How to Write Better Essays

For most books this is all you will need to do. However, there are

those books that have very misleading chapter titles, which tell you

very little about the content of each chapter. The same books may also

have a short and unhelpful index. In this case you’ll find it helpful to

read the first paragraph of each chapter, where the authors explain

what they will be doing in this chapter, and then the last paragraph,

where they explain how they’ve done it.

Failing this, and this will be rare indeed, you can skim each

page, picking up a general impression of the contents of each chapter.

Alternatively, if you know the specific problem you want the book

to address, you can scaneach page swiftly, looking for those key-

words through which you can find the answers. It’s surprising just

how effective both of these strategies can be, but they will only work

well if you’ve already pinned down the issues clearly in the inter-

pretation stage.

Reading Purposefully 79

In a nutshell

Check:

• the contents page;


• the index;


• chapter headings;


• the first and last chapters;


• summaries at the end of the chapters and at the end of the book;


• the first and last paragraphs in each chapter.


• Skimthe text for a general impression of the contents, key ideas and
  structure.


• Scanfor keywords.

Through this process you should be able to answer a number of import-

ant questions which will determine exactly how you use the text:

1 Is it relevant?

2 If so, what sections?

3 What approach does it take?

• Is it too difficult?


• Or too technical?

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