Reading a Textbook

The first thing that popped out at me that the instructor told us was, “Your textbook is your best friend.” This was hard for me to believe, but I knew that it is a true statement. I realized that I get mad and frustrated at my textbooks, they help me understand something better, they’ll have answers to my question, and they will help me succeed; just like a best friend would be like.

One main topic the instructor told us was that the reading environment was very important for reading a text book. Many things can interfere with reading. The reading environment needs to have good lighting, not to bright nor to dim, it needs to have good ventilation (if a location is too stuffy you’ll most likely become sleepy), the reading position is important (make sure it’s not too comfy), and make sure there is limited distractions around you.

The instructor then talked about the “classic method for studying texts”. This method has been found useful since the early 60’s. This method may seem time consuming at first, but once you get the steps down it only takes a few minutes.

S=Survey. Take a few minutes to read the preface and introduction, and browse through the table of contents and index. This tells you what the basic organizational structure will be. Q=Question. Before beginning to read, take the subtitle of the section and turn it into a question. R#1=Read. When you read actively engage the text. Don’t slide your eyes over the words or skim to find the answer of your question. R#2= Respond. Once you’ve read the section, close the textbook and answer the question you came up with. If you don’t know the answer, you should reread the section. R#3=Record. Once you’ve read and understand the material, the next step is to record the information in some way. Some common methods are highlighting, or take notes, or both. R#4=Review. A regular review period can be a very effective strategy for remembering information.

These