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Effective Reading

Our top tips and advice on getting the most from your reading, taking effective notes from journal article and identifying links between sources.

Connecting your reading

To succeed at university it is essential that you go beyond just reiterating what others have said and start to integrate information from multiple sources: this is synthesis. Including synthesis in your writing demonstrates your understanding and allows you to draw your own conclusions.

So what's the difference between summary and synthesis?

Summarising your reading:

  • Reiterates what an author has said/found
  • Talks about pieces of evidence in isolation from one another
  • Demonstrates an overview of understanding and meaning

Synthesising your reading:

  • Identifies the links between different sources to come to an evidence-informed conclusion.
  • Involves looking for similarities as well as differences between the sources and article you have read.
  • Tracing the connections between sources using the reference list - this can help to identify 'close relatives' where the article is similar to another published study.

Here's an example of the difference between summarising and synthesising reading in two example paragraphs using the same sources:

Summarising reading:

Factors influencing people's interest in climate change can be understood through different lenses. Fretwell and Greig (2019) explored the relationship between an individual's self-reported connection to nature, personal well-being, and environmental awareness. They found that people who feel a stronger connection to nature tend to report higher levels of personal well-being and environmental awareness. Austmann and Vigne (2021) examined whether environmental awareness influences the electric vehicle market by analysing keywords on Twitter. Their study indicated that heightened environmental awareness does contribute to the popularity of electric vehicles. Rothermich, Johnson, Griffith, and Beingolea (2021) investigated the influence of personality traits on attitudes towards climate change. Their exploratory study concluded that certain personality traits, such as openness and conscientiousness, are significant predictors of an individual's attitude towards climate change.

In this example, each article is summarised individually, and there is a lack of critical writing offering details on strengths and weaknesses of the different studies. By keeping each reference separate, the paragraph also lacks flow as it is unclear what the different papers are adding up to.


Synthesising reading:

Factors influencing people's interest in climate change can be understood through a combination of studies looking at personal connections to nature, environmental awareness, and personality traits. Fretwell and Greig (2019) found that people who feel a strong connection to nature also report higher well-being and environmental awareness. This awareness is important, as Austmann and Vigne (2021) showed it boosts the electric vehicle market, indicating that awareness leads to eco-friendly choices. Additionally, Rothermich et al. (2021) found that personality traits like openness and conscientiousness predict positive attitudes towards climate change action. Together, these studies show that a strong connection to nature, greater environmental awareness, and certain personality traits all contribute to increased interest and proactive attitudes towards climate change.

In this example, the studies are connected together, making the links between them clearer to the reader. This creates the sense of the evidence adding up to a perspective or argument on the topic, rather than a collection of random ideas. Signposting language - word like 'additionally' and 'together' improve the flow further and a concluding sentence helps to underline the writer's argument.


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