 Okay, so here's the situation. You spend all day playing latest video game involving guns, and now you have an article summary due tomorrow. This video is here to help you find the best and quickest way to extract the information you need from an academic paper. The first thing to be aware of is that academic papers are not written the same way as other forms of literature. You may be tempted to read them through from beginning to end, like a short story or a newspaper article. Do not do this. There are more efficient ways to read papers. What we're going to do is read through the paper in three passes. In the first pass, we want to see the framework of the paper. The things we want to look at are the abstract, the introduction and conclusion, section headings, and any tables or diagrams, including their captions. As you're skimming, underline any unfamiliar words or phrases for you to look up later. As you read through the paper for the first time, ask yourself questions such as, what is the point or thesis of this paper? What are the main arguments of the paper? Why is this paper important? And how does it contribute to my field of study? You may not be able to answer all these questions yet, but it's good to keep them in mind. If you have any other questions, make sure to write those down, too. At the end of your first pass, try to summarize the paper in a sentence or two in your own words. If you can do that, you've gotten what you need to out of your first pass. The second pass is where you really dig into the paper. Pay closer attention to the beginning and ending of each major section. Also, pay attention to any of the highlighted sections from the first pass. If there are still words or phrases that you don't understand, now is the time to look them up. Try to answer all the questions you wrote down earlier. The third and final pass is where you tie it all together. You should have a good idea of what the paper is trying to say at this point, so now it's time to train a critical eye on it. This is the time for reflection and analysis. Take notes as you read, looking at arguments, evidence, and conclusions. By the time you've done this, you should have the basis for your summary completed. Try to use your own words as much as you can, rather than copy and pasting quotes. Here are some of the questions you should try to answer by the end of this pass, depending on what type of paper it is. Did the authors do what they set out to do? Are the methods they used sound? Are their arguments fluid and logical? What assumptions did they make? Now you may have noticed my big assumption, which is that you've already selected a worthwhile article to read. In the case of an assigned reading, that's already been taken care of. If you're doing research, though, you'll need to do some work to see whether a particular paper is worth investing your time in reading at all. That, however, is a task for another video.