Dr. Jones’s hints to effectively read Campbell’s Biology (and other science textbooks)
It is not uncommon for students new to college to find that they have not
developed the kind of reading habits or skills that will prepare them for success in
college. Too often, first semester science students attempt to rely on reading habits that
got them successfully through high school. (Spoiler alert- this approach often doesn’t end
well). Maybe you have one or more of the following habits:
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You don't read textbooks: you rely on the teacher to tell you what you need to
know.
You read in front of the television, or while eating or listening to music.
You read each assignment only once, by skimming over it quickly
You never take notes on what you read.
It's possible that you were able to get good grades using these habits during high
school. But now, if you don’t take reading seriously, there's a good chance you aren't
paying the kind of close attention necessary for success in college. This is especially true
for college science classes- including BIOL-141.
Another thing that students realize is that the way to correctly read a textbook
(especially a science textbook) is very different from reading other types of books. Here
on some tips to help you effectively read the textbook. (Many of these are true for any
science textbook).
Before you read:
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Find a quiet reading space. To successfully read from book, you should look for a
quiet place. Try to leave any distractions (cell phones, TV) turned off.
o Going to the library or one of the study spaces in SET are good options
Decide how much you are going to read at once
o Even if I have assigned a whole chapter, don’t read the whole thing at once. Read
it in pieces: For example, read one subchapter (Chapter 2.1), or read 8 or 10 pages
at once
Make sure you have enough time to read the assignment
o Multiply the number of pages you have to read by 5 minutes (if you are a native
speaker) and by 8-10 minutes if English is not your primary language. Keep this
in mind as you schedule time to do your reading.
 Remember that you will often need to schedule on some time to do
Mastering Biology assignments which will be due the same night (and will
often taking 45 minutes or so)
If you calculate three hours of reading for a chapter, you might not want to read 8-11
p.m. straight through the night before it is due! Consider getting an hour in before
class or over your lunch break - spread it out a bit.
Make sure to keep up with the reading
o Too often, students think they can skip a chapter and make it up later, not
realizing that it often will be difficult to understand the next chapter if you haven’t
read previous one. In this BIOL-141, also means that the student will need to read
do the Mastering Biology assignments without try to understand old and new
material at the same time. It also means that as the class moves ahead, you are left
reading old material that you may lose interest in. Often even your good
intentions won't motivate you to catch up on the reading, especially when you
continually have new assignments to read.
While you read: There are different approaches (and many are overly complicated).
Here is one overall approach that I recommend:
1. Preview what you are going to read
2. Read Actively
3. Review
1. Preview: Have you every started on a trip using Google Maps by just turning it on and
following the first of the step-by-step directions? Although this can work, you can also
wind up getting very lost since you don’t have an overall idea of where you are going.
Similarly, to get the most out of reading Campbell’s Biology, you should first get
general idea of the concepts you will be reading about in that chapter. This will mentally
prepare you to understand how the concepts fit together while you read the material. For
Campbell’s Biology, before reading a section, you should:
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Read the “Key Concepts” at the beginning of the chapter, and the “Summary of
Key Concepts” end of the hapter
Skim the section titles, and look briefly at the figures
2. Read Actively: Success in science courses requires active reading. Active reading
takes place when you are engaged in the text you are reading by marking it in such a way
that records important sections or words, writing notes or questions in the margins, noting
connections in the margins, etc. When you read actively, you are thinking, and thinking
will help you remember the concepts.
For some students, this will mean highlighting or underlining. Instead of, or in
addition, to highlighting or underlining, many students find it more useful helpful to
make short comments, questions, or observations to themselves by writing in the margin
of the book.
Notice that you can do this on the e-text for Campbell’s Biology by highlighting a
phrase and clicking on the text, which colors the sentence and causes a box to pop up. An
example is below:
Other students don’t like to make notes in the margins this way. They like to
make notes in a book with all their notes in it, or keep all their notes and questions on 3x5
cards. (In fact, studies have shown students remember facts better when they hand write
them than when they type them).
Either way, it is good to take notes while you read: jot down important biological
concepts and details. Your reading notes do not have to be organized or neat, as long as
you can go back and understand what you wrote. Also, write down any questions you
have or things that you do not understand so that you can ask another student about it, or
ask me before or after class.
When you study for the test, you can combine these notes with the notes you took
on the PowerPoints (either during class or at home).
Here are a few other tips:
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Make sure to take time to examine the graphs, charts, and images, and to watch
the videos embedded in the text. Much of biology is better explained with
visuals. Instead of skipping over these, take the time to look at them. They say a
picture is worth a thousand words, and in biology, this is often true.
If a word seems important and you aren’t sure what it means, make sure to look
up the meaning. In the e-text, for the words in bold, you can get a definition by
clicking on words.
If something is not making sense, try reading it out loud. That can often help you
process the material in a new way.
Read slowly. Active reading takes time.
Later in the course, I will give you more tips on active reading.
3. Review:
After you have read a subchapter (or 8-10 page chunk), take a few minutes and
think about the section you have read in its entirety. You may want to re-read the “Key
Concepts” at the beginning of the chapter, and the “Summary of Key Concepts” end of
the Chapter.
Now, go to a clean sheet of paper or a reading journal and jot down a summary (in
your own words, not quotes from book) of the main points what you just read. Then
make some broad observations about how it connects to other things you knew or have
read or any feelings you might have about what you've read.
Studies have shown that taking these 10- 15 minutes to think and write about the
big picture of what you read will greatly help your ability to understand the material, and
to remember it for the exam.
One more thing: decide whether to read before and/or after lecture
Most people who offer advice about study skills suggest that students read the
material before it is covered in the lecture. In reality, that means that you may spend a lot
of time studying topics that the professor will not be covering.
Ideally, you should read both before and after a lecture, but that's unrealistic,
given the amount of time it can take to read and the fact that you have lots of reading to
do.
One method (used by several of my students who got an A last semester) is:
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Do step 1 (preview) before lecture. If you have a general idea of what is covered,
you will be able to understand more of what I cover during the lecture
Do steps 2 (read actively) and 3 (review) soon after lecture. You will need to read
soon after in order to do well on the Mastering Biology assignments, which will be
due soon after we cover each chapter.
Please feel free to ask me any questions you have about how to read our textbook.
Adapted from https://www.cornellcollege.edu/academic-support-and-advising/academicsupport/study-tips/reading-textbooks.shtml, https://www.pace.edu/center-academicexcellence/learning-center/new-york-city-campus/musts-for-successful-study/read-yourtextbook and https://www.wikihow.com/Read-a-Chapter-of-Biology