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How to read a novel

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reading skills for appreciating fiction

Studying FictionIf you love reading novels you’ll know that they can offer an entire world in which to get imaginatively lost. People read Wuthering Heights and actually cry when the heroine Cathy dies half way through the story. They read The Wind in the Willows and are utterly charmed by the antics of characters pottering about on a river – all of whom are little animals. Or they read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and are terrified by the story of a scientist who manufactures life and finds the thing he creates going out of control. The important question is how to read a novel in order to get the most out of it?

It’s true that some people read novels ‘just for the story’, or ‘to see what happens next’. Once they have finished reading, they retain only a vague notion of what the novel was about, and they pass the book on to the local charity shop. But to understand novels at a deeper level and to get more from them, all you need to do is keep a few issues in mind whilst you’re reading. It’s not difficult – and with practice, it becomes easier, then second nature.

What you will be doing is keeping one part of your attention focussed on the events of the story, but other parts on how the story is being told, features of the characters, and the finer points of language in the text. You will become an intellectual multi-tasker.

These guidance notes will give you some idea of things to look for, and activities you might not have thought of before. This approach will help you find greater depths and meanings in the world of fiction. It will also help you to understand how skilled authors put a story together, and how their works are full of subtle and complex effects which make their fictional worlds believable to us.

1. The author

Make a note of the author’s name – and try to find out something of the background or biography. If the author is well known, simply type <Author Name Biography> into Google, and you will get the life story plus links to further reading at Wikipedia.

What are the author’s dates? The answer to this question gives you a historical context into which the book and its author can be placed. More on this later.

There is no guaranteed one-to-one connection between authors’ lives and the stories that they write, but most novelists write about issues that interest them or have touched their imagination in some way.

Has the author written any other books of the same kind? Where does the one you are reading appear in the list? Does it fit into a particular genre – which means the type of story. Is it a romance, thriller, or detective story? Each of these genres has its own ‘rules’.

For instance best-selling Agatha Christie specialised in detective stories. We admire the way her sleuths Hercule Poirot and Miss Marples solve crimes from shrewdly observed details. But we wouldn’t expect them to behave in the same way as secret agent James bond in Ian Flemming’s spy thrillers.

How to read a novel

2. The book

Pick up the book you’re going to read. What do you know about it already? There’s a lot of information about it that’s part of the book itself. The back cover might give you a taster of the plot or details of the author.

When was the book first published? Turn inside to the title, then look on the next page, which usually gives details of its publication. Has it been reprinted a number of times? That’s usually a sign of its popularity.

First published 1988

Reprinted 1990, 1992, 1994

Second edition 1996

New introduction (c) Simon Blackstaff 2005

This tells us that the book was successful on first publication, that a new edition was created after less than ten years, and that after seventeen it has been dignified with an introduction.

Have a look at the opening of the novel. Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities begins

It was the best of times: it was the worst of times.

You just know that this is going to be a novel of tension and conflict from the very opening sentence.

3. The introduction

The book might have an introduction – often written by someone other than the author (as in the example above). This will usually give you information about the characters and themes of the novel – which could be helpful in telling you what to look out for.

It should not give away crucial details of the plot. But no matter how carefully written, it’s bound to influence the way you read the novel. You have two choices. You can read it either before or after you read the novel.

As you develop more experience and confidence, you’ll probably choose to read the introduction after reading the novel. This will enable you to form your own opinions of the book, without being influenced from the outset.

4. The story

In a novel, the story is basically a sequence of what happens in the book. It is a narrative of events arranged in some time sequence. As a reader, you are being invited to follow this sequence until you reach the end of the novel and have the complete picture in your mind.

Most people have no trouble in understanding a simple series of events – even if they contain flashbacks or a jumbled time-sequence. That’s because almost everybody has followed stories in books, newspapers, and on television. Problems only arise when the novel is long, complex, and contains lots of characters.

When that’s the case, you will need to become a more active reader. This means making a brief note of what happens in each chapter – plus creating a list of characters.

These notes and lists will help you in two ways. You will have a record of names and events to which you can refer. But more importantly, the very act of writing them down will help you to remember them.

5. The characters

Authors can choose any number of ways to make their characters realistic, memorable, or convincing. They might give them a striking physical appearance, make them act in a vivid manner, or have them speak in a way that stands out.

Miss Havisham, the embittered old woman in Great Expectations, was jilted at the altar, and has been wearing her wedding dress ever since. The detective Sherlock Holmes plays the violin (and takes opium!) whilst he is solving crimes. Humbert Humbert in Lolita makes literary jokes whilst he is murdering his rival, Clare Quilty. Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights jumps into the grave of his true love Catherine Earnshawe, wishing to embrace her as if she was alive. You will not forget these characters after reading about them.

At the opening of Pride and Prejudice it might not be easy to distinguish between Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy when they set the hearts of the Bennet girls fluttering. But if you make brief notes on what you know about them (age, home, appearance) it will help you to understand their roles in the story.

Studying FictionStudying Fiction is an introduction to the basic concepts and technical terms you need when making a study of stories and novels. It shows you how to understand literary analysis by explaining its elements one at a time, then showing them at work in short stories which are reproduced as part of the book. Topics covered include – setting, characters, story, point of view, symbolism, narrators, theme, construction, metaphors, irony, prose style, tone, close reading, and interpretation. The book also contains self-assessment exercises, so you can check your understanding of each topic.

Studying Fiction Buy the book at Amazon UK
Studying Fiction Buy the book at Amazon US

5. The plot

In a novel, the story is basically the sequence of what happens. It’s not the same thing as the plot. E.M.Forster explained the difference as follows:

“The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot.

The key difference here is that element of causality. There is some significant reason connecting events in the story. In a murder story the detective eventually finds hidden connections between clues to solve a crime. In Pride and Prejudice the heroine Elizabeth Bennett overcomes her prejudice and realises that the hero Mr Darcy is in love with her after all. In Great Expectations the hero Pip eventually realises that his true benefactor is not a rich woman but a convict he helped to escape as a child.

Some novels have plots that are quite difficult to unravel, but good authors normally give readers enough evidence to be able to work out what is going on. Hidden solutions and surprise endings produced like rabbits out of a hat leave readers feeling cheated.

6. The theme

The theme in a novel is not the same thing as the story or plot. It’s something larger and more general – like a single concept, or the moral of the story. For instance Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park explores the theme of education. It’s a story of a young girl who goes to live with rich relatives and eventually marries their youngest son. But almost every character in the novel learns a lesson from mistakes or errors of judgement they make.

So – the story is a version of the Cinderella tale – the poor young girl who eventually gets her prince. But the theme of the novel is a more subtle issue, running through the lives of other characters as well.

7. The style

The style in which a novel is written will reveal one very important factor – the author’s attitude to the content of the story. This will give you some idea of how to ‘read’ the novel: that is, how to understand and appreciate it.

Here’s the opening of Raymond Chandler’s 1939 hard-boiled detective novel The Big Sleep.

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high. Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armor rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree and didn’t have any clothes on but some very long and convenient hair. The knight had pushed the vizor of his helmet back to be sociable, and he was fiddling with the knots on the ropes that tied the lady to the tree and not getting anywhere. I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn’t seem to be really trying.

This is a first-person narrative. The fictional detective Marlowe is relating the story – so his manner of expression tells us a lot about him. It also tells us how the author Raymond Chandler is inviting us to view the story.

The literary style provides us with lots of conventional details – his suit, shirt, and shoes – but then he reveals that he is ‘sober’. This not only tells us that he normally drinks a lot, but his comment ‘I didn’t care who knew it’ is the sort of amusing and ironic inversion that helps to create his witty yet tough-guy persona.

‘I was calling on four million dollars’ In a factual sense he is visiting someone rich: but the expression does a lot more. This is a compressed figure of speech (metonymy) which also characterises the crime novel. It’s like a cartoon, with everything summed up in a single vivid image.

How to read a novelMarlowe’s description of the stained glass window reinforces his characterisation. He describes the figures in a naive manner, as if he had never seen such an emblematic composition before. The lady ‘didn’t have any clothes on’ and the knight has pushed his visor back ‘to be sociable’ but he was ‘not getting anywhere’. Raymond Chandler is simultaneously creating his main character – who is tough, but a little naive – and is giving us clues about how we should view the novel. It’s not to be taken entirely seriously. In fact describing European art from a naive American perspective is a device he has taken from Mark Twain. There is lots of serious crime ahead in the rest of the novel, but he is creating a witty and ironic point of view which we are invited to share.

8. The setting

It is possible to have novels with no setting. The events might take place in a character’s mind – as in Dostoyevski’s Notes from Underground for instance, or Samuel Beckett’s The Unnamable. But most novelists will try to convince readers to take their stories seriously by giving them a credible setting. Charles Dickens’s Bleak House is set in a London whose streets we can still walk down; and the events of Tom Woolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities can be traced on a street map of New York – as we once did when I was teaching that novel.

Some novelists are able to evoke the spirit of a place so vividly that literary tourists are attracted from all over the world to visit the locations. Bath is full of Jane Austen fans, re-tracing the steps of characters from Nothanger Abbey, and large parts of south-west England (Dorset, Wiltshire, and Somerset) attract visitors to Thomas Hardy’s fictional region of Wessex. He might have changed the name of the hills above Dorchester to Egdon Heath, but his passionate description of the countryside is so vivid and powerful that readers will travel half way round the world to see the original.

9. Historical context

This term means ‘social conditions at the time the novel was written’. In other words, the sort of things that were happening, how people behaved, and what they believed in the period the novel was written. Your awareness of these matters will depend upon the depth of your historical knowledge, and it is something which you will develop, the more your read.

Why is it important? Here’s an example – from Jane Austen again. Any number of her young female characters have their eye fixed upon marriage, but they have to be very careful about choosing the right man. All sorts of moral problems arise in her novels about making the right decision. If something goes wrong and the engagement goes on too long or is broken off, it will be regarded as disastrous.

You might think – what’s the problem? She can simply choose somebody else.

But in polite society during the early nineteenth century, women were not free to act as they wished, and certainly not free to choose a husband. A broken engagement would cast a dark shadow over a young woman’s reputation. It would be thought that if her fiance broke off the engagement, there must be something wrong with her.

The same suspicion would even fall on an engagement that was protracted. If the man had made his choice (it was the man who proposed) then his failure to follow through would immediately arouse suspicion – on the woman.

The stories and plots of any number of novels rest on social conditions quite unlike our own, and in fact at a more advanced level of reading the content of novels is one of the richest sources of social history we may have about a period.

10. Reading and taking notes

Novels will yield up more of their riches if you are prepared to do a little work whilst reading them. This means making notes as you go along. You can make a note of anything that strikes you as interesting, but here are some suggestions:

  • the appearance of characters
  • recurring themes or motifs
  • features of the author’s style
  • plot twists or crucial scenes
  • important details of the story

It’s certainly a good idea to summarize the events of each separate chapter. This will help you keep the events of the story in your mind.

Some do’s and don’ts

If something strikes you as important or interesting, underline the text – but also put a word or two in the margin that gives it a title. In other words, give a name to what you think is important.

Don’t underline whole paragraphs: that creates an ugly page, and it’s a waste of time. Instead, write a note in the top or bottom margin, saying what you think is important. Or put a circle round a name or a special couple of words.

Teaching the Novel and Reading for Pleasure



Salman Rushdie

© Roy Johnson 2011

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How to Research

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complete guide to post-graduate research methods

Research should not be undertaken lightly. It requires advanced skills, and it’s a big step up from the undergraduate essay. Studies in graduate programs require a lot of research to succeed, so you have to be prepared. Fortunately, there are more and more writing guides available to help – and this is a good one. How to Research deals with the basics in a thorough and thoughtful way.

how to ResearchHow to choose a research topic. What to do if you can’t think of something specific. How to select a suitable supervisor. These are important issues, because getting off on the wrong foot can waste an awful lot of time. It also covers research methods – surveys, experiments, and case studies – and explains their advantages and shortcomings of each one.

Every chapter has its own annotated bibliography – that is, not just details of recommended texts, but a few words of assessment on their value and purpose. The chapters are full of the boxed highlights, questions, and self-assessment exercises which are typical of the Open University’s successful style of distance learning techniques.

The authors cover research reading skills – from gutting a book in five minutes, to longer readings and taking notes. Internet reading is also included. There are useful chapters on time management and data gathering – including some interesting comments on the ethics of interviewing.

If you reach this point in your research, the data then has to be analysed and written up. There’s plenty of guidance on these later stages, including the value of drafting, re-drafting, and editing. Keep that in mind. It can’t all be done in one pass.

The manual is aimed at those who are doing research in the social sciences, as well as in related subjects such as education, business studies, and health and social care. It will be particularly suitable for those who are less experienced. After all, not many people undertake research projects just for the fun of it.

It’s written in a fresh, jargon-free style, and the latest edition has been revised, with up-to-date bibliographies, and it now has new sections on choosing the appropriate research method and searching the Internet.

© Roy Johnson 2010

How to Research   Buy the book at Amazon UK

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Lorraine Blaxter et al, How to Research, Buckingham: Open University Press, (fourth edition) 2010, pp.328, ISBN: 033523867X

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How to solve research problems

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overcoming common difficulties

Research problems – Making a start

Sometimes you spend a lot of time researching your subject, but cannot devise a ‘thesis’ or a proposal. You are doing a lot of preparatory work, reading or gathering information, but you are unable to focus your ideas or come up with a topic you think will be original or fruitful. That is the first of your research problems – deciding on a topic.

Solution
In cases like this, you can try making a digest of your notes, or try to extract from your information those aspects of your subject which interest you most. Have a look at some other examples of research in the same subject area. Remember that you can change your chosen topic later if necessary. It’s often better to make a start with something half-formed, rather than not make a start at all.

Problem – False start

Sometimes a project begins well, but then gradually appears to be unsound. When inspected closely, the central idea might seem incorrect or fruitless. You might find that there’s not as much information on your topic as you had first hoped. Take care! You will need to make a careful distinction between a lack of material, and just a lack of interest in it. An additional problem in such cases is that by this time, you might have produced a substantial amount of work.

Solution 1
In this case you have some tough decisions to make, and they will be dependent upon how much time you have before you. You can either start afresh or make different use of the same material. Of course, you should discuss this decision with your supervisor. If you have only recently started, you could abandon your idea completely. Scrap the materials you have produced, and start work on something new. This is drastic, but better than continuing with a flawed idea. The work you have abandoned might not be entirely wasted. It will have given you the experience of tackling a longer project.

You will have learned something about handling more material than usual. It will also form background information for your next choice of topic. The experience of abandoning work already completed might be quite painful. Try to think of it in this positive light.

Solution 2
If your first idea was not so bad, choose a different aspect of it. Try to look at the same topic or materials from a different perspective. Do all this in consultation with your tutor, so that you don’t make the same mistake again.
Reworking your material may involve a fresh approach, or a new analysis of the information.

Alternatively, you could chop out parts and replace them with new material. Don’t feel guilty about any of this drastic re-working: it’s quite common. The final result might even be improved for this process of renewal.

Problem – Getting bogged down

One common experience is starting off well, then becoming bored with the subject. What at first seemed interesting now becomes laboured and tedious. You might think that you have embarked upon the wrong project, and the work which lies ahead might seem doubly onerous.

Solution
If you have time, take a short break and start again, using a different writing strategy. Alternatively, if you must press on, approach the work from a different angle.
For instance, start working on a different part of the task. Remember – you do not need to write your materials in the same order as the contents page.

Problem – Changing your title or subject

It’s quite common to re-define a research project whilst it is in progress. However, this carries with it the danger that the topic is never properly defined or pinned down. In some cases the re-definition takes you in a different direction, then the subject is re-defined yet again – and you end up with a completely different topic. You are also likely to be using up a lot of the time available for completion.

Solution
Re-definition should always be done within the context of a sound plan. You should always have a clear picture of what you intend to do, even if you have not yet done it. If the discovery of new evidence causes you to change your hypothesis, then think through the implications for the whole piece of work. Resist the temptation to make more changes than are necessary.

Problem – Meeting deadlines

Meeting the completion date is a very common problem. This is partly because it is quite difficult to estimate the time required for research and writing. An interesting discovery part way through the project might unexpectedly capture your attention for longer than you had planned. And of course any number of personal issues might crop up unexpectedly to delay the production of your work. Feeling guilty or procrastinating just makes matters worse.

Solution
The best way to avoid this problem is to be aware of it in advance, and work to a plan. Create a realistic timetable or a schedule of work – and stick to it. If that isn’t enough, you might need to sacrifice other activity to release time for completing the project. In the most extreme cases, you might have to re-negotiate a new cut-off date with your tutor.

© Roy Johnson 2009

How to study a novel

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reading novels and effective study skills

Why study a novel?
There’s nothing wrong with reading a novel just to pass the time, or as an alternative to watching TV. But if you want to get more out of your reading experience, if you want to start appreciating the finer points of literature, or if you want to make a serious study of the books you read – then you need to go in at a deeper level. For this you may need new reading techniques.

The tips and skills listed here are not in any order of priority, and some may be more appropriate for the book you are reading than others. Use them in any combination possible, and I guarantee you’ll start seeing things in novels you never saw before.

Method
There isn’t one single formula or a secret recipe for the successful study of a novel. But to do it seriously you should be a careful and attentive reader. This means reading, then re-reading. It means making an active engagement with the book, and it probably means reading more slowly than usual. And it means making notes.

Approach
You can read the novel quickly first, just to get an idea of the story-line. Then you will need to read it again more slowly, making notes. If you don’t have time, then one careful slower reading should combine understanding and note-taking. For instance you could read a novella such as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness quite quickly, then re-read it more carefully, making detailed notes. But in the case of a long novel such as Charles Dickens’s Bleak House it’s unlikely that you would have enough time to read it more than once. You would need to make the notes at the same time as a single reading.

Make notes
There are two possible types of notes – some written in the pages of the book itself, and others on separate sheets of paper. Those in the book are for highlighting small details as you go along. Those on separate pages are for summaries of evidence, collections of your own observations, and page references for study topics or quotations.

Notes written in the book are absolutely vital if you are going to write about the book – say for a term paper or a coursework essay. They will save you hours of searching through the pages to locate a passage you wish to quote.

Notes in the book
Use a soft pencil – not a pen. Ink is too distracting on the page. Don’t underline whole paragraphs. If something strikes you as interesting, write a brief note saying why or how it is so. If you read on the bus or in the bath, use the inside covers and any blank pages for making notes. Do not of course write in library books – only your own copy. To do so is both insulting to other readers, and very stupid – because you lose the notes when the book is returned.

Vladimir Nabokov’s notes on Kafka’s Metamorphosis

Kafka - Nabokov

What to note?
You can nmake a note of anything that strikes you as interesting, but here are some suggestions:

  • the appearance of characters
  • recurring themes or motifs
  • features of the author’s style
  • plot twists or crucial scenes
  • important details of the story

Some do’s and don’ts
Underline up to a couple of lines of the text if necessary – but also put a word or two in the margin that gives it a title. In other words, give a name to what you think is important. Don’t underline whole paragraphs: that creates an ugly page, and it’s a waste of time. Instead, write a note in the top or bottom margin, saying what you think is important. Or put a circle round a name or a special couple of words.

Separate notes
You will definitely remember the characters, events, and features of a novel more easily if you make notes whilst reading. Use separate pages for different topics. You might make a record of

  • characters
  • chronology of events
  • major themes
  • stylistic features
  • narrative strategies

Characters
Make a note of the name, age, appearance, and their relationship to other characters in the novel. Writers usually give most background information about characters when they are first introduced into the story. Make a note of the page(s) on which this occurs. Note any special features of main characters, what other characters (or the author) thinks of them.

Studying FictionStudying Fiction is an introduction to the basic concepts and technical terms you need when making a study of stories and novels. It shows you how to understand literary analysis by explaining its elements one at a time, then showing them at work in short stories which are reproduced as part of the book. Topics covered include – setting, characters, story, point of view, symbolism, narrators, theme, construction, metaphors, irony, prose style, tone, close reading, and interpretation. The book also contains self-assessment exercises, so you can check your understanding of each topic.

Studying Fiction Buy the book at Amazon UK
Studying Fiction Buy the book at Amazon US

Chronology of events
A summary of each chapter will help you reconstruct the whole story long after you have read it. The summary prompts the traces of reading experience which lie dormant in your memory. If the book is divided into chapters, make a short summary of each one as you finish reading it.

A chronology of events might also help you to unravel a complex story. It might help separate plots from sub-plots, and even help you to see any underlying structure in the story – what might be called the ‘architecture of events’.

Major themes
These are the important underlying issues with which the novel is concerned. They are usually summarised as abstract concepts such as – marriage, education, justice, freedom, and redemption. These might only emerge slowly as the novel progresses on first reading – though they might seem much more obvious on subsequent readings.

Seeing the main underlying themes will help you to appreciate the relative importance of events. It will also help you to spot cross-references and appreciate some of the subtle effects orchestrated by the author.

Stylistic features
These are the decorative and literary hallmarks of the writer’s style – which usually make an important contribution to the way the story is told. The style might be created by any number of features:

  • choice of vocabulary
  • imagery and metaphors
  • shifts in tone and register
  • use of irony and humour

Quotations
If you are writing an essay about the novel, you will need quotations from it to support your arguments. You must make a careful note of the pages on which they occur. Do this immediately whilst reading – otherwise tracking them down later will waste lots of time.

Record page number and a brief description of the subject. Write out the quotation itself if it is short enough. Don’t bother writing out long quotations.

Bibliography
If you are reading literary criticism or background materials related to the novel – make a full bibliographic record of every source. In the case of books, you should record – Author, Book Title, Publisher, Place of publication, Date, Page number.

If you borrow the book from a library, make a full note of its number in the library’s classification system. This will save you time if you need to take it out again at a later date.

In the case of Internet and other digital sources (CDs, websites, videos) you need to look at our guidance notes on referencing digital sources.

Maps and diagrams
Some people have good visual memories. A diagram or map may help you to remember or conceptualise the ‘geography’ of events. Here’s Vladimir Nabokov’s diagram of the geography of Southerton in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.

Mansfield Park diagram

Chapter summaries
Many novels are structured in chapters. After reading each chapter, make a one sentence summary of what it’s about. This can help you remember the events at a later date. The summary might be what ‘happens’ in an obvious sense [Mr X travels to London] but it might be something internal or psychological [Susan realises she is ‘alone’].

Deciding what is most important will help you to digest and remember the content of the novel. The process of deciding will also help you to separate the more important from the less important content.

Making links
Events or characters or details of plot may have significant links between them, even though these are revealed to the reader many pages apart. Always make a note as soon as you see them – because they will be very hard to find later.

Use a dictionary
Some novelists like to use unusual, obscure, or even foreign words. Take the trouble to look these up in a good dictionary. It will help you to understand the story and the author, and it will help to extend the range of your own vocabulary. If you need help choosing a good dictionary for studying, have a look at our guidance notes on the subject.

What is close reading?
When you have become accustomed to looking at a novel in greater depth, you might be interested to know that there are four possible stages in the process of understanding what it has to offer and what can be said about it. These are the four, in increasing degree of complexity.

1. Linguistic
You pay especially close attention to the surface linguistic elements of the text – that is, to aspects of vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. You might also note such things as figures of speech or any other features which contribute to the writer’s individual style. This level of reading is largely descriptive.

2. Semantic
You take account at a deeper level of what the words mean – that is, what information they yield up, what meanings they denote and connote. This level of reading is cognitive. That is, we need to understand what the words are telling us – both at a surface and maybe at an implicit level.

3. Structural
You note the possible relationships between words within the text – and this might include items from either the linguistic or semantic types of reading. This level of reading is analytic. You assess, examine, sift, and judge a large number of items from within the text in their relationships to each other.

4. Cultural
You note the relationship of any elements of the text to things outside it. These might be other pieces of writing by the same author, or other writings of the same type by different writers. They might be items of social or cultural history, or even other academic disciplines which might seem relevant, such as philosophy or psychology. This level of reading is interpretive. We offer judgements on the work in its general relationship to a large body of cultural material outside it.

Next steps
If you want a sample of these four levels of reading illustrated with brief extracts from a short story and a long novel, here are –

© Roy Johnson 2004

Literary studies links

Study a novel Literary studies guides

Red button Tutorials on 19th century authors

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How to study a set text

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reading and understanding skills

What is a set text?

A set text is usually a book that forms the central part of the content or the background to a course of study. It might be a novel for a course of literary studies, or a collection of essays on social theory for a course on sociology. In GCSE ‘O’ and ‘A’ level literature for instance, the course will consist of a specified collection of poems, the play text of a drama, a novel, and a non-fictional text such as someone’s memoirs or diaries. The same is true in undergraduate university studies.

1. Main objective
Your main task is to grasp the point of what the author is saying. You need to understand the relationship of the book’s subject to the theme(s) of the course you are studying. At some point, you may need to demonstrate what you know in course work assignments or an examination.

2. Development
You should try to follow the stages of the argument or the sequence of events. It will help you to remember this progression if you take careful notes whilst you are reading. You should try to identify and name the main topics.

3. Taking notes
You can write in the margins of the book (if it is your own). Alternatively, keep notes on separate A4 pages. Always make notes whilst you are reading. This will help you to reinforce your learning. Always begin by making a full record of the source:

Author – Title – Publisher – Date

4. Reading strategies
You should develop a variety of reading strategies to suit your reading purpose. Don’t use the same type of reading all the time. Your reading style should be chosen to match the task – getting an overview, detailed study, or maybe searching for information.

5. Skim reading
This is a first quick reading for an overview. You are making a rapid survey of the subject. Glance through the material quickly and pick up the main points. Keep your eye on the general picture. This is a very useful skill which becomes easier with regular practice.

6. Detailed study reading
This is an in-depth reading to absorb information and understand arguments. You will be reading in a concentrated manner. You might need to read a particular section more than once to grasp the point it is making. Take notes – and don’t copy long sections of text. Read with conscious purpose. You’ll get more done!

7. Agreement?
You do not necessarily have to agree with everything that is written in the text. It is a good idea to read critically and vigilantly. Make a note of any points you wish to challenge or query. However, be prepared to challenge your own views too.

8. Speed reading – a warning
Speed reading courses teach ultra-rapid skim-reading techniques. This can be useful for absorbing information at a superficial level. They are rarely suitable for understanding and retaining information. They are unlikely to help if you are engaged in serious academic study. Keep in mind the Woody Allen joke:

“I went on a speed reading course last week – and it really worked! Yesterday I read War and Peace in an hour … It’s about Russia.”

© Roy Johnson 2004

How to summarize

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say the same thing in fewer words

1. A summary is a shorter version of a longer piece of writing. Summarizing means capturing all the most important parts of the original, and expressing them in a shorter space. The shorter space could be a lot shorter.
How to Summarize
2. A summary is sometimes known as a précis, a synopsis, or a paraphrase.

3. In academic writing, summarizing exercises are often set to test your understanding of the original, and your ability to re-state its main purpose.

4. In business writing, you might need to summarize to provide easily-digestible information for customers or clients.

5. Summarizing is also a useful skill when gathering information or doing research.

6. The summary should be expressed – as far as possible – in your own words. It’s not enough to merely copy out parts of the original.

7. The question will usually set a maximum number of words. If not, aim for something like one tenth of the original. [A summary which was half the length of the original would not be a summary.]

8. Read the original, and try to understand its main subject or purpose. Then you might need to read it again to understand it in more detail.

9. Underline or make a marginal note of the main issues. Use a highlighter if this helps.

10. Look up any words or concepts you don’t know, so that you understand the author’s sentences and how they relate to each other.

11. Work through the text to identify its main sections or arguments. These might be expressed as paragraphs or web pages.

12. Remember that the purpose [and definition] of a paragraph is that it deals with one issue or topic.

13. Draw up a list of the topics – or make a diagram. [A simple picture of boxes or a spider diagram can often be helpful.]

14. Write a one or two-sentence account of each section you identify. Focus your attention on the main point. Leave out any illustrative examples.

15. Write a sentence which states the central idea of the original text.

16. Use this as the starting point for writing a paragraph which combines all the points you have made.

17. The final summary should concisely and accurately capture the central meaning of the original.

18. Remember that it must be in your own words. By writing in this way, you help to re-create the meaning of the original in a way which makes sense for you.

Summarizing – Example

Original text
‘At a typical football match we are likely to see players committing deliberate fouls, often behind the referee’s back. They might try to take a throw-in or a free kick from an incorrect but more advantageous positions in defiance of the clearly stated rules of the game. They sometimes challenge the rulings of the referee or linesmen in an offensive way which often deserves exemplary punishment or even sending off. No wonder spectators fight amongst themselves, damage stadiums, or take the law into their own hands by invading the pitch in the hope of affecting the outcome of the match.’ [100 words]

Summary
Unsportsmanklike behaviour by footballers may cause hooliganism among spectators. [9 words]

Some extra tips

Even though notes are only for your own use, they will be more effective if they are recorded clearly and neatly. Good layout will help you to recall and assess material more readily. If in doubt use the following general guidelines.

1. Before you even start, make a note of your source(s). If this is a book, an article, or a journal, write the following information at the head of your notes: Author, title, publisher, publication date, and edition of book.

2. Use loose-leaf A4 paper. This is now the international standard for almost all educational printed matter. Don’t use small notepads. You will find it easier to keep track of your notes if they fit easily alongside your other study materials.

3. Write clearly and leave a space between each note. Don’t try to cram as much as possible onto one page. Keeping the items separate will make them easier to recall. The act of laying out information in this way will cause you to assess the importance of each detail.

4. Use a new page for each set of notes. This will help you to store and identify them later. Keep topics separate, and have them clearly titled and labelled to facilitate easy recall.

5. Write on one side of the page only. Number these pages. Leave the blank sides free for possible future additions, and for any details which may be needed later.

© Roy Johnson 2004

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How to summarize a book

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What is a book summary?How to summarize a book

A summary of a book is a digest of all its main points. It should be a shorter version or a précis of its main arguments or topics – depending on the type of book.

It should capture the purpose of the book and include the most important parts of the original. Smaller details and illustrative examples will not be included.

The summary should re-cast and express the original material in your own words. It is not enough to quote parts of the original text. That would be a collection of extracts rather than a summary.

A summary should be a reasonable and impartial account of the original, without intruding any bias or value judgements. If you add your own opinions, it will become a book review rather than a summary.

How to summarize

Before you start, get some idea of the length and type of summary you are going to create. Have a look at examples from the field in which you’re working. If this isn’t possible, set yourself a word limit and create an outline plan.

First of all check your book for a table of contents. If it has one this will immediately provide you with some idea of its structure and the nature of the topics it covers.

Next look through the book quickly to get a rough idea of its subject and scope. This will give you a general idea of what to cover in the task ahead. If the book has chapters, these can provide a set of headings for your plan.

You should immediately start making notes. Don’t worry if they are not grammatically complete or well formed. These are the raw materials from which you can make your finished summary later.

Your main task is to capture a general outline of the contents. The amount of effort you put into
creating the summary will depend upon the seriousness of the task and the amount of time you have at your disposal.

Draw up a list of the topics the book covers – or make a diagram. A simple picture of boxes or a spider diagram can often be helpful. Some people visualise their ideas in this way, and it can be a fruitful approach for ‘non-literary’ people.

Look out for topic sentences that signal the main lines of arguments. These are often the first sentence in a paragraph. In good quality writing the remainder of the paragraph should explain and expand on the topic sentence.

Write a one or a two-sentence account of each section you identify. Focus your attention on the main points. Leave out any illustrative examples. Don’t be tempted to fill out your work with a detailed examination of minor details just to fill up the space. This will only weaken the summary.

Work through the text to identify its main sections or arguments. These might be summarized as short paragraphs. Remember that the purpose and definition of a paragraph is that it deals with one issue or topic.

Writing the summary

When you have finished reading the book, you should have a series of jottings, notes, and sentences, maybe a list of topics, and perhaps some half-formed observations. These fragments need to be arranged in some logical or persuasive order, then fashioned into something readable.

You are not obliged to follow the same structure or sequence of events as the original text, but your summary certainly needs a shape or structure as an independent piece of writing. You might choose any of the following approaches in arranging the items of your notes:

  • logical progression – from A to Z
  • increasing significance – from small to big
  • chronological order – from older to newer
  • narrative sequence – from first to next
  • grouping of topics – fruits, vegetables, wines

You might create the plan first, then fill in its parts with your own text. Alternatively, the plan might emerge from your work as you flesh out the parts into complete sentences. Don’t imagine that this part of the process can be done easily at your first attempt.

Expand each of your notes or topics until it makes a grammatically complete sentence. Then put statements dealing with the same topic next to each other. Be prepared to move the parts around until you find their best order.

The central structure of your results will be determined by the content of the book you are summarising. But any summary will be more successful if it has a good introduction and a satisfying conclusion.

The introduction is usually a general statement which presents an overview for the reader. It should launch the subject of enquiry and give some idea of what is to come. The conclusion does the converse – it wraps up the summary with a general statement that encapsulates the whole piece of writing.

Summary or review?

There is a difference between a book summary and a book review. A summary should be a reasonably neutral account of the book and its contents, whereas a review is a personal response to the book which might include criticising or praising the author’s approach. A review might also draw comparisons with other works of a similar kind.

In a summary you will be keeping your personal opinions in check, and concentrating on giving the best account possible of what the book offers. In a review on the other hand, you are often expected to make some sort of evaluative judgement on the approach that has been taken. The sample summary that follows combines both of these approaches.

Sample summary

Chris Baldick is a specialist in literature of the early twentieth century, and this collection of his essays covers the period 1910 to 1940, which is essentially the highpoint of what is now called ‘modernism’.

In terms of structure the first group of chapters covers the social, linguistic, and aesthetic background of the period, and then he discusses writers grouped according to literary forms – short stories, drama, poetry, and the novel. He highlights major figures – James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, D.H.Lawrence, and T.S.Eliot – but also considers writers who were once best sellers and held in high esteem, such as Arnold Bennett and Somerset Maugham. These are accompanied by almost-forgotten figures such as Dornford Yates, Aldous Huxley, and Elizabeth Bowen who were very successful in their own time. Part three of the book covers sociological issues such as English names, the Great War, childhood, sexuality, and censorship.

He starts with a well informed discussion of the writer’s relationship with literary commerce. Those who earned most (Arnold Bennett) were successful at exploiting new markets and media such as the newspapers and magazines. He reveals those writers who were sponsored by rich patrons (Joyce) as well as others who were kept by a wealthy spouse. D.H. Lawrence not only made a handsome profit from the subscription-published Lady Chatterley’s Lover but invested it in stocks and shares on Wall Street and made even more.

Each chapter is prefaced by a discussion of new words that became current in the period, a device which provides both flavour and intellectual context. He also includes an interesting consideration of theories of the novel. This involves a detailed consideration of first and third person narrative modes.

There are separate interpretations of all the major works of the period – Howards End, Mrs Dalloway, Ulysses, Women in Love pitched at a level which make his approach to literary criticism accessible to beginners and interesting to those who know the novels well.

The other major strand of his argument is a sympathetic reconsideration of the lesser-known works of the period, such as Walter Greenwood’s Love on the Dole, Elizabeth Bowen’s The Death of the Heart, Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage, and Aldous Huxley’s Chrome Yellow, as well as novels by Robert Graves, Naomi Mitchison, and Sylvia Townsend Warner.

The latter essays are studies in cultural history which take in the attitudes and issues of the period as they were mediated via its literary products. This covers the shattering effect of the first world war on the romantic and pastoral visions of Englishness which had been the establishment ideology during the first two decades of the century. He then traces this effect through the twenties and thirties, showing how a view of modern Britain came to be formed.

There’s a very good collection study resources and suggestions for further reading. These entries combine notes on the author biographies, together with available editions of their major works, plus secondary studies and criticism.

This is the fifth volume of the Oxford English Literary History series. It can be read continuously as an in-depth study of the period, dipped into as an introduction to literary modernism, or used as a rich source of reference.

Chris Baldick, The Modern Movement, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.477, ISBN 0198183100

Why summarize?

There are a number of reasons why a summary of a book might be required. The following are the most common in academic and commercial life.

Exercise

A book summary is often set as a writing exercise, instead of a formal academic essay. It tests both understanding of the book’s content, an ability to digest and express its ideas, a grasp of structure, and the writing skills necessary to produce a readable préis.

The task in such cases is to show your ability to put somebody else’s ideas into your own words, to give a coherent account of the topic under consideration, to produce a coherent structure for your account, and to come to some sort of conclusion concerning the book’s overall value to another reader.

Research

In some subjects of study, you may be required to provide what is called a ‘literature review’. This is a survey of currently available knowledge in the subject. Its object is to show that you understand the latest state of research in your subject.

You are expected to have a full command of the terminology of the subject, and to show that you are aware of its theoretical and methodological issues. You will also be expected to have a full grasp of the academic writing style with regard to footnotes, referencing, and bibliographic presentation.

Assessment

Sometimes a book summary is called for so that other people can judge whether it is suitable for their requirements. This could be when providing librarians with information on which they will base purchasing decisions. Or it could be written for the research division of a company with information which might inform their development plans.

In both cases an impartial summary of content is required, along with an account of any special features which might help the reader reach a decision.

Cataloguing

Sometimes a summary of a book is required for a catalogue, a card index, or an inventory. In such cases the summary is likely to be very short – just enough so that somebody else can see if it’s the sort of book they require.

In these cases it’s important to record all the book’s metadata – that is, information about it’s author, title, publisher, date of publication, and ISBN number. You might also need to describe it physically – noting if it is hardback or paperback. if it contains illustrations, and even its size on the shelf.

Summarize a book without reading it completely?

Is it possible? The quick answer to this question is – “Yes – but only if you are experienced”. You require an intimate knowledge of the subject in question, and you need to be confident in writing summaries. But how is it done?

If you know your subject well, you will immediately put into effect the summarizing skills listed here above. You take into account such matters as the level at which the book is pitched, its potential readership, the range of its contents, its structure, and any critical apparatus which may be attached, such as illustrations, tables, bibliographies, and suggestions for further reading. This provides you with an overview.

Then you need to glance through the preface or any introductory remarks to pick up the general argument or the individual approach of the author(s) to the subject. This requires good skim-reading skills.

Most books are split up into sections or chapters. You need to look through these quickly, making a summary of each one – then combine the notes you make to form a general summary. It may not be a lengthy or in-depth account of the book, but it should be enough for your purpose.

© Roy Johnson 2012

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How to Survive your Viva

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defending a thesis in an oral examination

This is the first book of its type (in the UK) to focus entirely on this one short but vital part of the PhD process. It’s a vital stage in gaining your degree, yet most people make surprisingly little preparation for it. Rowena Murray starts off with a look over research on the viva in an attempt to learn what we know about what goes on ‘behind closed doors’. The answer is that we don’t know a lot, which is her justification for writing the book. How to Survive your Viva gets straight down to defining the viva and its purpose – which is not as easy as it might seem, because practice varies from one institution to another, and the process is often shrouded in secrecy.

How to Survive your VivaShe makes this even more scary by pointing to the reason: there isn’t even a set of universally agreed criteria for what constitutes a successful PhD. Her advice is grounded in experience, and is perfectly sound. For instance, on the common occurrence of ‘pass subject to revisions’ which often seems so disappointing when candidates hear the words spoken, she offers this reassurance:

The viva is built up to be ‘the end’ of the doctoral process, but in reality the doctorate does not end with the viva. There is almost always some more work to do… Since the most common outcome is a pass with revisions and/or corrections, then you are not quite finished. Nor is it the end of the world if you have to do some more work; most people do. Do not, therefore, let the stakes get too high, so that it will seem like the end of the world if you have more work to do. Do not do that to yourself.

When it comes to preparing for the viva, she offers an amazingly thorough checklist of questions to ask your institution. These range from ‘Can I have a copy of the university’s code of practice on the conduct of the doctoral examination?’ to ‘Can I have a copy of the examiner’s form to be used in my viva?’

Students have far more extensive ‘consumer powers’ these days, and you have every right to ask for such information. You will certainly be much better prepared with it in your possession.

Her next chapter offers a timetable of what to do in the last few weeks leading up to the event, followed by how to handle the different types of questions likely to be raised in the interview, including what to do if you get stuck or flummoxed.

There is even a whole chapter on answering questions, striking the right attitude, responding to challenges, and even doing presentations. She also recommends mock vivas, shows you how to cope with the revisions, and how to recover from the whole experience afterwards.

My own PhD viva had some bad moments because I invited an extra examiner who didn’t really need to be there – and he decided to make waves (because he had no personal investment in the process). If I had read this book first, I wouldn’t have made that mistake. It’s a crucial moment in your academic career. The price of a book like this will repay itself a hundredfold in your first year of subsequent employment.

© Roy Johnson 2009

How to Survive your Viva   Buy the book at Amazon UK

How to Survive your Viva   Buy the book at Amazon US

Rowena Murray, How to Survive your Viva, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2009, pp.208, ISBN: 0335233821

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How to take notes

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important skills for successful study

1. In preparation for writing a piece of work, you should take notes from a number of different sources: course materials, set texts, secondary reading, interviews, or tutorials and lectures. You might gather information from radio or television broadcasts, or from experiments and research projects. The notes could also include your own ideas, generated as part of the planning process.

2. The notes you gather in preparation for writing will normally provide detailed evidence to back up any arguments you wish to make. They might also be used as illustrative material. They might include such things as the quotations and page references you plan to use in an essay. Your ultimate objective in planning will be to produce a one or two page outline of the topics you intend to cover.

3. Be prepared for the fact that you might take many more notes than you will ever use. This is perfectly normal. At the note-taking stage you might not be sure exactly what evidence you will need. In addition, the information-gathering stage should also be one of digesting and refining your ideas.

4. Don’t feel disappointed if you only use a quarter or even a tenth of your materials. The proportion you finally use might vary from one subject to another, as well as depending on your own particular writing strategy. Just because some material is not used, don’t imagine that your efforts have been wasted.

5. When taking notes from any source, keep in mind that you are attempting to make a compressed and accurate record of information, other people’s opinions, and possibly your own observations on the subject in question.

6. Your objective whilst taking the notes is to distinguish the more important from the less important points being made. Record the main issues, not the details. You might write down a few words of the original if you think they may be used in a quotation. Keep these extracts as short as possible unless you will be discussing a longer passage in some detail.

7. Don’t try to write down every word of a lecture – or copy out long extracts from books. One of the important features of note-taking is that you are making a digest of the originals, and translating the information into your own words.

8. Some people take so many notes that they don’t know which to use when it’s time to do the writing. They feel that they are drowning in a sea of information.

9. This problem is usually caused by two common weaknesses in note-taking technique:

  • transcribing too much of the original
  • being unselective in the choice of topics

10. There are two possible solution to this problem:

  • Select only those few words of the source material which will be of use. Avoid being descriptive. Think more, and write less. Be rigorously selective.
  • Keep the project topic or the essay question more clearly in mind. Take notes only on those issues which are directly relevant to the subject in question.

11. Even though the notes you take are only for your own use, they will be more effective if they are recorded clearly and neatly.

12. Good layout of the notes will help you to recall and assess the material more readily.

General guidelines
  • Before you even start, make a note of your source(s). If this is a book, an article, or a journal, write the following information at the head of your notes: Author, title, publisher, publication date, and edition of book.
     
  • Use loose-leaf A4 paper. This is now the international standard for almost all printed matter. Don’t use small notepads. You will find it easier to keep track of your notes if they fit easily alongside your other study materials.
     
  • Write clearly and leave a space between each note. Don’t try to cram as much as possible onto one page. Keeping the items separate will make them easier to recall. The act of laying out information in this way will cause you to assess the importance of each detail.
     
  • Use some system of tabulation. This will help to keep the items separate from each other. Even if the progression of numbers doesn’t mean a great deal, it will help you to keep the items distinct.
     
  • Don’t attempt to write continuous prose. Notes should be abbreviated and compressed. Full grammatical sentences are not necessary. Use abbreviations, initials, and shortened forms of commonly used terms.
     
  • Don’t string the points together continuously, one after the other on the page. You will find it very difficult to untangle these items from each other after some time has passed.
     
  • Devise a logical and a memorable layout. Use lettering, numbering, and indentation for sections and for sub-sections. Use headings and sub-headings. Good layout will help you to absorb and recall information. Some people use coloured inks and highlighters to assist this process of identification.
     
  • Use a new page for each set of notes. This will help you to store and identify them later. Keep topics separate, and have them clearly titled and labelled to facilitate easy recall.
     
  • Write on one side of the page only. Number these pages. Leave the blank sides free for possible future additions, and for any details which may be needed later.
Tony Buzan explains mind mapping

Mind-mapping guru Tony Buzan gives a brief demonstration of how the system works. Mind maps can be used for both note taking and note making.

This approach works for some but not all people.

Sample notes

What follows is an example of notes taken whilst listening to an Open University radio broadcast – a half hour lecture by the philosopher and cultural historian, Isaiah Berlin. It was entitled ‘Tolstoy’s Views on Art and Morality‘, which was part of the third level course in literary studies A 312 – The Nineteenth Century Novel and its Legacy.

Isaiah Berlin – ‘Tolstoy on Art and Morality’ – 3 Sep 89

1. T’s views on A extreme – but he asks important questns which disturb society

2. 1840s Univ of Kazan debate on purpose of A

T believes there should be simple answers to probs of life

3. Met simple & spontaneous people & soldiers in Caucasus

Crimean Sketches admired by Turgenev & Muscovites but T didn’t fit in milieu

4. Westernizers Vs Slavophiles – T agreed with Ws

but rejects science (Ss romantic conservatives)

5. 2 views of A in mid 19C – A for art’s sake/ A for society’s sake

6. Pierre (W&P) and Levin (AK) as egs of ‘searchers for truth’

7. Natural life (even drunken violence) better than intellectual

8. T’s contradiction – to be artist or moralist

9. T’s 4 criteria for work of art

  • know what you want to say – lucidly and clearly
  • subject matter must be of essential interest
  • artist must live or imagine concretely his material
  • A must know the moral centre of situation

10. T crit of other writers

  • Shkspre and Goethe – too complex
  • St Julien (Flaubert) inauthentic
  • Turgenev and Chekhov guilty of triviality

11. What is Art? Emotion recollected and transmitted to others

[Wordsworth] Not self-expression – Only good should be transmitted

12. But his own tastes were for high art

Chopin, Beethoven, & Mozart

T Argues he himself corrupted

13. Tried to distinguish between his own art and moral tracts

14. ‘Artist cannot help burning like a flame’

15. Couldn’t reconcile contradictions in his own beliefs

Died still raging against self and society

© Roy Johnson 2004

How to use abbreviations

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commonly used abbreviations in academic writing

1. The following is a list of abbreviations you will often see in the text, the index, or the bibliography of books designed for serious readers.

2. They are nearly all brief or shortened forms of expressions in Latin.

3. Many people also make use of abbreviations when taking notes, and they are also used in the footnotes and endnotes of academic writing. Examples are shown below.

4. Don’t use abbreviations in the main text of any formal writing. If you wish to use these terms, they should be written out in full.

5. That is, don’t put e.g., but write out for example.

6. Notice that a full stop is placed after an abbreviation, but not when the full word is used.

7. This is correct usage, but sometimes the full stop may be omitted in order to avoid double punctuation.

8. Note that these terms are often shown in italics.

9. You should never begin a sentence with an abbreviation.

10. If you are in any doubt, always write out the expression in full.

Abbrev. Full term
app. appendix
b. born. For example, b.1939
c. (circa) about: usually with a date.
For example: c.1830.
cf. (confer) compare.
ch. chapter (plural chaps.)
col. column (plural cols.)
d. died. For example, d.1956
do. (ditto) the same.
e.g. (exempli gratia) for example.
ed. edition; edited by; editor (plural eds.)
esp. especially.
et al. (et alii, aliae, or alia) and others.
For example, Harkinson et. al.
et seq. (et sequens) and the following.
For example, p.36 et seq.
etc. (et cetera) and so forth. [An over-used term. Worth avoiding.]
fig. figure (plural figs.)
f./ff. following.
For example, 8ff. = page 8 and the following pages.
ibid. (ibidem) in the same place: from the source previously mentioned.
i.e. (id est) that is.
inf. (infra) below: refers to a section still to come.
l. line (plural ll.) [NB! easily mistaken for numbers ‘One’ and ‘Eleven’.]
loc. cit. (loco citato) at the place quoted: from the same place.
n. note, footnote (plural nn.)
n.d. no date given
op. cit. (opere citato) from the work already quoted.
p. page (plural pp.) For example, p.15 [Always precedes the number.]
para. paragraph (plural paras.)
passim in many places: too many references to list.
q.v. (quod vide) look up this point elsewhere.
For example, q.v. p.32.
sic thus. As printed or written in the original. usually in square brackets [sic].
supra above: in that part already dealt with.
trans. translator, translated by.
viz. (videlicet) namely, that is to say.
For example: Under certain conditions, viz…
vol. volume (plural, vols.)

Examples

Here’s the use of abbreviation in an academic footnote. The first reference used edn for edition and p for page. The second reference uses ibid for ‘in the same place’.

2. Judith Butcher, Copy Editing: the Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Authors, and Publishers, 3rd edn., Cambridge University Press, 1992, p.234.

3. Butcher, ibid., p.256

Here’s an example which uses the abbreviated names of two well-known organisations:

The BBC reported yesterday that the leaders of NATO had agreed to discuss the crisis as a matter of urgency.

Abbreviations are commonly used in displaying web site addresses:

http://www.bath.ac.uk/BUBL/home.html

Every term in this address, apart from the names ‘Bath’ and ‘home’, are abbreviations

http = hypertext transfer protocol

www = world wide web

ac = academic

uk = United Kingdom

html = hypertext markup language

© Roy Johnson 2000

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