Good students DO write in textbooks Three reasons you should mark, highlight & write in your textbooks 1.To find and select the author’s key ideas and support for those ideas –You are forced to think about the text & follow the author’s organization, discussion or argument. –You keep alert & actively engaged, improving your learning

2.To make studying more efficient –You can quickly find key ideas for class discussion Review Test preparation Writing papers 3.To record your reactions to the reading

Organizing & Synthesizing Course Content Tools for Managing Learning you already know: SQ4R – record step Concept/Category Cards (course mat.) 4 x 6 note card Study sheets (ch.18) New tools in Ch. 16 Textbook Highlighting Marginal Annotation –Summary Notes –Recall Clues Outline Notes Mapping (aka visual note taking)

Four Benefits of Highlighting 1.Forces you to decide what’s important –Active reading process –Weigh and evaluate what you read 2.Focus your attention and concentrate 3.Helps you understand underlying pattern of organization, connections 4.Helps you know if you understood what you read

Textbook Highlighting Analyze your reading task Assess how much you know about the topic already Use a consistent system (colors, pencils) Determine what’s important w/textbook headings Read, THEN highlight up to 25% per page

Marginal Annotation Allows you to identify what to learn –Ex. New terminology, key concepts Records your reactions & comments Variation 1: –Summary Notes = phrases in the margins Forces you to pull together ideas Makes remembering easier Good for long, complex passages

Summary Notes (cont.) Variation 2: –Recall Clues = words and phrases that briefly summarize the notes “memory tags” that trigger your recall of info you’ve read. –Words, –Phrases –Questions Process: Cover up the text, read the clue and test your recall

Variation 3:Text marking (Optional) Put a double or wavy line under main ideas Use a single or straight line under supporting details Circle vocabulary that you need to study and underline the meaning

Marginal Annotations You need to know the various types shown in McWhorter, p.330 Table 16.1 Avoid Pitfalls & Timewasters –overly complex systems (lots of different colored highlighters = take too long –Medieval monk = too much--- copying, not enough synthesizing! –Nothin’ Here = too little—check: do I understand this material? –Rest of the story = have to reread text again to know what’s going on

Outline Notes- How they Help You organize information & pull together related ideas You discover “the bones” of the text You must recognize what’s important and express it in words You are forced to be selective You start retaining what you learn = notes are a form of elaborative rehearsal

How to Outline 1.Determine how much info you need to include 2.Identify how ideas relate 3.Group ideas according to their connections 1.Uses listing order & system of indentation 2.Write main ideas (MIs) close to margin 1.Indent information that support/explains MIs

Outlines – Styles and Goal Can be formal: Roman numerals, Capital letters Can be informal=Figure 16.5 p. 335 Can be highly detailed or a brief list Ultimate Goal: Be able to show relative importance of ideas and how they relate to each other

Cornell Note Taking System Developed by Walter Pauk, at Cornell University Useful for notes from textbook or lectures You’ve been practicing in CG 111 already Date Topic Recall Clues 2 ½” 6” Notes 2” Summary

Cornell Note Taking System Step 1: Set up your paper Label your pages For text notes Course name Chapter & Title Page numbers from book For lecture notes Date Course Topic/Lecture Title Date Topic Recall Clues 2 ½” 6” Notes 2” Summary

Date Topic Reduce Recall Clues 2 ½” Record Notes Any format Print, draw Skip lines between ideas Write on one side only 2” Summary 5 R’s of Cornell Record Reduce Recite Reflect Review (see handout)

Date Topic Reduce Recall Clues 2 ½” Lots of notes that you’ve taken here 2” Summary Reduce: Write recall clues SQ4R questions key phrases that summarize your notes on the right Exam questions you predict

Date Topic Notes 2” Summary Summary area 6 – 8 lines at bottom of page Summarize your page of notes Good practice for essay exams

Sample Cornell Notes

You can “stack” your Cornell notes for review & self-testing.

Visual Mapping Benefits: consolidate information visually Emphasizes particular thought pattern: effective for visual and spatial learners Fun form of elaborative rehearsal

Visual Mapping (aka Visual Note Taking) General: concept maps Specialized: time lines – process diagrams part and function diagrams organizational charts comparison and contrast charts

General: concept maps Concept maps are outlines that show ideas spatially

Concept maps Process diagram timelines Part & function Org. charts Compare/ contrast A concept map of the five specialized types of concept maps

Comparison Contrast Chart Technique HighlightingAnnotationNote taking Use Textbook Review Avoid re-reading 80% of text comments, reaction to text Organizing Difficult text Helps You Concentrate, Be phys. active, Evaluate while reading ID New terms Comment, summarize important ideas in own words ProsFast, efficient ID patterns of org Summarize long passages Test prep: Organize information Rehearsal – Learning Easy to carry around ConsDoesn’t sep. MI from examples Not good for anthologies, tech Difficult texts Time consuming