended. Within file ranking is important.
Layout should be consistent and conform to the prescribed college reference format.
Doing this as you go along will save a lot of time at the end of the process.

Thanks are due to Marie Murray (UoL) for providing me with the basic template for this
form. Any suggestions you have for improving it would be very welcome. You may also
find the following web site, which Alan Matthews has uncovered, useful:
http://bio.ltsn.ac.uk/hosted/GSP/

The following is the recommended way to tackle articles or book chapters.

 Skim through the article without necessarily attempting to understand

or retain anything.

Write in one word or sentence what you think the paper is about.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

This should be sufficient to tell you whether this is a key piece of work for your
dissertation. If it is key, then you must ensure that you have easy access to it. If so:
Read again more slowly and identify a few points of interest/direct relevance to you.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Summarise the key points that you think the author of the article is making and how
these relate to what you are doing in the dissertation.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Identify any new perspectives, which emerge for you in this paper, with reference to
your earlier reading.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
Are there any aspects of this paper that you do not understand? Identify these –
especially as issue to discuss with your supervisor

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Identify elements in the paper that connect/fit with or differ from what you have
read in other articles
________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Is there anything is this article that causes you to rethink your ideas/approach? Do
you think there are any flaws in or limitations to the article?
________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
Summarise the article for future reference. Add the article reference to your Bibliography or Reference file
in preparation for referencing your essays and later for your Dissertation. This could save you untold work
in the future. Staple this page to the front of the form and file your collection of articles alphabetically by
author or subject.

Date read:

Author/s

Year of Publication.

Title.

Publisher.

Subject:

Summary of Article
________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

©Frances.Ruane@tcd.ie