January Reading via #5Papers

Mon-FriI have felt some well-intended pressure to read more in 2016, and while I am attending a bit with #SixtyBooks (to read 60 books in a year, an ambitious goal beyond my time and wherewithal) by committing to reading 24 books (2 books a month), I DO want to read and share more research articles.

Reading research stimulates me, helps keep me current, and continues to challenge and move my ideas forward.

Thus, I will try #5Papers–reading and sharing via brief article summaries of research papers–each week day, totaling 5 papers per week: #5Papers!

One research paper each day (Mon-Fri) seems somewhat reasonable, something that many of us who engaged in doctoral studies did while engaging with the literature, and will keep me current with thinking in my areas of inquiry (doctoral studies, researcher development, actor-network theory, social media use in higher education and nonprofit communication, networked and connected learning in higher education and organizational contexts, and environmental education).

As I have seemingly endless searches always gathering articles for me to read, I have no shortage of research articles and studies to read, I hope to:

I cannot do an objective summary and will not pretend it will be. Reading and writing occur through my own voice, experiences, and perspectives, and while I will seek to be fair and positive, I am focusing on what I am taking from the study and what can I do with it.

These are the questions I use to guide my summary:

  1. Reference to the Article (for those who may want to locate it)
  2. What attracted me to this Article?
  3. What is it about (Problem / Purpose / Research Questions)?
  4. Where does this come from (Literature / Theoretical Framework)?
  5. What did they do (Methodology & Method)?
  6. What did they learn (Results / Discussion)?
  7. What did I learn?

While many will agree that reading more is a good thing, I find that having that alone without a stretch goal of what more means is not enough. I need something toward which to work, and 5 (we work 5 days, at least, per week) seems reasonable, so after considering #30Papers (one each day a month just seems a bit much), we will start with 5.

Any feedback, thoughts, ideas, or suggestions are appreciated!

17 thoughts on “January Reading via #5Papers”

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  2. I love this idea, Jeffrey. I also need to set aside time for reading the articles I collect, I think I will try it as well! Thanks for the inspiration!

    1. Thanks, @mnantais. While it is a lot of work, I have noticed some great benefits to this over the past two weeks. I find I read more consistently, practice my summarization skills, blog more, share more, and as a result connect more with people I have not spoken with before 😉

      Try this, but to make it not feel like work, highlight and summarize what is of value to you — it is not a formal review, but rather a summary of things you find valuable.

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