Thread: Some tips And Tricks:: For Study

Ask yourself the following questions as you read:

* What is the topic of the book or reading?
What issues are addressed?
* What conclusion does the author reach about the issue(s)?
* What are the author's reasons for his or her statements or belief?
Is the author using facts, theory, or faith?

Facts can be proven
Theory is to be proved and should not be confused with fact
Opinions may or may not be based on sound reasoning
Faith is not subject to proof by its nature

* Has the author used neutral words or emotional words?
Critical readers look beyond the language to see if the reasons are clear
* Be aware of why you do, or do not, accept arguments of the author

What you bring to the printed page
will affect how you understand what you read,
and may be what is most important in understanding what you read

Organize yourself before you read
Strategies to activate your prior knowledge:

Brainstorming:
Examine the title of the selection you are about to read
List all the information that comes to mind about this title
Use these pieces of information to recall and understand the material
Use this knowledge to reframe or reorder what you know, or to note what you disagree with, for further research

Group discussions:
Group discussions in and out of class will help you to discover what you bring to your reading, what your fellow students bring, as well as shared experiences
If you find they have new background information, ask for more information from them

Concept or mind mapping:
This is a type of brainstorming where you place the title/subject as the main idea,
then develop a "mind map" around it. It can be effective either in a group or by yourself

Pre-questions:
Often chapters in texts provide organizing questions.
You can also write out a series of questions you expect to be answered when reading:
Examples:
Definition
What is....?
Where does ... fit?
What group does ... belong to? Characteristics
How would I describe...?
What does ... look like?
What are its parts?
Examples
What is a good example of ...?
What are similar examples that share attributes but differ in some way? Experience
What experience have I had with ....?
What can I imagine about ...?

Visual Aids:
Pictures and other visual material can activate your prior knowledge.
Use the Internet to search for pictures related to your title/topic to give you visual images of what you are about to read.

Advance Organizers:
Relate new reading material to something you already know, to your background or experiences.
Ask your teacher for assistance in developing these.

Additional Prereading Strategies:

Overviews:
Discussing information about the selection or assignment prior to reading must take place.
This may take the form of class discussions, printed previews, photographs, outlines, or films. Spend enough time before the students begin the assignment to ensure understanding of it.

Vocabulary Previews:
Unfamiliar key words need to be taught to students before reading so that new words, background information, and comprehension can improve together.

List all words in the assignment that may be important for students to understand. Arrange words to show the relationships to the learning task. Add words students probably already understand to connect relationships between what is known and the unknown. Share information with students. Verbally quiz them on the information before assigned reading begins.

Structural Organizers: Before reading an assignment, basic frameworks which are included in the text should be pointed out such as cause-effect or problem-solution. It can be beneficial to call attention to specific plans of paragraph or text organization such as signal words, main idea sentences, highlighted phrases, headings and subtitles. A review of skimming techniques might also be appropriate as these various areas are covered.

A Purpose for Reading: When students have a purpose for reading a selection, they find that purpose not only directs their reading towards a goal, but helps to focus their attention. Purposes may come from teacher directed questions, questions from class discussions or brainstorming, or from the individual student. Along with the question, it is a good idea to pose predictions of the outcome and problems which need to be solved. These may be generated by the student or the teacher, but the teacher should use these to guide students in the needed direction for the assigned selection.

Author Consideration: Depending upon the content area, a discussion of the author of the particular work can be helpful to the understanding of it. What is the author trying to say? What is his point of view and his reason for writing the particular work?

KWL: This strategy consists of three steps for students to use with expository text:

What do I Know? What do I Want to learn? What did I Learn?

A good strategy for group discussions.
Develop a three column poster with each question in a column and list out responses.
See also: K - W - L (Saskatoon Public Schools)

Adapted from
Porter, Karla, M.Ed., Prereading strategies, funded by the State Board of Education from Federal Funds, Weber State University.

Sometimes I imagine my neighbor that he is having an a disorder that I have to learn about, and its easier to learn!

Gr8 work Kalrav. Hope it helps me out..

wel lucky u tordajav...u only imagine that ur neighbour has that problem but i end up thinkin i aam the patient...hehehe
4 eg while readin abt acute MI and i was so damn sure THAT I JUS HAD AN ATTACK!!

gr8 write up !!! kudos

thanks.. great tips..

hi i liked your article very good especially about time managment and in what ways we should plan our study. I liked your one point most that our brain also have almost have memory for pictures , graphs and charts so we should consider them for study along with text.

Thanx a lot.. Gr8 post..

Thanx for this important subject...now we can memorize better