making an overview


why do I read this text?

The answer to that question determines how much time you should devote to the text. It also determines how many words you pick out from the text and what those words are.

˜read to get an overview

short articles, magazines, etc

If you have a short article of just a few pages, read the whole article from the beginning to the end. To ˜read means that you read through the text very quickly without stopping at details. Your aim is to grasp the general idea. It is an advantage if you read with a highlighter in your hand, marking the words that seem to be important. This is only to prepare your mind so the next time you read the text these words are already familiar to you and they help you to grasp the wholeness of the text quicker.

longer texts , books, etc

  • A longer text must be treated differently. If you want to summarize a whole book do this:

  • Look at the table of contents Read the text on the jacket

  • Read preface and summaries

  • Flick through the whole book. Look at every page, especially : words in bold , italics , words that are underlined and other typographical ways of telling the reader what is important in a text.

    Information like that is often very valuable . Someone has prepared the text for the reader to help him understand it better.

  • Use a highlighter while reading as described above in order to catch important keywords.

  • Let this part of the process take up to one third of the actual reading time.

Why read the text this way first? It is very important you reach a level of understanding the text as a whole, its purpose and contents, what is new and what you know already. If you know what the wholeness is about it is much easier to get hold of the important details later.

type of text

Before making a learning map you have to find a suitable design for each specific text. All texts are different and thus all designs are different. Making a learning map is in many ways the same thing as problem solving. You get to know the structure of a text when reading it through but most people do not know what to look for. Getting information out of a text of any length is to most people a random process. The way we have been taught study skills traditionally does not help enough if you really want to understand and remember the contents of a text.

However, when you start using learning maps it is natural for you to look for the type and design of a text in order to find a suitable first design for your learning map. You can easily understand why you have to start with a conception of the wholeness. If the type of text is not evident you must still choose a design to start with. It is easy to redraw once you find a more suitable design.

To make it simple can most texts could be categorized into three groups:

  1. Comparisons

  2. Chronologies or chains of events

  3. Presentations

comparisons

This is when the text is divided into either ... or , when a is compared to b and maybe c , when one is good and the other bad ... and so forth.

The design of the learning map could for instance look like this:

click to expand

chronologies or chains of events

Something has a clear beginning and an end, eg biographies, history, processes, manuals ...

The easiest way to make a learning map with this design is to follow the clock.

click to expand

presentations

... which will be the rest! When a story is told without a clear beginning or end, when facts are being presented without specific or necessary order, you may start wherever you like. Details must be reorganized from the text into your own order as you have chosen in your design.

click to expand

Of course you will find mixed texts “ there will be comparisons and chronologies mixed with presentations but you must still choose a main feature as your design, depending on your own understanding of the text. In that case let comparisons and chronologies be a natural part of the branches and twigs in your learning map.

No two people will ever make identical learning maps! That is important to bear in mind as there is no ˜correct way of doing it but there are more or less suitable ways. A learning map that works is one that works for you!

prepare a learning map

read again

These two last steps will be presented together as they are interwoven in your work with the text.

When you have read or flicked through a text or a book you will have a rough understanding of the wholeness. You will also have found out what type of text you are reading. Now it is time to prepare a learning map.

You write down the first design, starting in the middle and branching a few main keywords. These are the ˜hooks and while reading the text more carefully this second time you make new branches and twigs and pine needles , adding details into your learning map, just as described earlier in this book.

This process of reading and taking down important keywords is interwoven. You read a passage “ add new words into your learning map “ read a passage “ add words ... until you have dealt with the whole text.

rewrite your learning map

Always rewrite your learning map even if you are happy with it. Every time you rewrite it you revise the material and you get rid of words you already know, words that are superfluous in one way or another.

Rewriting, redesigning , mean revision and learning.




Learning Maps and Memory Skills
Learning Maps and Memory Skills (Creating Success)
ISBN: 0749441283
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 63

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