Boost Your Reading Skills: Mastering Efficient Strategies for Scientific Literature (GGG) online

Dr. Martha Boeglin studied Philosophy in Strasbourg and Berlin, earning her PhD from the University of Strasbourg. Since 2002, she has been dedicated to helping others as a trainer for academic reading and writing and as a writing coach. She also shares her insights and guidance through her blog for PhD candidates, Scriptoria.

The fear of missing something important can slow down reading and complicate the process of organizing thoughts. Some may get lost in details and find themselves “going off on a tangent.” Without mastering at least a basic level of work organization, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Tasks can quickly pile up into a daunting mountain while time seems to slip away. In this practice-oriented workshop, you will learn to approach your work methodically, break it down into manageable parts, and develop strategies for engaging with literature effectively and efficiently, all while working independently.

• Boost your reading speed: master techniques to read more efficiently.
• Enhance comprehension and retention: quickly grasp and remember key concepts.
• Optimize your reading workflow: save valuable time with effective organization strategies.
• Develop note-taking skills: create useful notes that will support your future writing projects.
• Transform your reading approach: move beyond passive reading by adopting dynamic and efficient information-processing techniques.

This course adopts a hands-on approach designed specifically for PhD students. You will engage with your own research material, focusing on your individual topics. You will systematically develop your reading and writing skills, learning to efficiently process and retain scientific literature. Throughout the reading workshop, you will alternate between individual reading exercises, presenting your findings in interactive small groups, and participating in plenary sessions for questions and discussions. This structure ensures that you will not only enhance your academic skills but also make significant progress on your research projects.

Three techniques to increase your reading speed:

• Explore three ways to skim your text effectively.
• Practice one exercise to move your eyes quicker.
• Learn how to stop jumping from reference to reference and focus on your text.

Three techniques to read a text actively:

• Define your reading goals – and reach them.
• Pose questions efficiently to interrogate the texts.
• Visualize the text structure to identify its logic.

A matrix to take notes on literature for future writing projects:

• Understand that taking notes is more than just copying and pasting.
• Structure your notes to find information quickly.
• Discover one tip to prepare your notes according to your thesis outline.

Three ways to increase retention:

• Draw a graph: your brain retains pictures better than words.
• Rephrase content in your own words.
• Recapitulate a text orally.

Three methods to sharpen your critical thinking:

• Exploit others’ texts to generate new ideas.
• Put different texts into perspective to review literature.
• Write a critical report.

• The course will be delivered in English. However, German translations can be offered at any time. Questions and discussion can be in either language.
• The second session will build on the first so researchers should be available for both.
• Before workshop: Since you will be working with your own texts, please bring articles or book chapters relevant to your research.
• A detailed list of the required texts will be provided to you one week before the course begins.