[B. Santana] Active reading, Annotating, and SQ4R. I’m Bruno Santana, and this is your
Note Taking Edition of IUPUI’s StudyGuide! [B. Santana] First let’s talk about active
reading. Have you ever read a chapter in your textbook and realized once you were down,
you couldn’t remember or understand anything you just read? Using Active Reading will help
you remember. When you use active reading, you will be able to recall information and
apply it to your studies. [S. McCullough] It will also save you time
and energy! One strategy to use to practice active reading is to be patient. Read slowly
and take your time with the test. It’s important to read slowly, so you can recall the information.
[B. Santana] Also, don’t move on to the next section or chapter if you do not comprehend
everything. Make sure you hit and understand all the main points before you move to the
next section. Learning terminology is extremely important. When you learn the terminology,
it will help you do well in test and quizzes and also understand the section.
[S. McCullough] Another thing to remember when trying to understand textbooks, try to
understand where the writer is coming from and what his or her intention is. Doing this,
will help you understand where your text came from and what the intention was to write.
This tactic is especially helpful when reading historical texts.
Finally, find a way to make the material exciting! If you’re interested in the material you
will learn faster and easier. Find a way to make it relevant to you! Now, let’s go to
Lindsay to find out about annotating! [L. Stiller] Thanks, Shannon! Annotating a
textbook is especially useful when studying for a test or quiz. Annotating involves highlighting,
adding notes, and adding trigger words. It’s especially useful to help you retain and recall
information, and to help you stay focused. For kinesthetic learners, annotating will
help you to enjoy learning, and to learn the information better because it’s adapted
to your learning style. A great way to review for a class is to look over your annotations.
Doing this will help you to prepare for class and also to put the information into your
long-term memory to recall later or to use in application.
[B. Santana] SQ4R reading method is a proven successful, comprehensive way of being able
to understand and retain information from your textbook. SQ4R stands for Survey, Question,
Recite, Record, and Review. The first step, survey, will help you understand
the basic concepts of the chapter. [S. McCullough] After surveying, write the
questions for each heading and subheading in order to prepare yourself for a note-taking
method and to further understand and clarify what’s in the text.
Read one paragraph at a time. Don’t read too fast, or you won’t remember what you’ve
just read! [B. Santana] It is important to take notes
on what you read, not only will it help you understand, but the outline will help you
study for your test. Recording is a very special tool that you can utilize.
Another way to retain your information is by reciting what you read. Reading the textbook
out loud will help you to remember it in the long run.
[S. McCullough] Finally, review the information, either after you’ve just read it, or before
you go to class in order to trigger your memory to get you prepared to apply the information
you’ve just learned. [B. Santana] The Bepko Learning Center is
here to help you with all of your note taking needs. Please visit us on the second floor
of Taylor Hall or visit our website for more resources! The Bepko Learning Center is open
Monday through Thursday, 8 to 7 and Friday, 8 to 4.