What works best for you? Highlighting books Reading Listening to lectures Writing notes during lecture Writing notes while reading Playback of a recorded lecture Discussion board Flash cards anything else? I have learned that I can remember the info better if I write notes during the lecture, even if notes are provided, otherwise I won't remember so well. I'll do this while reading a book as well. I'll write an outline of the chapter as I read, with quick bullet-point summaries. I'll reread certain passages as I go to memorize them too. Usually, I have to read quickly in one swoop for good comprehension. If I read too slow, it won't stick. I can't STAND a previously highlighted book. Other people always seem to highlight the parts I wouldn't, and it distracts my reading. Also, I hate messing up pristine pages. If I do mark-up a book, it's always in pencil. Lightly marked.
Tapes, tapes, tapes. I tape texts, I tape notes, I tape lectures. Listen to 'em in the car. Writing out notes by hand. Typing up the same notes. More tapes. I turn off the tapes and then recite aloud in a stentorian manner whatever I can recall of a given section of a tape. (Sure, people look at one strangely, but who really cares?) Highlighting is stupid. I've never seen anyone genuinely highlight--they colour in the whole page in ritual fashion. Colour coding wastes memory-effort on remembering the system instead of remembering what is ostensibly being systematized. Whatever value there is in highlighting can be had by using very small sticky notes at the exact place on the printed page, sticking out like little index tabs, which I suppose in a temporary way they are. Then copy out what you've tagged. My theory is that engaging different physical actions in committing things to memory helps. This may be crap, but at the very least it creates the comfortable illusion of actually doing something.
I read for understanding, not merely to get through the material. After every page, I close my eyes and try to recreate the main points in my mind's eye. If I feel totally lost (which doesn't usually happen, if I am am engrossed in the subject), I re-read the page and try again. I don't take notes until shortly before the assessment, then I do a review and record what I am not sure I understand or that I know I have trouble with. I study this material until I am comfortable with it or until I run out of time. Tony
I highlight the important info and write notes to clarify in the margin. After each section/chapter/area or whatever I try to explain the material as if I was teaching it. I also read to learn the material as if I was going to teach it. This gives me a diffeent prospective.
Because of a habit that developed during days when I religiously sold back textbooks for the extra pennies, I never make notes in the book. I read the book with a notebook on the right side in which I outline everything in pencil. The only exception is for foreign language books, especially when I was learning to read Spanish. I would look up any words or idioms I didn't know and write the English translation above the page in microscopic handwriting. After I knew every word in the whole chapter or book I would reread it, glancing at the translations with peripheral vision, so I got all the meanings a second time in context.
I don't use flash cards, not even for Bar study, nor do I record lectures. I DO use most of the other devices. I don't highlight or otherwise mark in textbooks which is strange because I do both extensively when doing my day job. Making notes is more important than reading notes. In law school, I found that I made copious notes and NEVER reviewed them. The act of making them lodged the information in my memory,
Study...? Uhhh... I don't get it. (I'm a California State University guy. We don't know nuthin' about that kind of stuff. If you want to hear about study, ask the UC guys like Huffman.) More seriously... Same thing. I always highlight. (I've gone through thousands of highlighter pens.) Sometimes I end up highlighting virtually everything on a page. People see that and ask 'what the hell are you doing???' But I find that reading a passage, asking myself 'is this important? do I want to save it?', rereading it, then rereading it again as I highlight it, is a procedure that helps me process the material. (I often reread books by only reading the highlighted passages and highlighting within the highlighting by underlining some of the already-highlighted material.) Sometimes I drift into reveries as I think about how the material that I just highlighted fits into what I've read elsewhere and into problems that I've been thinking about. Needless to say, I'm a very slow reader. That only gets worse when I have a whole bunch of books going simultaneously, as I almost always do. I like reading better. The problem with lectures is that I start thinking about the first things that the lecturer said and lose touch with his subsequent material. But if I just follow along without thinking, the material bounces off of me. It's kind of frustrating. I usually do. It serves a function like highlighting. But unfortunately, I can't write as fast as professors can talk. I never do those things. I positively LOVE them!!! Discussion boards combine the strengths of written text and class discussion. They allow me to slow down the interaction and to think about the material. They allow me to craft a thoughtful reply instead of always responding superficially off the top of my head. But they retain the interactive back-and-forth dialogue aspect of conversation with multiple thinkers still responding to one another's ideas. Really, I think that discussion boards are a new form of interpersonal interaction and that DL might actually be superior to classroom interaction in that respect. The only time I've used them was in foreign language classes. My practice was to make all the masculine noun flashcards one color, the feminine noun flashcards another. That way, even if I didn't directly remember the noun gender, I remembered what color the flashcard was. I agree that I hate previously highlighted books, unless the highlighting was by me. If I find that I really like a book and want to keep it, I might buy a second pristine unmarked copy for my bookshelf. But that doesn't really cost me a whole lot since I buy most of my books at used bookstores or as remainders. I'm a humanities broad-but-shallow guy anyway, so I rarely need expensive technical texts. Actually, my reading is usually kind of stochastic, guided as much by what I fortuitously find in the used bookstores (that I prowl for entertainment) as anything.
