Academic Strategies
Part 1: Reading a Textbook
• Textbook reading is
– a central component of a college education
• Much of the material you will need to learn will come
from textbooks and other assigned readings.
• Effective reading requires much more than simply
sitting down and reading the assigned chapters.
Remember
• Active reading takes practice. The more you
read actively, the more skilled you will
become. As you develop your skills, both your
reading speed and comprehension will
improve.
Why Annotate?
• Should I write in my textbook?
– High school
• No writing in textbooks!
– Bookstore buyback.
• They won’t give me money.
• MYTH
– Besides What you value most: cash or the better grade that
marking in your textbooks can help you earn.)
Why Annotate?
• Marking in college texts is not only allowed, it
is encouraged.
• Writing allows you to become fully engaged in
the reading process, making it one of the most
important aspects of reading.
This is ACTIVE reading
The “Three Bears Rule” for Marking
Text
The “Three Bears Rule” for Marking
Text
• Over-marked text
The “Three Bears Rule” for Marking
Text
• Under-marked text
The “Three Bears Rule” for Marking
Text
• Just right” marked text
Found after three minutes in USU
Bookstore
Another way of looking at it:
Remember
• The amount of text you mark will
depend on your familiarity with
the material.
What you can’t do is nothing.
Marking and Annotating Text
• When Should You Mark and Annotate Your Text?
– Marking and annotating should be done after a
“chunk” or unit of thought has been presented and
the information can be viewed as a whole. This may
mean marking after only one paragraph or after three
pages. If you mark as you read, too much is marked
and you are unable to see the “big picture” or main
concepts. It takes time for the brain to organize
information, so if you read, think, and then mark, the
main points will develop, and you can decide what
you need to mark to remember later.
Marking and Annotating Text
• How Do You Mark and Annotate Your Text?
– You isolate key information by underlining and
highlighting topics, main ideas, and important details.
You create meaningful organization of that
information by annotating. Annotating refers to
writing explanatory notes in the margins of your
textbook to organize and remember important
information.
– While you read, look for signals that will tell you what
information may be important:
• Headings Illustrations
• Key terms and definitions Important people
• Lists Time sequences or dates
What Do You Annotate?
• Headings:
– Turn headings into a questions. (Who, how, why, what,
when)
– Be sure to write the answers (Use ANS in margin.)
• Terms and definitions:
–
–
–
–
What terms are important? (italics or bold)
Circle terms and underline definitions.
In the margin, write the key term.
If the key term is also an answer to a question, write
ANS above the words in the margin.
What Do You Annotate?
• Important information signaled by lists:
– Star words that tell you what a list is about.
– Circle and number the items
– In the margin, write what the list is about in a
word or two. Then list the points in an
abbreviated format.
– If the list is also an answer to a question, write
ANS in the margin.
What Do You Annotate?
• Illustrations such as charts, graphs, and
diagrams:
– Circle titles.
– If title is absent write one.
– Summarize next to the illustration.
What System of Notation Should You
Use?
–Highlighting material is not just
underlining; it is also circling, starring,
numbering, and generally making an
effort to put the material into
perspective visually.
What you can’t do is nothing.
Sample annotation
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Main Idea
Word that you must be able to define
Supporting material or definition
Numbering of supporting ideas under
main Idea
Possible exam question
Didn’t understand must seek advice
Notes in the margin
Study guide questions, statements or
terms in the margin
Indicates a relationship
Part 2: Note Taking
• You will spend 12 to 18 hours in class every
week.
• You must find an effective note taking strategy
to concentrate on and record information for
later review.
This is ACTIVE listening.
Develop a system
• Note taking ISN’T just writing down what your
professor says in class.
• Note taking IS a process that involves your
active involvement and concentration:
– BEFORE
– DURING
– and AFTER class.
Before Class: Get prepared.
• Complete any reading or written assignments.
• Print and read instructor-provided lecture
notes.
• Write down any questions you want answered
by the lecture.
• Prepare your note taking materials (Cornell
pages).
During Class: Use good listening and
note-taking techniques.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sit as close to the front as possible.
Arrive early to get a good seat.
Listen for signal words, and watch for cues.
Concentrate on the lecture; (ask questions).
Record notes.
Mark prepared notes.
Use chapter notes if applicable.
After Class: Deep Learning.
• Review and condense your notes within 24
hours.
• Recite aloud the answers or information
triggered by the key terms, questions, or
statements you have written.
• Create a written summary of your notes.
• Frequently review and recite the information.
Sample Cornell Note page
Cornell Note-taking Method
• Developed by Dr. Walter Pauk, a
Cornell University professor.
• Is an effective means for reviewing
and organizing your notes into an
effective study guide.
This is ACTIVE learning
There are five stages involved in the
Cornell note-taking method.
• Record
• Reduce
• Recite
• Reflect
• Review
Let’s Visit the ARC website
• http://www.usu.edu/arc/idea_sheets/
Practical Exercise
• Everyone make a blank template and continue
taking notes in this lecture using the Cornell
Method.
Stage 1: RECORD
Prepare to record
your notes as in the
diagram.
Include diagrams,
illustrations, and
questions/answers
provided by the
professor during
his/her lecture.
You don’t have to use
this method, but…
YOU CAN’T DO
NOTHING
Stage 2: REDUCE
As soon after
class as you
can, review
and condense
your notes in
the recall
column.
The Ebbinghaus Curve
• If you do not review new information within 24-48
hours, 65-70 percent of information is forgotten after
the first exposure to the information.
Stage 2: REDUCE
• Reviewing notes within 24 hours and
frequently thereafter will greatly reduce the
amount of material you forget.
• Without consistent reviews, you will actually
have to relearn the information before a test.
• Relearning information in a short amount of
time increases your anxiety and decreases
your ability to perform.
Reduce Notes
Step 1: Write key
words and phrases
to summarize main
points of the
lecture.
Step 2: Clarify
unclear ideas or
examples.
Step 3: Develop
potential test
questions.
Step 4: Summarize
the lecture in your
own words.
Stage 3: RECITE
• Cover up the right-hand column where you
recorded your notes, and use the key words,
phrases, and questions in the recall column to
review the information.
• Put your answers in your own words as much
as possible.
• If you have difficulty recalling the information
successfully, do another review of your lecture
notes.
Stage 4: REFLECT
• Reread your notes and think about them.
• Read your text to supplement and clarify your
notes.
• This helps you to become a more active,
critical thinker.
Stage 5: REVIEW
• Briefly review your notes several times per
week to retain what you have learned.
• This “distributed review,” keeps information
fresh and decreases your chances of
forgetting.
Using Instructor Prepared Notes
• Instructors may make notes available on
Blackboard/Vista/Canvas. Some notes might be
available for purchase in the Bookstore, use
them.
• They are not intended as a substitute for a
student’s class attendance.
• Fill in prepared notes with missing info from
lectures.
• Create a study guide with symbols, underlining
and annotation.
Using Instructor Prepared Notes
• Use a pen that will clearly mark the information.
• *, !, or ____________ = instructor's important
points.
• Mark concepts for follow-up.
• ? = do not understand. Follow up with text, SI, or
instructor office hours.
• : or  = cause and effect, results.
• ( ), [ ], circles and squares to group information.
• EX to note examples from the lecture.
• Add drawings and charts to illustrate.
Using Instructor Prepared Notes
• Review your notes within 24 hours.
• Review again within a few days to store in
long-term memory
Using Instructor Prepared Notes
Part 3: Test Preparation
• Test preparation involves a purposeful effort to develop
a strong understanding of the course material.
• You cannot rely on simply looking over your notes or
trying to memorize pieces of information.
• Learning is not the same as memorizing.
• You must be able to apply your knowledge to
problems, examples, issues, or situations that were not
discussed in class or in your texts.
• The ability to use knowledge in new situations requires
study activities different from memorizing.
This is ACTIVE learning
Organizational Strategies
• These strategies help you connect material to
your prior knowledge and aid you in seeing
the connections between different ideas and
materials.
Concept Maps
• List the key ideas, concepts, terms, and facts
from chapter.
• Arrange in a hierarchy from most inclusive to
least inclusive.
• Draw lines showing connections between the
items. Label each line to show the connection.
• If you start a concept map and discover a
better way to organize the material, do not be
afraid to start over.
Concept Maps
Concept Map Practice
Scientists pursuing supermassive black holes suspect that these
giants merge somewhere in the universe roughly once a year, but they
don't know how to find them. They think the evidence is hidden in the
powerful gravitational waves and strong bursts of electromagnetic
radiation created when the black holes collide.
Using computer models, astrophysicists from the Rochester Institute
of Technology (RIT) in New York and Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Maryland, are tracing electromagnetic signatures back to
the impact. They are creating a detailed blueprint that will guide other
scientists searching for merging black holes, using ordinary visible light
and existing telescopes. Simulated models of these mergers will also
aid the discovery of gravitational waves, confirming a key prediction of
Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Charts
• Useful for depicting many kinds of
information.
Matrices
• Display information where two or more topics
are to be compared.
– List the topics you want to compare along the top
of the chart.
– List the characteristics you want to use to
compare them along the side.
– List the defining characteristics for each topic.
Matrices
Matrices
• We see this all the time:
– http://www.wuup.co.uk/ps3-vs-xbox-360-featurecomparison-chart
Outlines
• You do not have to use formal
outlining techniques.
• Develop your own style of organizing
the material in a hierarchical
structure.
• If the textbook provides an outline,
expand on it to make it your own.
YOU CAN’T DO NOTHING
Outlines
• Do not copy text from the book, but
paraphrase material in your own
words.
• Integrate material from the readings,
lecture, and discussions into one
outline.
Summaries
• Powerful way to remember the material
• Write without referring back to the reading.
– Being unable to do this indicates a deficit. Fix it.
• Summaries take practice.
– include enough information to capture the
argument or significant points, but do not copy
the text (plagiarism)
Summaries
• Tips for writing summaries:
– Eliminate trivial and redundant information.
– Use lists.
• A summary might be a list.
• Be discerning about what you include
• Too much detail will not be helpful.
– Restate the topic sentences in your own words. If
a text does not provide topic sentences, then
write your own.
Flashcards
• In courses where there are large amounts of
FACTUAL information, the use of flashcards
may be helpful.
• Kinds of material that might be considered
appropriate for flashcards are vocabulary
words, formulas, equations, definitions, dates,
names, etc.
Flashcards
•
•
•
•
Are conveniently carried
Can be reviewed frequently.
Short reviews are more effective.
Writing down of the material on the cards is
an aid to memory in itself.
Hints for making flash cards:
• Choose the most important facts or concepts
from each chapter you read or lecture you
attend.
• Use your own words unless a specific
definition is required.
• Label the cards with a subject heading and
date, so you’ll be able to put them into
categories for various types of quizzes and
tests.
Examples:
• Put terms on one side with definitions and
examples on the other side.
• Place types of math problems on one side
with examples on the other side.
• Draw an illustration on one side with an arrow
pointing to the part you need to know and
place the answer on the other side.
Flashcard Example
Flashcard Example
Flashcard Example
Venn Diagrams
• Graphic organizers are powerful ways to help
understand complex ideas. By using even a
basic Venn diagram, you can recognize
complex relationships.
Venn Diagram Example