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Similarly in tackling a piece of legislation, questions about the 'spirit' of the law or reading the intentions of the law-makers into the potentially ambiguous text are fundamental activities. Third, it may be important to keep very large parts of the entire argument in view in order to understand what comes next. Where a case is built up in a strictly hierarchical, cumulative fashion- as in a lengthy piece oflegal or philosophical argument- there may be no viable alternative to working through it carefully from beginning to end, perhaps taking extensive notes en route.

But it is hard not to conclude that most of the time the inaccessibility of reading lists reflects either the lack of time teachers spend 'on compiling them, or a more principled adherence to the 'throw 'em in the deep end' school of thinking, for whose exponents 'spoonfeeding' students is anathema. When faced with a long reading list without clear priorities or substitutes: GENERATING INFORMATION 23 (a) Buttonhole the teacher concerned and politely insist that she indicate priorities; what would she read first if in your shoes?

9. Keep your study methods under review- with help from your tutor, other study counsellors, or short-term courses (p. 16). 10. Talk through study problems with other students (p. 16). 11. Be clear whether you work in a 'serialist' or a 'holist' manner. If your courses or textbooks use a different approach to a subject, take some simple steps to fit in with your style of working (p. 17). 12. Develop your own self-confidence (p. 18). 2 Generating Information Reading Guide Creating an information base for academic work involves: 1.