At this early stage in the essay writing process you probably don’t know what the arguments are, or where in the readings you might find them. So read the texts quickly, skimming to see which ones are likely to be most relevant, and to see if there are some themes and ideas you might use. As you read you should be gathering broad ideas that are relevant to your essay.

Taking notes about each text will help you later in the essay writing process to remember if it is relevant, and why.

Detailed notes are not needed yet. Your focus is on eliminating readings that are not likely to be relevant, and gathering ideas from the others.

Readings

These are the readings used for evidence for the essay. They are here as a resource – you can skip them and go on to work through the activities.

Jonina Einarsdottir – Happiness in the neonatal intensive care unit: Merits of ethnographic fieldwork [Website]

Daniel Kahneman – The riddle of experience vs. memory

Matt Killingsworth – Want to be happier? Stay in the moment

Michael Norton – How to buy happiness

John O’Rourke, Martin Cooper, Christina Gray – Is Being “Smart and Well Behaved” a Recipe for Happiness in Western Australian Primary Schools? [Website] [PDF]

Barbara Ehrenreich Smile or Die [Website]

CRMSLiteracy – Note Taking Templates [Website]*

Also, you may find these note taking templates [Website] useful for taking notes from your academic reading.

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