Mastering Research Report Reading: Boost Your Graduate Studies

Basics for Understanding Research Reports and Articles Reading is one of the cornerstones of graduate education, along with writing and research. In each course, you will be assigned reading on a weekly basis. Reading assignments may include chapters from textbooks, scholarly articles, reports, documents, PowerPoint presentations, websites, and sample papers. Discussions and written assignments in class are based on reading materials. It is critical that you have the textbooks assigned for your courses. A few general tips on keeping up with reading assignments include: Read the introduction, main headings, and summary of all assignments as a preliminary method of understanding the focus of the reading. Review graphs, tables, charts, and other graphics that help explain the material. Highlight sections of the text or take notes to help you summarize the information. After reading the material, take a few moments to think about what you read and how it applies to the topic you are studying. Read some of your assigned readings every day to keep the concepts and ideas fresh in your mind during the term and to stay on target for completing all assignments on time. Reading Research Reading textbooks is a skill you probably mastered in your undergraduate coursework. Reading research is a skill you need to master as you work throu