Kiosk Guides for Learning

Properly we should
read for power.
Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a
ball of light.
Ezra Pound 1885 - 1972
American poet

Reading and research series

SQ3R reading method

SQ3R is a reading strategy formed from its letters:

Survey! Question! Read! Recite! Review!

SQ3R will help you build a framework to understand your reading assignment.

Before you read, Survey the chapter:
  • the title, headings, and subheadings
  • captions under pictures, charts, graphs or maps
  • review questions or teacher-made study guides
  • introductory and concluding paragraphs
  • summary
Question while you are surveying:
  • Turn the title, headings, and/or subheadings into questions
  • Read questions at the end of the chapters or after each subheading
  • Ask yourself,
    "What did my instructor say about this chapter or subject
    when it was assigned?"
  • Ask yourself,
    "What do I already know about this subject?"
     Note: If it is helpful to you, write out these questions for consideration.
    This variation is called SQW3R
When you begin to Read:
  • Look for answers to the questions you first raised
  • Answer questions at the beginning or end of chapters or study guides
  • Reread captions under pictures, graphs, etc.
  • Note all the underlined, italicized, bold printed words or phrases
  • Study graphic aids
  • Reduce your speed for difficult passages
  • Stop and reread parts which are not clear
  • Read only a section at a time and recite after each section
Recite after you've read a section:
  • Orally ask yourself questions about what you have just read, or summarize, in your own words, what you read
  • Take notes from the text but write the information in your own words
  • Underline or highlight important points you've just read
  • Reciting:
    The more senses you use the more likely you are to remember what you read Triple strength learning: Seeing, saying, hearing
    Quadruple strength learning: Seeing , saying , hearing, writing!!!
Review: an ongoing process

Day One

  • After you have read and recited the entire chapter,
    write questions in the margins for those points
    you have highlighted or underlined.
  • If you took notes while reciting,
    write questions for the notes you have taken
    in the left hand margins of your notebook.
  • Complete the form for a critical reading review

Day Two

  • Page through the text and/or your notebook to re-acquaint yourself
    with the important points.
  • Cover the right hand column of your text/note-book
    and orally ask yourself the questions in the left hand margins.
  • Orally recite or write the answers from memory.
  • Develop mnemonic devices for material which need to be memorized.
    Make flash cards for those questions which give you difficulty.

Days Three, Four and Five

  • Alternate between your flash cards and notes and test yourself
    (orally or in writing) on the questions you formulated.
  • Make additional flash cards if necessary.

Weekend

  • Using the text and notebook, make a Table of Contents - list all the topics and sub-topics you need to know from the chapter.
  • From the Table of Contents, make a Study Sheet/ Spatial Map.
  • Recite the information orally and in your own words as you put the Study Sheet/Map together.
  • As you have consolidated all the information you need for this chapter, periodically review the Sheet/Map so that at test time
    you will not have to cram.
Reading and research series

Reading critically | Pre-reading strategies | SQ3R reading method |
KWL reading method | Marking & underlining | Reading difficult material | Interpretive reading | Reading essays | Reading fiction | Narrator/character types |
Speed and comprehension | Researching on the Internet | Evaluating websites |
Organizing research: computers | Organizing research: note cards

Based upon Robinson, Francis Pleasant. (1970) Effective study. New York: Harper & Row.