How to Skim an Academic Book or Article

These are some tips and suggestions that I've picked up from several of my teachers and colleagues:

• If possible, always read with a pen/pencil in hand. Highlight important passages. Mark places that bring up questions for you. Circle important words and concepts. If reading on the screen (desktop, laptop, or tablet), use software that allows you to edit/highlight the document.
• Read the title. This step seems painfully obvious, but is frequently overlooked as an important point of orientation and focus for the book or article at hand. In case of a book, also read the table of contents and glance over the index, which will give you an idea of what names, subjects, organizations, and historical events will be highlighted in the book most frequently are are therefore important for the argument.
• Read the introduction and conclusion before reading the body. In case of an article, read the abstract, the first few paragraphs, and the conclusion. A well-structured secondary source will introduce the thesis early, support the thesis with compelling evidence throughout, and end by restating and expanding the thesis.
• Read the first and last sentences of every paragraph. Skim the rest. This should give you a good idea of the content of each paragraph and help you track how the argument develops. Note that certain paragraphs will stand out as particularly compelling and/or informative, in which case you should carefully read the entire paragraph. 
• After reading each chapter or article, pause to write down your own summary of the piece in a couple of sentences. Do not merely repeat the main argument. Rather, summarize it and consider some questions that the text introduces for you.

Another helpful approach is STAMP reading, adapted from a Bowdoin College writing guide:

• Structure: How the author structures their work will help you understand the overall argument. Does the structure support or detract from the thesis?
• Thesis: What is the central point of the piece? 
• Argument: How does the argument of the piece unfold? What internal logic does it follow? What assumptions does the author hold? Evaluate the internal logic and the holistic logic of the piece. Does the author frame successful questions? And does she or he provide convincing answers? 
• Motives: Why was this written? Who is the author in conversation with? The introduction will give you some of that information, but you should also notice other instances where the author engages with other scholars or schools of thought. Presumably, the piece is written in order to complicate an existing assumption or to contribute to an understudied subject. Identify the author’s motivation for writing. 
• Primaries: Although written in a tiny font and frequently entirely overlooked by students, footnotes actually provide a wealth of information that the main body of the text omits. Glance at the footnotes frequently, particularly if you are interested in the subject matter for your own research or if you are having trouble tracking the author’s references.