Academic Reading & Comprehension

This module equips learners with the strategic reading repertoire that university study demands. It moves students beyond linear decoding to purposeful engagement with academic prose, including the ability to preview, interrogate, synthesise and evaluate sources. Mastery looks like a reader who can select a strategy to suit the text and purpose, infer unstated meaning, judge credibility, and record evidence usable in writing.

Learning Outcomes

Apply skimming, scanning and SQ3R selectively according to reading purpose and text type.

Infer the meaning of unfamiliar academic vocabulary from morphology, syntax and context clues.

Analyse the function of discourse markers in signalling contrast, causality, exemplification and concession.

Evaluate source credibility using CRAAP criteria and recognised indicators of academic authority.

Construct annotated summaries that distinguish author claims from supporting evidence.

Interpret implicit stance and tone by identifying hedging, boosters and evaluative lexis.

Design a staged reading plan for a long article that balances speed with depth.

Critique an argument by identifying assumptions, warrant gaps and counter-evidence.

Topics Covered

Previewing texts: title, abstract, headings, figures

SQ3R method: survey, question, read, recite, review

Skimming for gist versus scanning for data

Close reading: paraphrase, patterns, prosody of prose

Vocabulary inference from affixes and collocations

Discourse markers of contrast, cause, concession, addition

Topic sentences, transitions, and paragraph architecture

Argument structure: claim, warrant, evidence, counter-claim

Source evaluation using CRAAP and lateral reading

Distinguishing primary, secondary and tertiary sources

Hedging, boosters and evaluative language in stance

Annotation systems: margin codes, highlighting discipline

Reading for essay preparation: synthesis matrices

Managing cognitive load: chunking and spaced review

Reading critically across disciplinary conventions

Skills Developed

Previewing Inference Annotation Synthesis Evaluation Paraphrase Summarising Critical reading

Suggested Resources

Wallace & Wray — Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates (Sage)

Cottrell — The Study Skills Handbook (Macmillan)

Graff & Birkenstein — They Say / I Say (Norton)

Purdue OWL — Reading & Note-taking modules (owl.purdue.edu)

The Open University — Reading Strategies OpenLearn course

Mortimer Adler — How to Read a Book (Simon & Schuster)

LSE Study — 'Reading critically' video series on LSE Life

Assessment

Graded through continuous reading tasks, a source-evaluation portfolio and a timed close-reading examination.

Weekly reading response journals20%

Source evaluation portfolio30%

Timed close-reading examination50%

Practice bank: 200 MCQs · Timed mock & self-paced modes

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