Does your student fall asleep reading textbooks?
This active reading process has helped thousands of students focus on the most important information in their textbooks. Try this strategy called SQ4R to read with a purpose.
This is an example of the strategies students learn to use during Student Success sessions and Summer Student Success groups.
Survey
Spend 5 to 10 minutes quickly skimming through each page of the chapter you’ll be reading to determine the structure, the organization, and the plan of the chapter.
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Think about the title of the chapter.
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Quickly read the introduction or chapter summary.
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Read the main headers (Boldface type).
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Look at the headers on pictures, graphs, and charts.
Question
Have questions about what you are going to read before you read it.
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Use the questions at the beginning or end of the chapter.
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Use the questions in your instructor’s study guide.
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Formulate your own questions by changing bolded headers and words into questions asking who? what? where? when? why? how?
For example, if you are reading about the Persian Wars in World History, you could ask, “What were the Persian wars?”, “When were the Persian wars fought?”, and “Why were the Persian wars important?”
Before you start reading, write these questions on the tool you will use to study:
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Try using the Textbook Q&A paper, and write the questions on the left side of the page.
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If you like flashcards, write the questions on the front of your flashcards (or electronic flashcards like Quizlet).
Read Actively
Read to answer the questions you have written. Move quickly and read selectively looking for keywords that match your questions.
Recite & Record
Answer the question in your own words. Write the answer to your question using keywords that can help you recall the idea – Keep it brief!
Write your answer on the right side of the Textbook Q&A paper or on the back of flashcards you prepared as you formulated your active reading questions.
Review
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When preparing for a test over this information, read the questions you have written on your paper or flashcards.
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Try to recite the answer without looking.
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If you can’t, go ahead at look at your answer and start to commit the information to memory.
Just Do It!
Try this strategy to improve your active reading for textbooks and other assignments!
Need Help Applying This Concept?
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This is a sample of what students learn in Student Success sessions and Summer Student Success groups!
© 2009-2019, Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.
