<p>Though I wouldn't recommend it for all classes, I found highlighting and margin notes to work best for me in my accounting classes. Especially the upper level classes where the texts were straight tax code or FASB pronouncements and the reading assignments in the hundreds of pages at a pop.</p>
<p>The problem I have with highlighting is that many people just don't know when to stop! Haven't we all seen students who highlight over half of every page, which dilutes the whole purpose of highlighting in the first place. Plus, it makes me think that they cannot discern the major concepts presented. </p>
<p>D likes note cards, S hates them. Both take notes in a loose outline format. Both organize into binders rather than use spiral notebooks. I always used spiral notebooks. Eons ago when I was in college I would make chapter summary pages with significant concepts and equations for my science classes. I also highlighted a little! For some humanities classes, I took notes in the margins. I guess everybody has to find what works best for them given the particular class material.</p>
<p>Some very good advice from a college prof:</p>
<p>Staying Afloat: Some Scattered Suggestions on Reading in College
<a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/reading.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/reading.html</a></p>
<p>lfk725,</p>
<p>Maybe it does not defeat the purpose. It turns out the act of highlighting (or for that matter, notetaking) helps comprehension and retention, even if the highlights (or notes) are never referred to again.</p>
<p>College reading assignments (through the prism of the “Way-back Machine”):</p>
<p>With highlighter in hand, you crack open your textbook and begin at chapter 1. Soon, the virgin pages are stained bright yellow. You get to the last period. The chapter ends. Mission Accomplished. What was open is now closed. Upcoming test or quiz: Re-read the “stained” parts. Like tide tables or the phases of the moon, another generation of students start college; highlighters at the ready.</p>
<p>What bothers me about this process is this: Having little or no knowledge of the subject matter at hand, students armed with their highlighters, underline and circle and “stain” their way through their course materials; noting, at first glance, what appear to be important. But how to tell what’s important? The author knows; the student knows not. A good professor can lead or goad students towards the importance of the material, yet a student may not always enjoy this luxury. There are indifferent instructors. So, at day’s end, a student, alone in the dorm room, faces down the printed word (or symbol or formula). It’s a rough trade.</p>
<p>Highlighting has always been problematic. Everything new is not always everything important. What is important (at least to the author), are the conclusions at the chapter’s end. If a chapter is constructed properly, the facts, arguments, and logic will lead the reader to the author’s point of view or to a set of principles underlying scientific observations or mathematical theorems. While you can’t highlight everything, it seems that so much is highlighted that any remaining white space would sell at a premium. </p>
<p>To my mind, highlighting is a tool born of ignorance. Names, dates, places and actions are all undifferentiated until you reach the end of the chapter. When you realize the author’s point, some of the material that you’ve highlighted may no longer be relevant. And there is worse. Re-reading the highlighted material is like a case of amnesia. After all, the author is building a case for the chapter’s conclusion. A “reader” starts “Tabula Rosa” and then is led to a state of enlightenment. A “re-reader” restarts the journey each time, like an academic version of “Groundhog Day”. So busy are you following each separate step that you “forget” what the narrative is all about. </p>
<p>For the time being, “step away” from the highlighter. My advice is to read the chapter quickly to reach the conclusions towards the end and then work backwards. The process is like deconstructing a joke. The punch line or the author’s conclusion is the pay-off. With the proper set-up, the punch line makes you laugh and an understanding of those facts and arguments that supports an author’s conclusion will get you a decent grade and no “invitation” to the dean’s office… </p>
<p>What needs to be done is to create your own narrative. Summarize the chapter’s conclusions and then go back to the beginning to find all the supporting evidence. Write it down. Stuff that does not directly support the conclusions is weeded out. Re-reading highlighted materials just promotes glazed-over eyes.</p>
<p>^obviously not reading tax code which will glaze over the eyes before one ever touches the highlighter...lol!</p>
<p>
[quote]
It was painful to see S hunt for passages he wanted to quote in his high school papers when he could not remember which book he'd read particular information in. It was a colossal duplication of reading, which invariably led to a lot more work at the last minute.
Students should always read with index cards or paper on hand. As well, students not remembering which page a specific passage they want to cite is on wastes precious discussion time.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Marite--I realize that might work for your S, but I can't imagine doing lit work in such a manner. Index cards would be the kiss of death for most students reading literary kinds of writing. Much better to learn judicious underlining/annotation, coupled with maybe keeping a list of important page numbers, lists of characters, etc on the inside page flap. if a student doesn't know which book a quote came from, I think that's an issue to be addressed elsewhere.Anyhoo, my method got me through semesters when I had many thousands of lit pages to read successfully. </p>
<p>I teach study skills as part of my job, and how i teach approaching textbooks vs. literary types books is totally different.</p>
<p>My daughters' high school's honors and AP English classes now REQUIRE that all students highlight and write in the margins of the texts they read. Great idea -- ensuring that students take the time to think and process, not just skim, what they read. ABSOLUTELY ridiculous and horrendous in practice -- teachers telling their kids they better see highlighting and margin notes on EVERY page or points will get taken off. So kids are doing it just to do it and not learning at all to find and note a truly important passage or quote.</p>
<p>Then I think of professors in GRADUATE classes I've had who assign required AND supplemental reading. There was never any way someone could read all that. Why suggest "supplemental" and put down more than anyone can read? Do they do that in upper level undergrad classes?</p>
<p>My daughter (still in high school) is all about the selective neglect, says all the honors students know what's important and what isn't -- and while I understand you need it to survive, sometimes I think she sees it as an excuse to slide. </p>
<p>I wish teachers would assign reasonable amounts of reading with the clear understanding that it all needs to be read.</p>
<p>dbwes-I'm surprised that your daughter's teachers waht to see highlighting and margin notes on every page. I can understand what they're trying to do, but I'd think they'd rather teach kids to use their judgment. I never had a class where any kind of note taking was required. I'm sure many in the class could have benefitted from some guidance on how to take notes, but it would have driven me crazy to have something like that dictated to me. I found a method that worked for me by trial and error. I saw notes taken by others in my class, and their systems, while fine for them, would not have worked as well for me. In fact, when I did need to borrow notes I would rewrite notes to suit myself rather than just keeping photocopies. I was just not as efficient using someone else's method to study with. What I guess I'm trying to say is that I think this is a personal preference type of thing, and everyone needs to figure out what wotks best for them.</p>
<p>I liked to create a sort of index page (or pages) for key terms, concepts, etc. that I knew I would want to get back to. While I usually jotted on notebook paper while working, I also entered it into a computer file afterwards to keep it more organized (by theme, book, etc.). It can be very short - just enough to jog the memory or be identifiable - and should include book and pg. number. The extra-good parts about this method are 1) not as bulky or messy as index cards; 2) can be cross-referenced more easily (just add in a quick "see also"); 3) easily organized and reorganized on the computer; 4) can be printed out right before writing a paper or studying for a test to self-quiz or refresh the memory; and 5) for those profs that allow notes for the test (and sometimes they won't announce that right away) it is excellent. I've used this with great success, especially in con law (keeping case law and case names straight!), where I earned an A in a class that rarely gave As, foreign language (language books are terribly organized for finding information), and my senior thesis. For my senior thesis, which was mainly primary sources, I used the index organized by theme and color-coded file folders for the primary sources (I had several hundred).</p>
<p>Note cards work for high school, but they get out of hand for college classes. A page or two index is easier to scan, as well. YMMV.</p>
<p>As somebody who just finished ungrad... The reading gets a lot better towards the end of college. With that said I would have on average 200 pages of reading per night... 50 pages per class, with 4 classes. I would highlight, but only what I thought was important, and actually had a good chance of being on the exam.</p>
<p>Color coded "Post-it" tabs could be your best friend when doing this type of reading. </p>
<p>Use a highlighter for quotes in a different color than for theme or characterization, etc. </p>
<p>Post-it also makes sticky index cards (good for annotation in larger books) and the regular Post-it's are now available with lines (better for paperbacks) and come in different sizes and colors, which makes organization even easier. (No, I don't own stock in the company! :))</p>
<p>My D learned these techniques in AP English Language. (Taught by one of the very best teachers in the HS; her father was a professor at Oxford who passed his "skills" down to his progeny.)</p>
<p>Do not forget that everyone is a different type of learner. Some are visual and hi-lighting would work. Me, I am a mechanical learner and need to write things down so note taking is important.</p>
<p>PS People laugh at me when I write down an appointment date/time and immediately throw it in the trash can. But the act of writing it down embeds it in my memory.</p>
<p>Originaloog, I so agree, I took meticulous notes because I can't learn anything by just listening, but I never needed to review them much. It was the writing that was important. Highlighting never did a bit of good for me. I think the secret is to learn what doesn't need to be read. A lot can be skimmed. I generally preferred to read after lectures - many professors covered the reading in their lectures.</p>
<p>originaloog:</p>
<p>I'm like you. I take notes in my illegible handwriting, not with the intention of re-reading the notes but as a way of helping me focus on what I read or hear and embed it in my memory. </p>
<p>I have to laugh about the use of postits. I know someone who used an incredible number of postits and had to spend time hunting among them when he wanted to provide evidence or sources for some of his statements. "Now, where did I read this?" he'd mutter as he flipped through his postit-festooned books. It can be just as helpful or useless as highlighting, depending on who does it.</p>
<p>Reading before or after lectures: Many profs provide study questions to guide students' readings; these are usually handed out or posted on course websites about a week or so before the reading assignments are due. Some also assign weekly response papers. Using the questions as guide can help students decide what to skim and what to concentrate on.</p>