Say you find it. Then what? Identify the main points. I do not underline when reading scholarly work, because that doesn’t help me to translate the big words into words I understand. Instead, I write in the margins. I identify the main points in the margins by paraphrasing them in a few words or a phrase. You should locate the method (how do they make the argument? By doing an experiment? Looking at a media clip? Studying people?); the theory (who else do they cite to prove their point?); and their conclusion (what are their findings?).