As you read, you might run into ideas, words, or phrases you don’t understand, or the text might refer to people, places, or events you’re unfamiliar with. It’s tempting to skip over those and keep reading, and sometimes you can glean enough information from the context to make that approach work.

However, if you do this, you run the risk of missing something specific or important. Keep in mind that professional writers and academics tend to write with such precision that every word carries meaning and contributes to the whole. Therefore, skipping over words or ideas could change the meaning of the text or leave the mean­ing incomplete.

Looking these up doesn’t take long, and if you use your note-taking skills, you’ll have the information right where you need it!

Handling Unfamiliar Vocabulary

Sometimes, texts have glossaries in the back or access to dictionaries built in. Use these, of course, but a dictionary and thesaurus can be very helpful. But if you want to remember the vocabulary, it would be even better to write the definition out, preferably where you need it in your notes.

Improve Your Vocabulary and Your Sentence Structure

Almost every year, I have at least one student who asks me how they can improve their vocabulary. They tell me that they want to stop sounding like a high school student, and they want their writing to sound more sophisticated.

Here’s the short answer: Read!

When you take the time to look up words you don’t know as you are reading, you are expanding the language you have access to. When you read, you are also absorbing the rhythms of the sentences you’re reading, which can influence how you write. If you stop and pay attention to how the author has put the sentence together, you can help yourself even more.

The best part? It doesn’t really matter what you read, as long as it’s written by professionals (people who are paid to write). Professional work not only will have been written by someone who cares about the ideas and the language, it will also have been edited by someone who wants to make those sentences clear and correct.

So, if you love sports, don’t just watch the games or scan the scores; read articles from ESPN or Sports Illustrated. If you are into music, listen to your favorites, of course, but also read Rolling Stone or the website Pitchfork. If you’re a gamer, skip Reddit because it’s written by amateurs, but read articles from Edge or PC Gamer.

Activity: Look It Up

In text that you are reading, choose one word to look up. Preferably, you’ll choose one that you aren’t familiar with (and expand your vocabulary!), but if you feel like you know the definitions for all of the words, choose one that you think would benefit from some clarification. Write the definition(s) in your notes.

Do the same thing for a concept or person or place that is new to you or that you aren’t entirely sure of. First, try a basic internet search, and make note of what you get. Try searching for the same phrase in a specialized reference collection available through your college or university library. Write a brief explanation in your notes.

Reflect on looking up the term in different resources. Which did you find more helpful? Why?

Text Attribution

This chapter contains material taken from the chapter “Do Quick Research” from The Word on College Reading and Writing by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear and is used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.