FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“The act of reading represents a huge proportion of what lawyers

actually do all day; reading as a lawyer is multidimensional,
and reading effectiveness is a determinant of success in other
lawyer activities.” (Mitchell, 2012).

“The ability to read well is a critical, indispensable skill that can

make or break the academic career of any aspiring lawyer.”
(McKinney, 2005)
Outcomes of this session

• Improve awareness of the importance of effective reading, both

at university and in the legal field

• Enhance attendees’ ability to analyse and understand texts

(critical reading)

• Reinforce attendees’ knowledge of and ability to apply reading

strategies, specifically to legal materials
Reading at university

• Reading is fundamental to research and writing at

university
• Academic reading is much more challenging than
reading in high school – deep as opposed to surface
• Many students struggle to cope with the level, complexity
and volume of reading required
Research on reading

• Research indicates that there is a strong correlation

between reading proficiency and academic success
• Reading proficiency also influences writing – good
readers tend to be good writers, and vice versa
• Reading and writing are complementary processes. As
such, reading forms the basis of academic writing
• It is important that you develop and improve your
skills for reading academically in order to study and
learn more effectively
Reading strategies

• Competent readers read:

• purposefully
• selectively/efficiently
• interactively, engaging with the text
• critically – questioning/evaluating/synthesizing info. from
various sources
• using reading strategies before, during and after
reading, and are successful academically
Purposeful reading

• Any reading is purposeful or intentional; thus, it should be focused

• This means that you have an objective
• Purposeful reading must answer questions or enlighten the reader
• You must know why you are reading
• You must use the appropriate reading method
• Engage only with relevant texts or applicable sections of a text
Essential questions

• Is it necessary for me to read this?

• How helpful is it?
• Do I have to read the entire document?
• Which sections can I omit?
Reading ahead

• It is important to read ahead so that when you are in a

lecture you are able to
• Listen actively
• Engage effectively with the lecture content
• Compare what is being said to what you already know
• Take meaningful notes
Before reading

• Good readers ask themselves:

• Who is the author of the text?
• When was the text written?
• Who is the audience?
• Why was it written?
• What do I already know about the topic?
• What don’t I know?
• What do I need to know?
During reading

• Good readers do not read all texts in the same way –

different texts invite different ways of reading
• Read interactively
• Experienced readers identify a purpose for reading and
adjust their reading speed accordingly
• Good readers often annotate texts as they read
Annotating a text

• Identify the main idea/topic sentence

• Highlight key words
• Highlight unfamiliar words and work out their meanings
from the context where possible
• Note down meanings of words you have to look up
• Ask questions
• Write comments in the margin
• Make connections with other ideas
• Have a “conversation” with the text
After reading

• It is important to remember what you have read and to

further develop and clarify ideas and concepts from your
reading
• Good readers summarise, discuss, respond to and ask
questions about what they have read
• Experienced readers often formulate graphic
representations of ideas with lines, arrows and shapes to
indicate links
Factors that slow down reading

• Sub-vocalization
• Using a finger/pen
• Fixing eyes on every word
• Re-reading
• Poor vocabulary/comprehension
• Fatigue
• Noise/distraction
• Session too long
 Reading techniques

• Speed reading
• Skimming
• Scanning
• Study/in-depth reading
• SQ4R
Speed reading

• Reading quickly to get a preliminary understanding of a

text or to find background information on a topic
• Do not pay attention to detail
• Avoid going back/ “sounding out” words in your head –
this will slow you down
• The more familiar you are with advanced reading texts
the more quickly you will be able to access information –
reading improves with practice!
 Skimming

* To preview/get an overview of a text – reading quickly to

gather as much information about a text as possible in the
shortest amount of time
• read the ‘outline’ of the text: the headings, sub-headings,
introduction, conclusion, first sentences of each
paragraph and any other information contained in the
book other than the text itself, e.g., key words in
bold/italics, any graphics, summaries
• This gives you an overall impression or “preview” of the
text
Scanning

• Reading quickly to find specific information in a text,

such as:
• Names & dates
• Words in a dictionary
• Definitions in glossaries
• Table of contents
• Timetables & directories
• Run your eyes over the text, with the features of the
required information in mind
Study reading

• This is deep reading

• Its purpose is to gain knowledge, understand and
remember
• Good readers also struggle to comprehend difficult texts
• Good readers read academic texts slowly and re-read
often (sometimes two or three times)
• Study reading involves reading interactively and critically
– annotate and question
How do we read interactively?

• We relate what we are reading to our own experience

and knowledge of the world
• We read actively, having a “conversation” with the text
• We annotate the text:
• Identify main idea and topic sentence in each paragraph
• Make notes in the margins; paraphrase and summarise
key points; ask questions and make comments
• Highlight key words/concepts
• Highlight unfamiliar words and work out possible
meanings from the context; look up words you still do not
understand
How do we read critically?

• We read “against the grain”

• We do not believe everything we read; we ask questions
and challenge the writer’s assumptions
• We analyse arguments
• We weigh an author’s claims against evidence
• We discount arguments based on faulty reasoning
• We distinguish between fact and opinion
• We form our own opinion on the topic
SQ4R study-reading system

- Survey
- Question
- Read
- Recite
- Record
- Review
SQ4R

Survey: pre-read chapter. Look at titles, subtitles, boldface

& italics, graphs & diagrams, summary and/or
conclusion, and questions at the end of the chapter.

Question: set a purpose for reading and become actively

involved. Formulate questions before you read. Convert
titles, subtitles etc. into questions. Write these down.
SQ4R

Read: read (part of) chapter thoroughly, evaluating

arguments, and fill in answers to your questions as you
read. Do this section by section.
Record: (while you are reading). Make notes in the
margin and a summary on a separate piece of paper.
Recite: try to recite the answer to your questions. Use your
own words & cite an example.
Review: (to assist your retention) – re-read your notes,
making a determined effort to recall the material.
BENEFITS OF SQ4R

One thorough reading, plus brief review

Deep processing
Purposeful focus
Active learning
Multi-sensory learning
Long-term retention
Useful link:
https://www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/tedrogersschool/suc
cess/resources/TRSM-ASC-tip-sheet-SQ4R-reading-
strategy.pdf
CRITICAL LEGAL READING (AND THINKING AND
WRITING)

“Law and its practice are overwhelmingly about the written

word: reading words, explaining words, and reducing
thoughts and incidents to words. Legal analysis is built on,
and with, words; legal rights and duties are expressed in
words.” (Steel, A., Galloway, K., Heath, M., Skead, N.K.,
Israel, M. & Hewitt, A., 2017).
“Outsiders need to learn how arguments are constructed
according to certain unwritten rules or conventions, and
they need to master an entire new technical vocabulary.”
(Greenbaum, 2004:14).
LEGAL READING

Lawyers read different materials, and for many purposes:

• Discovering facts
• Identifying legal issues
• Finding legal authority
• Developing advice
• Learning about a client
• Editing a document
• Preparing for a meeting
• Studying a new law.
LEGAL READING continued

• Reading is central to the work of a legal practitioner, e.g.,

clients send materials to lawyers, instruct them to read
the documents, and then take action based upon what
the lawyer has to say after reading them
• Lawyers are paid to read
• This reading involves much more than merely gathering
information
• A lawyer who is a poor reader can do harm to his/her
client
LEGAL READING – LEARNING HOW TO …

• Find/determine the law in cases

• Apply the law to new factual situations (i.e., extract the
law from the cases, and be able to use it for an
advisory/policy/advocacy role)
• Reflect on and evaluate a case – interrogate/interact with
it
• “One of the most important skills in law school is the
ability to read a judicial opinion efficiently and
accurately.” (Christensen, 2007:603).
LEGAL READING – BECOMING A CRITICAL READER

You need to understand:

* Your purpose for reading -
• Why you are reading a case, i.e., the case context
• Organizational structure of the case
• Textual complexity
• The meanings of various technical terms, and how these
terms relate
LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• Begin by reading the case for an overview, and often

look at the end of the case for a result
• Familiarise themselves with the facts of the case
• Re-read the case to understand and evaluate the court’s
decision (any bias evident?)
• Think about hypothetical situations
• Adjust their reading speed
• Monitor their reading and comprehension
• If problems arise, they re-read/summarise/ make
inferences/consult outside help
• This self-regulation and repair constitute metacognition
LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• “The process of reading depends on what you are

reading. Reading contracts, most would concede, is not
quite like reading anything else.” (Burnham, 1999: 391)
• Legal writing is a particular genre, and needs specialized
knowledge, plus the strategies to use that knowledge
• This obviously takes much time and practice - it is
imperative that you start to immerse yourself in
discipline-specific writing
LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• They are not just reading to obtain information

• They are actively involved in “obtaining or shaping that
knowledge” (Ronald, 1986:231), i.e., interpreting/critically
examining it in order to form their own meaning and
world view
• They analyze and synthesize what they have read (this
takes time and effort)
LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• Analysis:
• This is the process of “unpacking” a statute or case –
taking apart each (sub)section to ensure that it is
understood
• When reading a case, identify the issue that was before
the court, the rule(s) that the court applied in deciding
the issue, the facts that the court considered in applying
those rules, and the court’s reasoning/rationale.
LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• Synthesis:
• Putting the pieces together – take each of the
cases/pieces of legislation you have read and attempt to
understand them.
• Are they consistent?
• What are the steps in the analysis?
• How do they fit into your existing conceptual
frameworks?
LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• They place legislation and cases in their historical,

social, economic, political and legal contexts (judicial
decisions reflect, to some extent, particular times and
places)
LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• They question and evaluate what they have read

LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• They read for a specific purpose:

• to keep up to date
• to find an answer to a question
• to find cases to support their argument
LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• They know that cases and legislation can be

read/understood in more than one way (i.e., meaning is
socially constructed)
LEGAL READING – WHAT DO EXPERTS DO?

• FIRAC
• facts
• legal issue
• legal rule
• application (of legal rule to facts)
• conclusion
TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR READING

• Read in a conducive environment

• Read at a comfortable speed, adjusting it to your
purpose
• Practise improving your reading speed
• Focus on attention and concentration
• Initially, try to grasp overall concepts, rather than every
detail
• Keep your sessions fairly short
Summary

- It is important to develop academic reading proficiency in

order to study and learn more effectively – an inability to
read hampers writing; an inability to read and write
contributes to academic failure (Harvard Graduate
School of Education)
- Good readers make use of various reading strategies
and techniques
- “Reading, in great addition to the pedestrian purpose of
getting information, is in fact constitutive of legal
practice, not simply preliminary to the practice.” (Junker,
2007: 41).
Useful links

• https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-
collegesuccess-lumen1/chapter/reading-
strategies/
• https://writingcenter.unc.edu/esl/resources/acad
emic-reading-strategies/
• https://success.oregonstate.edu/learning/reading
Contact details

• Miriam Lear
Coordinator, “English for Law”
Academic Development Centre
D Ring 312
miriaml@uj.ac.za
Writing Centre

• D Ring 3
Drop in to make an appointment with an experienced,
post-graduate consultant.