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How to Read & Take Notes Like a PhD Student | Tips for Reading Fast & Efficiently for Slow Readers — Transcript

by Kaelyn Grace Apple | Historian · 2,908 words · 444 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00the act of reading is central to the
0:01experience and research of graduate
0:03students and scholars but it is a skill
0:05that's mastered over time
0:07to read is not simply to glance over the
0:09words but to process their meaning the
0:11structure of one's argument and to
0:13develop a strategy for retention and
0:14understanding that is what we'll be
0:16covering in today's video hello everyone
0:18and welcome or welcome back to my
0:20channel if you're new here my name is
0:22kalyn i am a second year phd student in
0:24history and african american studies at
0:26yale university and today i have a much
0:29awaited
0:30many times requested video for you
0:33this is how to read like a phd student
0:36i've been asked to make this video since
0:37i started my channel and i have put it
0:40off time and time again because i wanted
0:41it to be
0:43perfect but now i think i've come up
0:44with my formula i have a distinct system
0:48for how it is that i read as a phd
0:50student i'm gonna be sharing all of my
0:51best tips and tricks and really focusing
0:53on the different applications of reading
0:56and note-taking so that way you can
0:57perform the best that you can as a
0:59student whether you're in high school
1:01undergrad or a current graduate student
1:02i think this video is going to be useful
1:04for everyone so grab a cup of coffee and
1:07let's go ahead and get started when
1:09considering all of my tactics for
1:11reading and how to effectively take
1:12notes there were three primary things
1:14that came to mind in today's video we're
1:16gonna be covering these three different
1:18types of reading
1:19one how to read for class two how to
1:22read for retention and three how to read
1:25for research first we'll begin with the
1:27most applicable lesson for students
1:28across fields which is how to read and
1:30take notes for class at the beginning of
1:32a new term it's important to read
1:34through your syllabi and determine which
1:35readings are the most pertinent to your
1:37long-term goals in research while it may
1:39be initially overwhelming most
1:41professors don't actually expect their
1:42students to do all of the reading as a
1:44student who studied at universities
1:46across the world i can tell you it's
1:48important to read with a strategy in
1:50mind rather than to waste your time on
1:51subjects you may never come across again
1:54at the beginning of each week go to the
1:56index of your books and readings to
1:58determine the structure and which
1:59chapters you may want to pay attention
2:01to the most for example as a student
2:03interested in the history of slavery and
2:05the law i'm likely to be called upon in
2:07seminar to answer questions related to
2:09my subject matter therefore i always go
2:12through the readings and consider which
2:13chapters in books or sections and
2:15articles will have the information i
2:16most need to retain from there i set up
2:19my class notes for my class notes i use
2:21none other than the versatile and best
2:23organization app on the market notion
2:26for this i break my notes into three
2:28primary sections major themes
2:30scholarship and questions after years of
2:33taking inefficient notes on all the
2:36quotes and nitty-gritty information in
2:37my readings i soon found that having
2:39talking points and notes which helped
2:41jog my memory during class were so much
2:43more efficient while there may be
2:45readings that you wish to read more
2:46thoroughly for retention i want you to
2:48think of your class notes as a set of
2:50talking points and examples which you
2:51can use to feel confident participating
2:54in class and preparing for exams one
2:56quick side note attend office hours for
2:58exam-based courses so you're also
3:00reading based on the key takeaways they
3:02recommend to be a successful student and
3:04now for a quick message about the
3:06sponsor of today's video notion if
3:08anybody's been watching my channel for
3:10any period of time you know how much i
3:12absolutely love notion i not only use it
3:16as a student i've been using it for
3:17three years now but i also use it as a
3:20business owner i have the business
3:22subscription for my team at accepted
3:24consulting and accepted society i use it
3:27for my research i use it for content
3:29planning for my youtube channel i just
3:31think it's the most useful application
3:32out there i've tried everything and i
3:35just think that notion is truly a
3:38perfect application for organization and
3:40for tracking your progress but even more
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3:45capturing all of your notes and here's
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4:01create a database of all of your
4:02readings notion is the ideal tool for
4:05students over the past few months i've
4:07actually been using notion to keep track
4:08of the 200 plus books i have to read for
4:11comprehensive exams and its customizable
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4:14books are in progress those i've
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4:20much again to notion for sponsoring
4:22today's video to download notion go
4:24ahead and check out the description down
4:26below and let's go ahead and head on to
4:29part number two which is all about
4:31reading for retention unlike how you
4:33might read for class where key arguments
4:35and main points will get you by
4:37reading for attention is all about
4:39long-term recall the advice in this
4:41section is for students taking
4:42comprehensive exams preparing for phd
4:45admissions or who want to master the
4:46literature for their research and as
4:48future educators one of the most
4:50important takeaways in this section is
4:52about active recall reading and taking
4:54notes alone will not help you remember
4:56all of the details of a text grab a
4:59friend meet with your professors or like
5:01me grab a camera and start discussing
5:03what you've read through teaching the
5:05subject to others and integrating your
5:07readings into research papers you'll
5:09begin to establish long-term memory
5:11however like learning a language reading
5:13and the knowledge it produces must be
5:15practiced so where your brain may be
5:18faulty it's best to have a repository of
5:20notes
5:21lesson 2.1 note taking for diligent
5:24students
5:25when taking notes for retention there
5:26are several categories worth
5:28highlighting quick disclaimer some of
5:30the points made here are more history
5:32specific but can be adjusted to suit
5:34your needs and research questions begin
5:35by setting up your notes on notion with
5:37the following headers main argument
5:39supporting arguments
5:41subjects and sites
5:43sources
5:44methods
5:45scholarly debate terms and themes
5:48questions
5:49and notes while your notes may be more
5:51extensive the three most important
5:53features of retention when thinking
5:55about academic articles or books are the
5:57main argument how the argument was
5:59supported with evidence and who that
6:01argument is in conversation with
6:04the main argument or thesis is the
6:06center of the text this is what the
6:08author believes is their contribution to
6:10the field and should be indicated
6:11clearly in your notes this will come
6:13especially handy if you have to write
6:15any book reviews in the future
6:16supporting arguments are claims made by
6:18the author but which are not the central
6:20takeaway from the text
6:22subjects and sites have to do with
6:24people and location who is involved in
6:26the study and where was the study
6:28conducted sources and evidence include
6:30data historical documents pieces of art
6:33surveys conducted or anything used to
6:35corroborate the author's thesis
6:38methods or theory is all about analysis
6:41ask yourself how has the author analyze
6:44their evidence to draw this conclusion
6:47now on to questions questions are posed
6:49within the text by the author and are
6:51often used to support the thesis by
6:53indicating for the reader what the
6:55author believes are the most important
6:56takeaways
6:57scholarly debate is central to academic
7:00scholarship while reading check out who
7:02the author cites and mentions multiple
7:04times to see who they are influenced by
7:07or who they may be arguing against
7:09lastly are your notes this is where
7:11you're going to track quotes that you
7:13may want to use in the future especially
7:14for your research papers theses or
7:17dissertation
7:18section 2.2 how to read an academic
7:21article
7:23for today's example i'm going to be
7:24looking at jennifer morgan's article
7:26part of sequitur ventrum as you can see
7:28here there is the general introduction
7:31and when i'm taking notes i'm also
7:32taking notes in the margin if you want
7:34more details on how i take notes on my
7:36ipad i have a video for that that i'll
7:37link down below but what's really
7:39important is the
7:41main argument and supporting arguments
7:43and all the different pieces that i
7:45discussed in the note-taking section
7:47you're going to indicate the primary
7:49argument of the paper this is often
7:52indicated by lines such as this essay
7:55will argue or i claim that usually
7:59leading language that will help you
8:00indicate where the primary argument is
8:03then if we zoom in here we can say that
8:05she actually has a further argument so
8:08you can either include this in the main
8:10argument section or if we believe that
8:11this is a supporting argument then we
8:13would put it in that section of our
8:15notes as we move down we can see that
8:17her general subjects are enslaved women
8:20for the sources we can indicate that
8:22from either the reading of the text and
8:24you can also find it in the footnotes
8:27this is a largely secondary
8:29literature-focused article where she's
8:31in a discussion with a lot of these
8:33scholars so this would go in the
8:35discourse section in terms of methods i
8:38think this is a more theoretical text
8:40whereas other texts may be more focused
8:43on oral testimony or maybe focused on
8:46quantitative methods so for jennifer
8:48morgan's method i would put that she is
8:50using the theory of the race
8:52reproductive bind coined by alice
8:54weinbaum and then for notes i would go
8:56and look at all the different side notes
8:58that i had in the margin here and also
9:00write down all of the quotes as i
9:02discussed in the notes section with
9:03articles what you're looking for is the
9:05main argument which is going to be
9:06coming from the introduction of the
9:09paper and then you're going to be
9:10looking for different sources or
9:12evidence which is often going to come
9:14from the center of the paper for methods
9:16that is often discussed in the
9:17introduction however you'll also find it
9:20throughout the entirety of the paper and
9:22the discourse as i said in the earlier
9:25section is usually in the introduction
9:27as you see here my notes begin to become
9:30more sparse throughout the article i
9:32find that majority of the information of
9:34articles is centered at the beginning
9:36and at the end however this is largely
9:38history specific
9:40and some articles will have an abstract
9:43however for history papers they
9:44typically do not
9:46key takeaways 1. articles should be read
9:48thoroughly but pay attention to the
9:50introduction two the main argument or
9:52thesis is usually near the beginning and
9:55three pay attention to which discussions
9:57they are engaging in articles tend to be
9:59more direct and calling on other
10:00scholars and their work
10:02lesson 2.3 how to effectively read a
10:05book the academic monograph has four
10:07distinct sections the introduction
10:10chapters conclusion and bibliography
10:13let's begin with the introduction this
10:15is the section along with the conclusion
10:17which you should pay the most attention
10:18to in contemporary academic monographs
10:21this is where the main argument and
10:22scholarly discourse lies therefore this
10:25is not the section to skip read
10:27thoroughly and take your time take notes
10:29based on the categories we discussed and
10:31consider which chapters or sections
10:33pique your interest
10:34for this example i'll be returning to
10:36jennifer morgan's work this time with
10:38her recent publication reckoning with
10:40slavery first things first let's go
10:42straight to the table of contents in
10:44this section of the book you'll find a
10:45general overview of the book which will
10:47help you indicate which sections may be
10:49the most intriguing the table of
10:51contents will also help you see the
10:53overall flow of the book allowing you to
10:54ask questions about chronology that may
10:56be useful to you later on now we move to
10:59the introduction this is perhaps the
11:01most important section of the text as it
11:03often contains rich details about the
11:05thesis the discourse the author is
11:07engaging in what evidence will be
11:09presented and so much more as you'll see
11:12in the margins of my book i've left
11:13myself clear notes which help me
11:15indicate which categories they should
11:17fall under on my notion page for
11:19long-term retention and for research i
11:21recommend taking your time with the
11:22introduction
11:24take notes in the margin and don't
11:25forget to check the footnotes and
11:27citations
11:28by the end of the introduction you
11:29should have a clear sense of the
11:31direction of the book and whether or not
11:33it should be useful to your research or
11:34lesson plans now let's move on to the
11:37chapter sections as a slow reader i've
11:39often struggled with maintaining focus
11:41while reading lengthy chapters but after
11:43a few years and countless academic books
11:46i think i've mastered a formula step
11:48number one read the first four to five
11:50pages of the chapter this is often where
11:52the topic and argument of the chapter
11:54will be presented and should be read
11:56thoroughly step number two read the
11:58first three sentences of each paragraph
12:00and skim the rest the middle sections of
12:02chapters focus primarily on evidence
12:04analysis and theory so unlike the
12:06introduction which had clear takeaways
12:08chapter sections will require that you
12:10indicate a few examples or anecdotes
12:13which are supportive of the author's
12:14thesis quick side note indicate between
12:17one and four examples of how the author
12:19uses evidence to support their thesis
12:21for scientific or quantitative based
12:23texts focus on their statistical methods
12:26of analysis
12:27step number three the conclusion read
12:30the last four to five pages of each
12:32chapter to see how the author claims
12:34their examples have supported their
12:35argument this will allow you to see
12:37clearly what they believe are the most
12:38important takeaways final section the
12:41book's conclusion like the introduction
12:43the conclusion is often rich with the
12:45author's argument read thoroughly and
12:47take notes we're useful
12:50now on to our final section reading for
12:52research unlike reading for class or for
12:55retention reading for research is all
12:57about finding the information most
12:59pertinent to your project in a timely
13:01manner whether you're writing a research
13:03paper for a class or a 200 page doctoral
13:06dissertation reading for research
13:08requires a whole different type of
13:10strategy when reading for research i
13:12want you to focus on the key takeaways
13:14of your project you're going to be
13:15looking at different search terms to
13:17find the text that are going to be the
13:18most applicable to your study but in
13:20addition to that you're going to want to
13:22use a specific set of tactics when going
13:24into the text to find what it is that
13:26you're looking for when reading for your
13:28research take the tips that i gave you
13:29in section 2.3 but focus only on the
13:32chapters which are directly applicable
13:34to your project and now comes one of my
13:36most important tips do not skip on the
13:39index the index of a book or the find
13:42feature on a pdf is your best friend
13:44establish a set of key terms find it in
13:47the index and see which pages and
13:49sections directly reference your subject
13:51matter side note establish a long list
13:54of applicable terms as the text may not
13:56directly use the same language as you do
13:58in your writing at the end of the day
14:00reading is all about purpose and
14:02strategy whether you are a slow reader
14:04or at the stage where you are seeking to
14:06focus on a specific subject and begin
14:08writing or publishing your research i
14:10hope that these tips will be useful
14:12comment below anything that you learned
14:14and any tips you might like to share on
14:15how to read and take notes effectively
14:17with application in mind thank you all
14:19so much for watching today's video i
14:21hope that it was helpful for you and
14:23that you got some useful tips out of it
14:25and thank you so much again to notion
14:28for sponsoring today's video you guys
14:30know how much i love notion i talked
14:32about it earlier in the video i am just
14:34so thrilled that i got to work with them
14:35on this particular collaboration if this
14:38video was helpful for you all then go
14:39ahead and hit that subscribe button as
14:41well as the bell notification so you're
14:43notified next time i post i have a lot
14:45of graduate admissions content coming
14:47for you in the coming months as well as
14:49fun vlogs we're heading to london this
14:51summer for research so go ahead and
14:53stick around and i will see you all in
14:55the next video bye everyone
15:01[Music]

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