SQ3R reading method

Survey! Question! Read! Recite! Review!

Review: an ongoing process

Day One After you have read and recited the entire chapter, write questions in the margins for points you highlighted or underlined. If you took notes while reciting, write questions for the notes you have taken in the left hand margins of your notebook. Complete the form for a critical reading review Day Two+ Page through the text and/or your notebook to reacquaint yourself with the important points. Cover the right hand column of your /note-book and orally ask yourself the questions in the left hand margins. Orally recite or write the answers from memory. Develop mnemonic devices for material which need to be memorized. Make flash cards for those questions which give you difficulty. Test yourself on the questions you formulated. (Using your notes/flash cards) Weekend Using the text and notebook, make a Table of Contents - list all the topics and sub-topics you need to know from the chapter. Recite the information orally and in your own words as you put the Study Sheet/Map together.

Before you read,

Survey the chapter :

the title, headings, and subheadings captions under pictures, charts, graphs or maps review questions or teacher-made study guides introductory and concluding paragraphs summary Turn the title, headings, and/or subheadings into questions Read questions at the end of the chapters or after each subheading Ask yourself, "What did my instructor say about this chapter or subject when it was assigned?"

Question while you are surveying :

Ask yourself, "What do I already know about this subject?"

Begin to

Read :

Look for answers to the questions you raised Answer questions at the beginning or end of chapters or study guides Reread captions under pictures, graphs, etc. Note all the underlined, italicized, bold words Reduce your speed for difficult passages Stop and reread parts which are not clear Read only 1 section at a time and recite after each section

Visual Learning Tips:

Always have the "big picture" before you especially when studying its parts or details When trying to remember things, close your eyes to get a picture of the information to facilitate recall or use flash cards with limited information so that you can picture details and concepts Use mind or concept maps to organize , visualize ideas, connections, sequences, and conclusions

Recite after you've read a section :

Orally ask yourself questions about what you have just read, or summarize, in your own words, what you read Take notes from the text but write the information in your own words Underline or highlight important points you've just read Reciting: The more senses you use the more likely you are to remember! Quadruple strength learning: Seeing , saying , hearing, writing!!!

Taking notes
Underline or highlight: main subjects examples of these main ideas (that illustrate) unfamiliar vocabulary and/or definitions

Check the beginning and the end for leading questions and exercises Mark what you do not understand to review later Periodically look away from the text and ask yourself a stimulus question relating to the text

As you read, practice the look-away method:

Jot down paraphrases, questions, and summaries First: read a section of your textbook chapter Read just enough to keep an understanding of the material. Do not take notes, focus on understanding the material. Do NOT take notes as you are reading the first time,: you are likely to take down too much information and simply copy without understanding

Phrase the question positively! Respond, or restate, in your own words

Make connections and associations, but don't use this exercise to memorize--but rather understand Look up words Look up words whose meanings are important to your understanding of the material, but you cannot discern from the context. Read to the end Do not get discouraged and stop reading. Ideas can become clearer the more you read. When you finish reading, review to see what you have learned, and reread those ideas that are not clear. Organize your notes by connecting ideas you choose into an outline or concept map. Pay attention to relationships between ideas. Do not confine yourself to words! Use representations, graphics, pictures, colors, even movement to visualize and connect ideas. Use whatever techniques work to help you understand At this point, if you do not understand your

Second: Review the material Locate the main ideas, as well as important subpoints Paraphrase this information: Putting the textbook information in your own words forces you to become actively involved with the material Third: write the paraphrased ideas as your notes Do not copy directly from the textbook Add only enough detail to understand

Review, and compare your notes with the text, and ask yourself if you truly understand

Reading material
Reading difficult material can be a matter of concentration or of simply organizing the challenge into steps: Choose a moderate amount of material or a chapter to begin Get a grasp of how the material is organized: Scan the section for titles, headings, subheadings, and topic sentences to get its general idea; pay attention to graphs, charts, and diagrams Read the SUMMARY and Introductory, closing paragraphs

reading, do not panic! Set it aside, and read it again the next day. If necessary, repeat. This allows your brain to process the material, even while you sleep. This is referred to as distributed reading. Re-read the section you have chosen with the framework (outline or concept map) you have constructed in mind Separate out what you do understand from what you do not.

Reading assignments:
Get a perspective: Review the assignment in the syllabus (In case you don't need to read parts of it). Survey the chapter (5-10 minutes) for how the content is organized; get the "big picture" This is not to fully understand, rather develop preliminary associations of bits of information that later will help you understand Quickly page through the introduction, the summary, vocabulary list, self-test questions, headings, boldfaced material, major graphics, etc. Notice the major concepts, definitions, descriptions, causes, effects and arguments. Take no notes, and mark no text in this phase

Work out your own explanations of hard-tounderstand passages Go in short units (a few words at a time), translate their meaning, think of associations, relate them to other parts of the passage, make inferences.

Mark passages with a question mark that you still do not understand [?]

2d reading
Only read material again to understand it.

Review your notes for what you :

Need to review before any test Must memorize Need to complete exercises or solve problems

Review of first reading

Return to what you do not understand, or want to reinforce This is not for memorization, but understanding Mark or highlight what you think is important In the margin, use or develop a system; "D" for a definition, "F" for a descriptive fact, "C" for a cause-and-effect statement, "A" for a scientific argument "?" for what you do not understand "*" - Example. New vocabulary- Write new vocabulary and concepts down along with a short meanings Create your own visual pictures or images, or concept maps Create sensory cues as heat, movements. Read a passage aloud to yourself with normal conversational intonation. Your translation of printed text into spoken words may activate meanings. If you can't read aloud, imagine reading aloud and hearing your own voice

Create study checklists Identify all of the material that you will be tested on-list notes, formulas, ideas, and text assignments. This checklist will enable you to break your studying into organized, manageable chunks, which should allow for a comprehensive review plan with minimal anxiety Create summary notes and "maps" Briefly Mind Map the important ideas of the course and the relationships of these ideas. Summary notes should display lists and hierarchies of ideas. Creativity and a visual framework will help you recall these ideas. Flashcards for definitions, formulas, lists you need to memorize-put topics /answers. Flashcards will enable you to test your ability to not only recognize important information, but also your ability to retrieve information from scratch

Cramming preparation
Preview material to be covered Be selective: skim chapters for main points Concentrate on the main points

Creativity:
Nine approaches to creative problem solving: 1. Rethink! Look at problems in many different ways. 2. Visualize! Utilize diagrams and imagery to analyze your dilemma. 3. Produce! Genius is productive. 4. Combine! Make novel combinations... 5. Form relationships. 6. Opposite! Think in opposites. 7. Metaphor/simile! Think metaphorically. 8. Failure! Learning from your mistakes is one example of using failure. 9. Patience! Don't confuse inspiration with ideas. 10. 3 O's - Take a problem and think of 3 different options for dealing with it. (radically different solutions, can be opposites)

Begin with 5 sheets of paper: 1. Identify 5 key concepts or topics that will be covered on the test Enter one at the top of each page. Use only key words or short phrases 2. In your own words, write an explanation, definition, answer, etc of several lines or so for the key concept Do NOT use the text or your notes 3. Compare your response of (2) with the course source information (text and lecture notes) 4. Edit or re-write your understanding of each topic 5. Sequence and number each page of your topics 1 - 5 in order of importance; 1 = most important 6. Follow the above process for 2 additional concepts 7. Place them in the 1 - 5 sequence and change numbering to 1 - 7 8. Follow the above process for more concepts 9. Try not to exceed nine concepts; focus on the most important 10. Review the day of the test,