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Maximizing your textbook
1. Finish reading before marking.
Never mark until you have finished reading a full paragraph or headed section and have paused to think about what you just read. The procedure will keep you from grabbing at everything that looks important at first glance.
2. Be extremely selective.
Be stingy with your markings, but don’t be so brief that you’ll have to read through the page again when you review.
3. Use your own words.
The jottings in the margins should be your own words. Since your own words represent your own thinking, they will later be powerful cues to the ideas on the page.
4. Be brief.
Underline brief but meaningful phrases rather than complete sentences. Make your marginal jottings short and to the point. They will make a sharper impression on your memory, and they will be easier to use when you recite and review.
5. Be swift.
You don’t have all day for marking. Read, go back for a mini-overview and make your markings. Then attack the next portion of the chapter.
6. Be neat.
Neatness takes conscious effort, not time. Later when you review, the neat marks will encourage you and save time, since the ideas will be easily and clearly perceived.
7. Be systematic.
There are many ways to mark the text: single and double lines; the use of asterisks, circling and boxing for important items; and the use of top and bottom margins for longer notations. If some of these ideas appeal to you, work them into your marking system, one or two at a time. But use them consistently so you will remember what they mean at review time.
(Adapted from Center for Academic Support, Missouri Western State College, St. Joseph, Mo.)
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