Page 156 - Keys To Community College Success

Step 3: Read

Your text survey and questions give you a starting point for reading, the first R in
SQ3R. Remembering what you read requires an active approach.

■ Focus on the key points of your survey. Pay attention to information in the head-
ings, boldface type, chapter objectives, the summary, and other emphasized text.
■ Focus on Q-stage questions. Read the material with the purpose of answering
each question. Write or highlight ideas and examples that relate to your questions.
■ Create text tabs. Place plastic index tabs or adhesive notes at the start of different
chapters so you can flip back and forth with ease.

Annotate your text
You are now ready to dig into the text, ask more questions, and identify what’s impor-
tant. Here are two ways to identify important information.
Mark up your text. If the book is yours, write notes in the margins or on separate paper,
circle main ideas, or underline supporting details. If you are reading an e-book, use the
“insert comments” feature. These cues will boost memory and help you study for exams.
Here are some tips for annotating—taking notes in the margins of your textbook pages:
■ Use pencil so you can erase comments or questions that are answered later.
■ Write your Q-questions in the margins next to text headings.
■ Mark critical sections with marginal notations such as “def.” for definition, “e.g.”
for a helpful example, “concept” for an important concept, and so on.
TOPIC SENTENCE
A statement describing the ■ Write notes at the bottom of the page connecting the text to what you learned in
main idea of a paragraph.
class or in research. You can also attach adhesive notes with your comments.
■ Circle the topic sentence in a paragraph to focus on the most important information.

Highlight your text. The goal of highlighting is to call out important concepts and
information so that they get your attention. Use these tips to make highlighting work
for you:

■ Develop a system and stick to it. Decide if you will use different colors to high-
5 light different elements, bracket long passages, or underline. When working with
CHAPTER ■ Consider using a regular pencil or pen instead of a highlighter pen. The copy will
e-books, use the highlighting function to color over important text.

be cleaner and look less like a coloring book than a textbook.
■ Mark text carefully if you are using a rented book or a book to be re-sold. Use
pencil and erase your marks at the end of the course. Write on sticky notes. Make
copies of important chapters or sections and mark up the pages. If renting, check
with the rental service to see what it permits.
■ Read an entire paragraph before you begin to highlight, and don’t start until you
have a sense of what is important. Only then put pencil or highlighter to paper as
you pick out the main idea, key terms, and crucial supporting details and examples.
■ Avoid overmarking. Underlining or highlighting everything makes it impossible
to tell what’s important. If you decide that a whole passage is important to call
out, try marking it with brackets.
■ Know that highlighting is just the beginning of learning the material. To learn the
information you’ve highlighted, interact with it through surveying, questioning,
reciting, and review.
Key 5.6 shows a page from an introduction to business textbook that describes the
concepts of target marketing and market segmentation. The page illustrates how to
underline and take marginal notes. Then, the Get Practical example gives you a chance
to do some more reading and practice marking up the text.

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