Before you read an academic text, ask yourself:

• Why am I reading this text?

• What information or pieces of information do I
need?
• What do I want to learn?
• to better understand an existing idea
• to get ideas that can support a particular writing
assignment
• to gain more information
• to identify gaps in existing studies
• to connect new ideas to existing ones
• Academic texts are typically .
• They have a clearly structured ,
, and .
• ATs and
.
In general, you should observe the following when writing
academic texts.
• State critical questions and issues.
• Provide facts and evidence from credible sources.
• Use precise and accurate words.
• Take an objective POV.
• Cite credible sources and list them in your references.
• Use hedging and cautious language to tone down your
claims.
• Determine which type of academic text (article, review, thesis,
etc.) you are reading.
• Determine and establish your purpose for reading.
• Identify the author’s purpose for writing.
• Predict or infer the main idea or argument of the text based on
its title.
• State what you already know and what you want to learn about
the topic.
• Use a concept map or a graphic organizer to note your existing
ideas and knowledge on the topic.
• Check the publication date for relevance.
• Check the reference list.
• Mark/highlight relevant parts of the text.
• Use context clues to define unfamiliar or technical
words.
• Note the unfamiliar or technical words to be
defined later.
• Take note of author’s arguments at the end of a
chapter or section.
• Reflect on what you learned.
• React on some parts of the text.
• Discuss the text with your teacher or peers.
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uestion
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• Skim the text to see if it is suitable for your needs
and to get a general idea of what it is about.
• Ask yourself why you are reading the text and
what you want to get out of it so that you read with
a specific focus.
• Your comprehension improves if your mind is
actively searching for answers to questions.
• Read carefully.
• Break up your reading into small sections.
• Look for main ideas.
• Mentally go through the ideas you have just read
and pick out the man points.

• Check that you can answer your initial questions.

• Check that you have assimilated and gathered the

information you need.
• Look back to see if the passage has answered
everything you wanted.

• How much can you remember?

What you now about the topic
What you ant to learn
What you earned
• Read the