Hello all, I'm a first-year uni student and I'm struggling with this. I need to read 3/4 books for an essay I plan to write, but lack the time to do so, what's the trick to be able to draw out the information I need without having to read cover to cover.
Many thanks to those who comment
Several tips: Firstly break the question down. So for example if you have a question like: is blitzkrieg a useful term for historians discuss: look for the key words in this sentence, Blitzkrieg is the major one.
Then go to the books look In the index and contents page for these key words and go from there. Only read those relevant pages. Look at the footnotes from these as well and it leads onto other sources. I hold a BA, MA and I am currently a doctoral researcher and this has always stood me well. You just don’t have time to read cover to cover.