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When I was studying at school, I used different coloured pens to denote different kinds of notes, e.g. green meant someone’s opinion, while red meant factual information. When I went on to university I discovered packs of rainbow coloured paper, so I wrote biographical notes on yellow paper and key revision points on red paper. The author of this book has devised a much simpler (and cheaper) method of annotating notes, using codes such as SPL — Summary of Previous Literature. I believe that teachers might want to adapt this kind of structured approach to help their pupils read properly.

That sounds very insulting, because as the author points out, teachers assume that by the time youngsters reach secondary school age they are competent readers. However, unless they have been trained or have trained themselves to do otherwise, they probably read in the same way they were taught to when they were five years old.

This is not an easy read, being aimed at university students (I think) and their lecturers. However, I believe that it could be useful for teachers who despair at their pupils’ poor reading habits and/or low retention rates.

You can buy the book from here: How to read journal articles in the social sciences. Please note that that is an Amazon affiliate link, and that the book was sent to me to review.