CALL Research Journal #12

As a busy part-time graduate student, being able to read academic articles efficiently is an indispensable survival skill. Last Thursday, Professor Johanson required us to read through a dozen-page thesis in 15 minutes. Impossible it might seem; yet this difficulty can be conquered once you know the tricks. Professor Johanson asked some of the classmates to share their ways of reading the thesis. Every one has his/her own reading style and the experienced-sharing was valuable as well as beneficial. First, we should take note of the background information such as the topic, institution, the authenticated date etc. Then we move to the abstract. Abstract gives us an overview and the basic information of the thesis. It shall contain the purpose, research method, participants and findings of the study. Next we skip to the conclusion part. Conclusion is where to tell if the thesis is juicy, in other words, worth reading or not. Finally we go back to the body, especially the part that explains how the research was conducted. I personally think that figures are critical in providing a general idea about how the findings are analyzed. Furthermore, references section is also one thing that shouldn’t be overlooked. We can learn a lot of key words or phrases related to the topic from here.