ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on developing the right attitude to use the literature to aid research design. “The purpose of reading is to understand what the author has to say. It is to understand the theories and evidence presented.” The simple view of reading might be to “understand an author,” but understanding is hardly simple. In addition to the difficulties of interpretation, all writing invites the question of whether the author was successful in conveying his or her ideas. Academic writing has a well-deserved reputation as being difficult and inelegant. Poor writing is sometimes accepted in academia because what is most important is conceptual content, and if a poorly written work has strong conceptual content, it may become important in the discourse. Academic writing is primarily judged with respect to the underlying ideas and reasoning, and therefore poor writing about good ideas can survive and prosper on the basis of its underlying intellectual strength.
