Page 176 - Keys to College Success

math, social sciences, and humanities, and is not recommended for
literature courses.
As is true with so many strategies, SQ3R works best if you adapt it
to your own needs. Explore the techniques, evaluate what works, and
then make the system your own.

Step 1: Survey
Surveying, the first stage in SQ3R, is the process of previewing a book
before you study it. Compare surveying to looking at a map before a
road trip; determining the route and stops along the way will save time
and trouble while you travel. Surveying tools include the following.

Front matter. Skim the table of contents for chapter titles, topic
order, main topics in each chapter, and features. Consider reading the
preface (even if you have never before looked at a textbook preface in
your life), which usually provides a comprehensive description of
both coverage and point of view. For example, the preface for the
American history text Out of Many states that it highlights “the expe-
riences of diverse communities of Americans in the unfolding story of
our country.” This tells you that cultural diversity is a central theme.
2
Chapter elements. Text chapters use devices to structure and high-
light content. Titles establish focus; chapter introductions may list
objectives or key topics; headings break material down into bite-size
chunks. Tables and charts illustrate concepts visually; margin materials may include
quotes and questions; boxed features present supplemental discussions or stories.
Finally, exercises help you understand and apply the content.

Back matter. Some texts include a glossary that defines text terms, an index to help
you locate topics, and a bibliography that lists additional readings. Rapid, superficial reading of
SKIMMING
Key 6.2 on the next page shows a typical page from the college textbook Psychology: material to determine central
An Introduction, by Charles G. Morris and Albert A. Maisto. As you examine it, how ideas and main elements.
many chapter elements do you recognize? How do these elements help you grasp the
subject even before reading it?

Step 2: Question
The next step in SQ3R is to ask questions about your assignment. Questioning leads
you to discover knowledge on your own and gets you more invested in the material.
Here’s the process.

Ask yourself what you know. Before you begin reading, think about, and summa-
rize in writing if you can, what you already know about the topic. Bringing your previ-
ous knowledge into the forefront of your consciousness makes your brain more
receptive to learning new material, and prepares you to apply what you already know
to what you are about to learn.
Write questions linked to chapter headings. The goal of questioning is to guide
your reading so you learn more from it. Examine the chapter headings and, on a sepa-
rate page or in the text margins, write questions about them. When an assignment has
no headings, divide the material into sections and develop questions based on what you
think is the main idea of each section.

Key 6.3 on p. 141 shows how questioning works. The column on the left contains Reading, Research, and Writing
primary and secondary headings from a section of Out of Many. The column on the
right rephrases these headings in question form.

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