The purpose of reading at university is not just to expand your knowledge but to improve your understanding and appreciation of WHY research is going on or WHY the different debates are taking place.

When you're learning at university, it's important not to approach your reading the way you would read a novel - you need to read in an active way.

But what does that mean? 

There are a couple of things you can do to help your reading be more active, just remember, most of the time you’re going to have to re-read the text to make sure that you’ve understood it, don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal!

Try:

• adding notes or questions in the margins or highlighting important sections
• to understand what you’re reading, not just memorise it
• thinking about whether you agree with the content or not
• thinking about how it compares to your other reading
• keeping a dictionary handy so you can look up any terms you don't understand (if you don’t understand some of the words, how can you understand what the author is trying to say?) and build yourself a dictionary of terms you’ve had to look up - this will help you remember the information!

Try quizzing yourself on the content of an article, asking critical questions as you read the source:

• what issue is the author focusing on?
• what did they say, why did they say it?
• do they have enough evidence for their argument? 
• what is the purpose of the writing, who is the audience?
• is the author funded by a particular organisation - what issues could that cause?
• does the writer consider, address and/or refute opposing arguments?
• what connections can you make between this source and others you have read?

To follow up, note down any key points, ask questions about what you didn't understand, maybe create flashcards or create a mind map to help you understand how the points are linked. 

The Learning Spiral (The Open University, p.12, fig.1)

Examples of active learning activities for group-work include:

• noting down key points following a session and raising questions around areas you didn't understand
• developing a list of questions based on a text for other groups to answer
• sharing a paragraph to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a source - what can be learned or recommended as a result?
• listening to a podcast and noting down (five) key points then discussing the importance of each point 
• referencing a source (using Cite Them Right) and explaining why it may be useful in answering the assignment question 

If this is something you'd like to develop, you can discuss learning strategies and time management with the Study Skills team.

If you Google 'notetaking' you'll get so many results! So, to help you out, we've pulled together a list of the four most common methods but there's more info on notetaking here for you.

Notetaking is an essential skill for your time here at university but that doesn't mean transcribing every word from your classes! Everyone has their own approach to notetaking so don't worry if your friends take notes in a different way to you - we all learn in different ways. Just remember, take your own notes in your own way - you might use one particular method, a hybrid or your very own invention.

The Open University (2007) Develop Effective Study Strategies. Milton Keynes: Thanet Press.