I have trouble reading my textbooks, as they seem too dense or technical.
Many people ask: why read the textbook? Textbooks can sometimes be dense or technical; however, they also give a different point of view, more examples, in depth information, helpful explanations, and pictures and diagrams. Therefore, when textbook readings are assigned, it’s a good idea to read the material.
STEP 2: SELECT THE REASON that best describes your situation, keeping in mind there may be multiple relevant reasons.
I DON’T KNOW HOW TO USE EFFECTIVE TEXTBOOK READING STRATEGIES.
You may be tempted to page count, or do mass readings, repeated readings, or happy highlighting. But we advise staying away from these black holes – try the five simple steps below instead.
STEP 3: Explore potential STRATEGIES to address the problem.
There are five steps to effective textbook reading: Preview, Read-Recite, Record-Categorize-Relate, Feedback, and Review.
- Preview
- Look at the titles, subheadings, introduction, summary, objectives, bold-faced/italicized words, and pictures. These are all helpful tools to prepare for lecture and establish new information in the semantic network.
- Think about how this chapter may relate to the previously assigned chapter.
- Read-Recite
- Break your readings into sections.
- Read a paragraph and then recite a summary of what you understand.
- Record-Categorize-Relate
- Write down key points.
- Take notes and underline only after completing the paragraph or page - do not overdo highlighting and underlining.
- Categorize the information by type.
- Relate it to what you already know.
- Feedback
- Come up with a list of questions.
- Try to answer them as you read to test yourself, which increases attention.
- Review
- Look over the notes you have made, which is critical for long-term memory.
- Test yourself by doing practice problems.
To learn more, check out our “Fast Fact” on Textbook Reading [pdf].