1
Reading Strategies
A Template to Run a Quick AIC (Abstract, Introduction, Conclusion) Skim Reading and
Write a Synthetic Note Based on AIC.
Reading is part and parcel of undergraduate and graduate education, and we are often confronted
with the fact that we need to read more than we seem to have time for. Compounding this situation,
we get a broad range of materials that we need to read, absorb, and understand across a spectrum of
disciplines and issue areas.
This quick template should help readers (1) ask the right questions off an article, or book chapter,
and (2) write a brief summary, Rhetorical-Precis style document (what I call a Synthetic Note).
READINGS:
1) How to extract information using the AIC method
http://www.raulpacheco.org/2017/01/finding-the-most-relevant-information-in-a-paper-
when-reading-a-three-step-method/
2) How to create a Synthetic Note based on AIC:
http://www.raulpacheco.org/2017/05/writing-synthetic-notes-of-journal-articles-and-book-
chapters/
3) How to write a Rhetorical Precis: http://www.raulpacheco.org/2016/10/using-the-
rhetorical-precis-for-literature-reviews-and-conceptual-syntheses/
QUESTIONS TO ASK (AND ANSWER, BASED ON THE READING)
Abstract:
Question Direct Quotation Page In Your Own
Words…
What do we know?
What don’t we know?
How does the author
go about answering
that question?
What do(es) the
author(s) find?
What do we learn
from this paper? What
is the contribution?
SYNTHETHIC NOTE TEMPLATE (BASED OFF AIC) RAUL PACHECO-VEGA
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Reading Strategies
Introduction
Question Direct Quotation Page In Your Own Words…
What do we know? (context, details
of the case study, rationale for the
research)
What don’t we know? (puzzle,
research question, hypothesis)
How does the author go about
answering that question? (methods,
data sources, cases, timelines)
What do(es) the author(s) find?
(results)
What do we learn from this paper?
What is the contribution?
(theoretical, empirical contribution)
Conclusion
Question Direct Quotation Page In Your Own
Words…
What is the overall summary
of this paper?
Which new methods, theory,
data or combination thereof
have been
tested/examined/developed)?
How could this research be
further expanded or
developed?
What are the limitations of
this research? What was not
studied and why?
SYNTHETHIC NOTE TEMPLATE (BASED OFF AIC) RAUL PACHECO-VEGA
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Reading Strategies
Synthetic Note Format:
• Paper Citation
• Abstract
• Summary of the paper derived from your AIC notes
In their article, “________________”, ___________ (authors’ last names cited in Author Date
format) _____________ (verb describing the overall summary of this paper – e.g.
examines/undertakes an analysis of/explores) ______________ (case study). Applying _________
(method) on _________ (data), they find __________ (major findings).
EXAMPLES OF SYNTHETIC NOTES:
1) Empirical article
Rich, Jessica Alexis Jolicoeur. 2020. “Organizing Twenty-First-Century Activism:
From Structure to Strategy in Latin American Social Movements.” Latin
American Research Review 55(3): 430–44.
This article examines how the organizational structure of a social movement affects the tactics it is
likely to adopt. Hybrid movements gained prominence at the start of the twenty-first century. Like movements
of the past, they protested on the streets; but unlike the movements of the past, they also acted like interest
groups by lobbying government over policy. Considered through the lens of traditional scholarship, this
phenomenon presents a puzzle. Loose networks of activists are thought to be good at contentious politics but
incapable of negotiating with government. By contrast, federations of interest groups are seen to be good at
insider lobbying but subject to co-optation. This article theorizes the middle ground between social movements
and interest groups by proposing a third structure for social movement organizing, the federative coalition,
which incorporates some of the advantages of hierarchy while avoiding some of its pitfalls. The article
illustrates this argument through a case study of Brazil’s AIDS movement.
In her article “Organizing Twenty-First-Century Activism: From Structure to Strategy in Latin
American Social Movements.”, Jessica Rich examines a case study of Brazil’s fight against
HIV/AIDS movements to understand how organizational structures may have an impact on the
tactics that they use. Rich uses an ethnographic approach based on a total of 24 months of fieldwork
between 2008 and 2016, and over 200 semi-structured interviews with activist leaders, politicians,
bureaucrats across six Brazilian states and the capital of the country, as well as observation of over
60 meetings and rallies. The author complemented her work with an internet-based survey of 123
NGOs in two states (Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo). Rich finds that hybrid movements that share
some characteristics of loose networks with federated, more organized structures, enjoy increased
flexibility and takes advantage of hierarchical structures. Rich calls these hybrid movements
“federative coalitions”. Rich’s research contributes to our understanding of social movements and
their organizational structures, as well as to our knowledge of the factors that lead to the use of
hybrid strategies.
SYNTHETHIC NOTE TEMPLATE (BASED OFF AIC) RAUL PACHECO-VEGA
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Reading Strategies
A sampler of my AIC notes on the Rich (2020) article can be found here…
Abstract:
Question Direct Page In Your Own Words…
Quotation
What do we know? There are two main types of NGO networks but
a third one is emerging. Loose networks are good
at contentious politics but bad at negotiating,
whereas federations are good at insider lobbying
but are also subject to cooptation.
What don’t we “How the 430 Why are hybrid movements becoming more
know? organizational popular and succeeding? And how does
structure of a organizational structure have an impact on the
social types of tactics that a social movement or NGO
movement coalition may have?
affects the
tactics it is
likely to
adopt”
How does the author She analyzes Brazil’s AIDS movement.
go about answering
that question?
What do(es) the
author(s) find?
What do we learn The federative coalition has good points – it has
from this paper? advantages of hierarchy while avoiding any risks
What is the associated with it, where this increased flexibility
contribution? is derived from being federated.
Introduction
Question Direct Quotation Page In Your Own Words…
What do we know? (context, details
of the case study, rationale for the
research)
What don’t we know? (puzzle, How do social movements
research question, hypothesis) remain in a “middle ground”
and does this benefit them by
increasing their ability to
negotiate with governments?
SYNTHETHIC NOTE TEMPLATE (BASED OFF AIC) RAUL PACHECO-VEGA
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Reading Strategies
How does the author go about
answering that question? (methods,
data sources, cases, timelines)
What do(es) the author(s) find?
(results)
What do we learn from this paper?
What is the contribution?
(theoretical, empirical contribution)
Conclusion
Question Direct Quotation Page In Your Own
Words…
What is the overall “This article has suggested that 439 Jessica Rich’s article
summary of this hierarchical, centralized elements of suggests that a new
paper? contemporary social movement coalitions version of activism
are obscured when we focus solely on is emerging, where
traditional dichotomies between networks the organizational
and federations” structure is a hybrid
between a loose
network and a
hierarchical
structure.
Which new methods, “Using the case of Brazil’s AIDS 439- Rich develops a new
theory, data or movement to call attention to social 440 concept, the
combination thereof movement structures that do not federative coalition,
have been tested, conform neatly to traditional divides, I using the AIDS
examined/developed)? described a structure that I call the movement to show
federative coalition, a hierarchical and how these hybrid
centralized coalition of independent structures help the
advocacy organizations” movement advance
its goals.
How could this “the analysis suggests that we should 440 Further research
research be further think more systematically about coalition could focus on how
expanded or structure as a choice” can federative
developed? coalitions emerge,
sustain, and
consolidate? Which
factors might hinder
their emergence?
What are the
limitations of this
research? What was
not studied and why?
SYNTHETHIC NOTE TEMPLATE (BASED OFF AIC) RAUL PACHECO-VEGA
