SQ3R
Step
What is your Task?
To get a sense of what you will
learn
Survey
To understand how the text
organizes information
To guess what the thesis or
argument is
How do you do it?
Read and look over:

Title, headings, subheadings

Pictures, graphs, charts, maps and their
captions

Questions at end if there are any

Introduction, conclusion

Summary or abstract


Question
To engage actively with the
material by asking questions and
looking for their answers




To look for answers to your
questions



Read
To look for the structure
To inform yourself of content
To make connections


Turn the title, headings and
subheadings into questions
Read questions at the end of the
chapter
Ask yourself how the text fits into your
course as a whole
Ask yourself how the text fits into what
you already know about the topic
Write your questions down to use for
future study sessions
Add to your question list as your
understanding develops and your
questions become more sophisticated
Read one section at a time
Look for main ideas, arguments,
examples
Your answers to questions can become
your notes rather than blindly copying
the text
Write notes that comment on the
author’s ideas, and add your own
thoughts
Make connections between visual
elements and text
To think critically

Pause at the end of each section and
chapter to test your knowledge

Close the book to make sure you use
your own words

Answer questions out loud or write out
your answers to force yourself to
To move your new knowledge
answer clearly
from short- to long-term

Answer questions out loud to add
memory
another sensory element to help ‘fix’
the answer in your memory

Review one hour, one day, and then
To review material regularly in
each week after the reading to refresh
order to remember it
your memory and make connections
with new material

Use your list of questions to test your
To make material part of your
memory
understanding of your discipline  Add new questions, and add to
answers, as your understanding of the
area deepens
Concept of SQ3R is from: Robinson, F.P. (1970). Effective study (4th ed.). New York: Harper and Row. pp 32-33.
Recite
To answer questions to test your
knowledge
Review
Hand-out Prepared by Maggie Roberts, English Language Development Program, University of Toronto Scarborough, 2011.