Getting the Most From Your Textbooks

1. Getting the Most From Your Textbooks Presenter: Tim Bradley tim.bradley@mhcc.edu Learning Assistance Center: (503) 491-7108

2. Don’t have much use for your textbooks?

3. Don’t have much use for your textbooks? • Try to read them but can’t stay focused?

4. Don’t have much use for your textbooks? • Try to read them but can’t stay focused • Can’t remember what you read?

5. Don’t have much use for your textbooks? • Try to read them but can’t stay focused • Can’t remember what you read • Don’t know if the reading content will be on the class tests?

6. Don’t have much use for your textbooks? • Try to read them but can’t stay focused • Can’t remember what you read • Don’t know if the reading content will be on the class tests • Not sure how deep you need to read?

7. Don’t have much use for your textbooks? • Try to read them but can’t stay focused • Can’t remember what you read • Don’t know if the reading content will be on the class tests • Not sure how deep you need to read • Tired of spending so much time to learn so little?

8. Causes of ineffective textbook use: • Treating the book like nothing more than a dictionary • Trying to read at the wrong time • Lacking the needed vocabulary • Lacking good textbook practices (which are what this seminar is all about)

9. Benefits of good textbook practices: • Better comprehension and retention • Reduced worry about test content from the book • Properly underlined and annotated, your book becomes pre-made test-review material!

10. Good textbook practices: • Previewing the whole book • Reading one chapter or section at a time • Using a three-part reading process • Underlining • Annotating

11. To preview a whole textbook: • Look at the features and identify what tools will be most useful • Look at the table of contents and compare the topics with those covered in lecture • Based on the subject and the setup of the book, make a plan for your study sessions • Pause the presentation and do a quick preview

12. Why one chapter at a time? • To aid your comprehension in a course, and for the sake of long-term recall try the following: • Shorten your sessions to about an hour or less in length and spread them out across the week • Read only the section or chapter that corresponds with the current lecture content • Read fewer pages at once if the material is very dense – take 15 minutes off after 45 minutes of reading

13. A three-part reading process: • Preview the chapter before starting to read it thru • Actively read the whole chapter • Review the chapter after reading it

14. 1. Previewing a chapter: • Read the title, headings, chapter objectives, introductory text, and summary at the chapter’s end • Look at all the pictures and identify the important terms (often listed for you or shown in bold) • The preview should arouse your interest and given you some idea of what ideas and information to look for when reading • If you still have your textbook handy, hit pause and preview your next assigned chapter reading

15. 2. Actively reading a chapter: • Read the chapter through, looking for the answers to the key questions and specific elements (these vary by subject) as you go • For really long chapters, read one section at a time • Check your comprehension and retain what you read by stopping to put the ideas into your own words after every page or paragraph • Underline and annotate each section after reading it through

16. Literature Mathematics Foreign Languages Business Social Sciences Pure Sciences Persuasive Writing Key elements in different subjects’ texts:

17. Underlining • Underlining is a way to point out the important parts for later review and test prep • Only underline the main ideas and other important ideas (no more than about 15 to 20% of each page should be underlined) • Some subject areas and content are not suitable for underlining

18. Annotating • Annotating is making notes in the book’s margin to call attention to specific material • Annotate after you underline the main ideas – for example: • point out the important definitions with a “Def” in the margin • use numbers for items in important lists • draw arrows from causes to effects • state associations with other material

19. Example of underlining & annotating in an autobiography:

20. How would you underline or annotate this page in a biology textbook? • What and where are the main ideas? • What concepts should you look for in a science textbook? • What notes would you make in the margin?

21. Example of underlining & annotating in a biology textbook: • Notice the underlining of main ideas and individual key words • Notice the annotating of key processes by a title and number sequence in the margin and then again in the diagram • What other ways do the marks on this page call attention to and organize the important information?

22. 3. Reviewing a chapter: • Summarize what you have read by making an outline or concept map • Make connections between what you have read and what you have learned in class • When test time comes, re-read the underlined text and use your annotations to quiz yourself

23. Reviewing using your own marks: • If you have annotated well, your marks will show you where the important information is located on the page, making test review much quicker and easier: • Cover up the text itself and use the margin to quiz yourself • Having identified the concepts you don’t know well enough, remove the covering and review.

24. Sources • Roberts, Judy M. (2004). Effective Study Skills. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

25. For further free help with learning skills: Contact the presenter, Tim Bradley, at tim.bradley@mhcc.edu, or call the Learning Assistance Center: (503) 491-7108