The Benefits of Teaching Students to Use Books for Research

When I introduce research in my high school social studies classes, I use a practice I learned in kindergarten: Drop Everything and Read (DEAR). I require my students to read a physical book during the research process and give them multiple class periods to do so. DEAR time shows students the value of learning from books and provides them with the opportunity to do the deep thinking that makes research gratifying.

I prepare for DEAR time by having students figure out what book they are going to use in advance. My wonderful school librarians make a book cart that I keep in my classroom. I also borrow books from the public library for my students to use. Students are often surprised to discover that there are books published on the exact topics that interest them.

When students find an e-book that they want to use, I print out the introduction and a chapter. While students often use laptops during the research process in my class, no screens are allowed during DEAR time—I want the entire class to experience the pleasure of reading books rather than having to combat the distractions inherent to technology.

Acknowledging Distractions

I start class by asking, “When is it easiest for you to focus for a long time? When is it easiest for you to focus on reading?” These questions open a discussion about the challenges of concentrating, and then I share excerpts from Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus. We discuss how scrolling through multiple sources online at once makes it hard to focus. I explain how Hari’s book taught me that the internet is intentionally designed to capture your attention in short bursts, whereas physical books are conducive to getting into a flow state. I talk about how much I love learning from books and hope they will too.

I normalize distraction as part of the reading process and explain that wandering thoughts can help you make connections to your research questions and own experiences. I tell them to notice when they feel distracted and suggest that they stretch, write down a note related to their book, or have some water if they need a brief break.

I tell them to take off smartwatches and put their phone in their backpack instead of their pocket. I also take my phone out of my pocket and put it in a desk drawer. I explain that I’ve noticed that when my phone is on my person, it is difficult for me to concentrate on reading, even if I’m interested in the topic. Modeling this practice has helped make it a routine in my classroom.

Teaching Students How to Read Nonfiction Academic Texts

I explain the structure of academic books:

• Nonfiction academic books are not the same as novels. There are no spoilers, so you can jump around to different sections.
• The introduction explains the book’s argument and the subject of each chapter.
• The table of contents helps you figure out which chapters are relevant to your research questions.
• The index in the back shows what terms are discussed on which pages.
• The glossary defines words relevant to the book’s subject matter and indicates what topics are discussed in the book.

I then help the students develop their plan for reading. My instructions are as follows:

• Read the introduction.
• For individual chapters, start by looking at the topic sentences and any headings and boldfaced terms. What are the main topics of these paragraphs? Is this section relevant?
• Identify one or two chapters that are most relevant, and then start with the most useful sections.
• Close-read those sections!

When I coach students on close reading, I tell them that they are looking for two things:

1. Argument: What is the author’s argument? Keep it in mind as you close-read specific chapters. Does this argument corroborate or challenge the other ideas you’ve learned about your topic? To what extent do you agree with the argument?
2. Evidence: What evidence is this author offering to support their argument? How does this evidence support their analysis? And most important: How does it help you with your own project?

I tell students that they can use evidence that they learn even if they disagree with the author’s argument. This advice helps students see reading as a more active mission to wrestle with the content of the book rather than as passive consumption.

I tell my students to take some notes, but to not let note-taking get in the way of the flow of reading. I recommend approximately one or two bullet points of notes for every two pages.

Reflection after DEAR time

After reading, I ask students to share with a partner:

• What is the most interesting information you just learned?
• How was this process for you? What’s similar and different from how you usually read?

Reflections that students have shared include:

• “I realized that I was reading the same paragraph multiple times, so I stopped reading to write down my thoughts so far.”
• “Even though I read slower than I normally do, I learned more than when I’m just getting through an assignment.”
• “It was better to read a book I chose than when I’m reading what I’m assigned.”

Although using books is less convenient than the internet, it enhances the experience for my students and myself. I have noticed that students continue to reach for books during the research process even when using the internet is allowed. Students have gotten better at differentiating between looking up a fact on the internet and the process of doing research.

The most gratifying part is watching students stumble across new information and get excited about their discoveries. Last week after DEAR time, a student who was reading about immigration in New York City told me, “I just kept reading that whole chapter about food history because it was really interesting. I didn’t know any of that stuff, and now it’ll be part of my project.”