How to read the things you find
(to prepare for all Modules or to study for Module One)
If you read through this and think ‘that’s obvious, why is she telling me this’ then wonderful, you are already studying well, stop worrying and get on with it.
Just straight reading through a book is often interesting and sometimes enjoyable, but it rarely stays in your head and it can be hard to remember where you read things.
In Modules Two and Three once you are started you will be researching specific focuses, reading with an aim to writing something. If you are waiting to do Modules Two and Three or trying to fill in your ELT background for Module One then the more you read, the better, but you don’t have that specific focus (as you do when you read to write) and this page is to give you some ideas of things you can do as you read to help you retain some of it (or at least to be able to retrieve it when you need it later).
If you are reading an article, do this when you get to the end of the article.
Why ?
Because later when you do start to put assignments together it will mean you can go back to those notes and very quickly see where to start reading from again.
Because writing it down forces you to check if you really have grasped what they said.
Because writing it down makes you process it one more time and there is a better chance you will remember it.
Where ?
A file would do - one you can clip things in and out of (more flexible and easier to add to than a notebook).
If you like on line tools, set up a file for this in Gdrive or whichever storage system you use or start using something like Evernote. Don’t worry too much about the organisation at the start - getting started is more important and then a system will develop.
What would this look like ?
This is what I wrote for the first three chapters of one book
(to prepare for all Modules or to study for Module One)
If you read through this and think ‘that’s obvious, why is she telling me this’ then wonderful, you are already studying well, stop worrying and get on with it.
Just straight reading through a book is often interesting and sometimes enjoyable, but it rarely stays in your head and it can be hard to remember where you read things.
In Modules Two and Three once you are started you will be researching specific focuses, reading with an aim to writing something. If you are waiting to do Modules Two and Three or trying to fill in your ELT background for Module One then the more you read, the better, but you don’t have that specific focus (as you do when you read to write) and this page is to give you some ideas of things you can do as you read to help you retain some of it (or at least to be able to retrieve it when you need it later).
- Keep notes
If you are reading an article, do this when you get to the end of the article.
Why ?
Because later when you do start to put assignments together it will mean you can go back to those notes and very quickly see where to start reading from again.
Because writing it down forces you to check if you really have grasped what they said.
Because writing it down makes you process it one more time and there is a better chance you will remember it.
Where ?
A file would do - one you can clip things in and out of (more flexible and easier to add to than a notebook).
If you like on line tools, set up a file for this in Gdrive or whichever storage system you use or start using something like Evernote. Don’t worry too much about the organisation at the start - getting started is more important and then a system will develop.
What would this look like ?
This is what I wrote for the first three chapters of one book
Why not just highlight ?
The highlights would be in the original text, so you would have to go back through it to remember where they are. You don’t have a central system that you can access easily (unless you are cross referencing in a notebook and if you are doing that already you don’t need my advice for studying). If you keep this kind of information in Evernote or Gdrive, you can search for things like ‘bottom-up’ or ‘reconstruction’ when you are working on assignments later. That is a quick way of bringing back all that you have read that is relevant so you can easily go back to the original books or articles.
Notes like this can work as a revision tool for Module One. Condensing notes about areas onto the backs of cards has worked for generations of exam takers.And highlighting just doesn’t help you remember.
What else could I do ?
Read blogs and articles online. Be careful about who wrote them and whether they seem to be a reasonably reliable source. Keep track of what you read and where it is.
How ?
One teacher (his explanation is here) has his students use a communal pin board (part of their page is here) - you summarise the article in a paragraph and pin the link with your summary. Then others can read your summary and decide whether or not they would like to read the article. You can do it on your own or you could work together with other friends to create boards. Pinboard is a paid service though as they want $10 when you sign up. Free similar versions seem to be Diigo (definitely collaborative but again $5 a year if you want to collaborate (though you can have a free version if you just work on your own) and Delicious appears to be free (the comment system seems to run to 1000 characters, so you can write in a short summary, though on a quick try out I’m still not sure how you collaborate).
You could use Evernote.You have to write the summary under the note name, but above the article. You could make the notebook public if you want to share with others. Or you could do this same thing in a series of Google docs in a file (or even in one doc). The useful part is being able to search for words and phrases later to retrieve information when you need it.
Hypothes.is is also a useful tool for this kind of work.
If that sounds like a lot of work, see how many people agree with me.
Read about the headings and highlight strategy in this piece on KQED. This is especially useful if you are reading on line.
Or read about what Shane Parris suggests when you are dealing with books.
Take away
Don’t just read, write things down.
If you use online notetaking systems it can be easy to retrieve things later.
These ideas are so you can go back to sources, they aren’t recommendations for research for an assignment focus.
The highlights would be in the original text, so you would have to go back through it to remember where they are. You don’t have a central system that you can access easily (unless you are cross referencing in a notebook and if you are doing that already you don’t need my advice for studying). If you keep this kind of information in Evernote or Gdrive, you can search for things like ‘bottom-up’ or ‘reconstruction’ when you are working on assignments later. That is a quick way of bringing back all that you have read that is relevant so you can easily go back to the original books or articles.
Notes like this can work as a revision tool for Module One. Condensing notes about areas onto the backs of cards has worked for generations of exam takers.And highlighting just doesn’t help you remember.
What else could I do ?
Read blogs and articles online. Be careful about who wrote them and whether they seem to be a reasonably reliable source. Keep track of what you read and where it is.
How ?
One teacher (his explanation is here) has his students use a communal pin board (part of their page is here) - you summarise the article in a paragraph and pin the link with your summary. Then others can read your summary and decide whether or not they would like to read the article. You can do it on your own or you could work together with other friends to create boards. Pinboard is a paid service though as they want $10 when you sign up. Free similar versions seem to be Diigo (definitely collaborative but again $5 a year if you want to collaborate (though you can have a free version if you just work on your own) and Delicious appears to be free (the comment system seems to run to 1000 characters, so you can write in a short summary, though on a quick try out I’m still not sure how you collaborate).
You could use Evernote.You have to write the summary under the note name, but above the article. You could make the notebook public if you want to share with others. Or you could do this same thing in a series of Google docs in a file (or even in one doc). The useful part is being able to search for words and phrases later to retrieve information when you need it.
Hypothes.is is also a useful tool for this kind of work.
If that sounds like a lot of work, see how many people agree with me.
Read about the headings and highlight strategy in this piece on KQED. This is especially useful if you are reading on line.
Or read about what Shane Parris suggests when you are dealing with books.
Take away
Don’t just read, write things down.
If you use online notetaking systems it can be easy to retrieve things later.
These ideas are so you can go back to sources, they aren’t recommendations for research for an assignment focus.