Strategies for Textbook Reading
Chapter 1
SQ3R
SQ3R
A Reading -Study Strategy
Survey
 Question
 Read
 Recite
 Review
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Step One -- Survey
To survey the chapter means to preview the
chapter before you read it.
The Three Goals of Surveying – to get
A general overview
 A feeling for the writer’s style and organization
 A sense of what’s important
 An idea of the chapter’s natural breaks or
divisions

How to Survey (7 steps)
Read the title
Read any introductory material. Pay attention
to chapter outlines, lists of questions, goals,
and objectives.
3. Formulate a general question about the
chapter’s overall point or points.
4. Read each heading and the first sentence
following each heading.
1.
2.
Survey -- 7 Steps (continued)
5.Look at all visual aids. Read all captions and
explanations accompanying the graphics.
6.Read all bold-printed or italicized words and
words in the margins.
7.Read end-of-the-chapter summaries and
questions, or read the last page if there is no
summary.
Why Survey?
Get the big picture
 Decide what’s important
 Know the main points
 Connect what you already know to what
you don’t know
 Prepare to read

Step Two -- Question

Turn chapter headings/subheadings into
questions to guide your reading
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◦
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Ask what?
Ask who?
Ask why?
Ask how?
Where? and when? questions give you a
very limited answer.
Example Heading:
Language Symbolizes Reality
Ask:
 What does it mean to say language
symbolizes reality?
 How does the nature of language affect
our verbal messages?
 Why does language symbolize reality?
Why Question
Stay focused
 Gives purpose
 Creates interest

Step Three -- Read

Never study read without a highlighter and pencil in
your hand.

Read to answer your guide questions for each section
and subsection. Rereading is common. Read every
word.

Underline and/or highlight. Be selective.

Underline/highlight only the words and phrases you
need. When you go back and reread your underlining or
highlighting, the text should have meaning.
Read (continued)

Make notes in the margins.

Mark important text items such as dates, names,
concepts, and key points. Use circles, stars,
arrows, numbers.

Your goal is to read the chapter thoroughly only
once.
Why Read
To gain information
 To prepare for lecture
 To prepare for discussion
 To prepare for tests

Vary Your Reading Rate

Adjust the speed with which you read!
◦ Don’t be afraid to SLOW DOWN if the text
becomes difficult
Reading Rates include:
•
•
•
•
Scanning
Skimming
Study Reading
Close or Analytical Reading
Step Four -- Recite
 To recite means to say something out loud.
 After each section, stop and test your
comprehension
 Recite the answers to your guide questions
 Write out your own answers
 Put it in your own words
 Write a summary or create an outline
 Write notes (in book or on paper)
 Create 3x5 (or 4x6) cards
Why Recite?
Improves concentration
 Helps you remember the
material

When to Recite?
 Immediately after reading
each section
Review – after reading
Look at the headings and see what you
can remember about each one
 Skim over your underlined/highligthed
words
 Add margin notes and markings
 Before tests

◦ MAKE AN INFORMAL OUTLINE!
(See page 19 in RFR for an example)
Highlighting/Underlining
Be selective
 Highlight/underline key points
 Highlight/underline just enough to use as
review

According to procrastination expert Neil Fiore, Ph.D., fear of failure is
the main reason why people postpone the inevitable. Thus,
procrastinators delay because of their anxiety about not having the
required skills, or knowledge to complete the task at hand. They would
rather fail to try rather than be exposed as stupid or incapable.
Writing in the margins
Summarize key points
 Compare opposing points of view
 Cite your own personal experience
 Jot down potential test questions.

Broca’s area – located in
left frontal region.
Wernicke’s area –
located in temporal
region.
The first is Broca’s area, located in the left
frontal region near the motor cortex. Patients who
have damage in this area …etc. Wernicke’s
area, is in the temporal region of the left
hemisphere … etc.
Strategies for remembering new words
Circle new words in the book(s) you are reading
 Write the word in your Vocabulary Journal (and
look up the meaning)
 Create a visual image of the word

◦ Monarchy means “rule by one person”
◦ Imagine someone wearing a crown & sitting on a throne
Incorporate the new words into your emails or
conversations
 USE IT OR LOSE IT!
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