ABSTRACT
It is hard to emphasise exactly how important your reading will be, when it comes to your writing. If you are sitting with a blank page in front of you and feel that you have nothing to draw on, then think again. All of the reading that you have done to get to this point has already helped you more than you think. As I've pointed out elsewhere, your chapter or manuscript is likely to resemble the formula that many others already follow, and standing on the shoulders of those giants will help you again. But it's possible that your reading isn't helpful if you aren't being sufficiently ‘critical’ when you read: and by critical, I am talking about the methodical approach that you take to reading that improves your comprehension of a paper (Figure 24.1).
