Marking a Textbook

Marking a textbook may be an effective study method only when you have become actively involved with the material by writing notes in your own words in the book. Active reading keeps you alert, forces you to think and helps you to retain the material.

Writing Notes

>Letting your eyes glide across the lines of a book won't give you an understanding of what you have read. However, filling the pages with thoughtful notes may be an active way of getting involved with your reading. The physical act of writing brings words and sentances more sharply before your mind and preserves them better in your memory. It is important that notes be in your own words and from memory.

After you finish reading, make a personal index of the author's points in the order of their appearance on the back end papers. On the front end papers, make an outline of the book, not page by page or point by point, but as an intergrated structure with a basic unit and order of parts.

Underlining

Underline only after you have read the material. Never underline a whole sentence. Instead, underline the major points wich summarize the content. A great deal of underlining can be deceptive in that a completely underlined chapter gives one the impression that something has been accomplished. In reality, this can be one of the least efficient methods of study. The student who underlines most of the material has not given much thought to what they have read.

Other devices for marking a textbook