A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Read generously to understand, then critically to engage and evaluate - Look for creative agreement
Engaging sources
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

Once you find a source worth a close look, don't read it mechanically, just mining it for data to record. Note-taking is not clerical work. When you take notes on a source thoughtfully, you engage not just its words and ideas, but its implications, consequences, shortcomings, and new possibilities. Engage your source as if its writer were sitting with you, eager for a conversation (it's how you should imagine your readers engaging you).

4.1 Read generously to understand, then critically to engage and evaluate

For an advanced project, take the time to read your most promising sources twice, first quickly and generously to understand them on their own terms. If you disagree too soon, you can misunderstand or exaggerate a weakness.

Then reread them slowly and critically, as if you were amiably but pointedly questioning a friend; imagine his or her answers, then question them. If you disagree, don't just reject a source: read it in ways that will encourage your own original thinking.

You probably won't be able to engage your sources fully until after you've done some reading and developed a few ideas of your own. But from the outset, be alert for ways to read your sources not passively, as a consumer, but actively and creatively, as an engaged partner. At some point, better earlier than later, you must look for ways to go beyond your sources, even when you agree with them.

4.1.1 Look for creative agreement

It is a happy moment when a source confirms your views. But if you just passively agree, you won't develop any of your own ideas. So try to extend what your source claims: What new cases might it cover? What new insights can it provide? Is there confirming evidence your source hasn't considered? Here are some ways to agree creatively.

OFFER ADDITIONAL SUPPORT. You have new evidence to support a source's claim.

Smith uses anecdotal evidence to show that the Alamo story had mythic status beyond Texas, but a study of big-city newspapers offers better evidence.

1. Source supports a claim with old evidence, but maybe you can offer new evidence.

2. Source supports a claim with weak evidence, but maybe you can offer stronger evidence.

CONFIRM UNSUPPORTED CLAIMS. You can prove something that a source has only assumed or speculated.

Smith recommends visualization to improve sports performance, but a study of the mental activities of athletes shows why that is good advice.

1. Source only speculates that X might be true, but maybe you can offer evidence to show that it definitely is.

2. Source assumes that X is true, but maybe you can prove it.

APPLY A CLAIM MORE WIDELY. You can extend a position to new areas.

Smith has shown that medical students learn physiological processes better when they are explained with many metaphors rather than by just one. The same appears to be true for engineers learning physical processes.

1. Source correctly applies his claim to one situation, but maybe it can apply to new ones.

2. Source claims that X is true in a specific situation, but maybe it's true in general.