Learning Strategy 8: The SQ3R Reading Method

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Description

SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. This method is a learning strategy designed to improve your recall of what you read through a process of repeated and varied engagement with the material. Repetition is one of the keys to memory–the more often we encounter something, the more deeply it sinks into our long-term memory. In the past, some students have decided to read their assignments twice, as a means of familiarizing themselves more fully with the content. However, better than twice reading are methods that involve working with the reading material in some way. Summarizing and paraphrasing are two of these powerful methods. Another is the SQ3R method.

The five steps of the SQ3R provide five active engagements with the reading assignment, requiring the reader to do something with the reading. Interacting with  reading material creates a much stronger learning experience that simply passively reading it.

Here are the steps in the method.

S
Survey

In this step, also called scan or skim, you survey the entire assignement to get an overview. Our brains like to know the general context of things in order to fit them together, so a survey of the entire book or article helps you understand where the author is going. Insight into the structure, arrangement, and sequence of the reading allows  you to form a mental framework for it. For example, knowing that the author will be developing a caus and effect argument lets you know that one or more causes will be discussed first, and then a detailing of the effects.

For long works, such as an entire book or monograph, it is often helpful to draw out a visual representation of the writing. A mind map, flow chart, or other diagram will allow you to keep track of where you are in the argument or discssion. And if you need to return to the book later (studying for a test, writing a reasearch paper, or just in need of consulting it), the diagram will help you locate what you need much faster and regain the context of the discussion.

Survey Procedure–Books

Survey the reading by following these steps.

  1. Read the blurbs on the dust jacket of the book (back cover for paperbacks)
  2. Look at the table of contents to see what the topics are and how the book is organized
  3. If present, read the objectives, overview, or chapter outlines.
  4. Page through the book, looking briefly at the major headings
  5. Read the major headings and subheadings of the first chapter.
  6. Read the discussion questions at the end of the first chapter.

Extra Tip: Look through the index to see what topics and what people are listed. This can give you a bit of insight into what the author discusses.

Survey Procedure–Articles, Modules, Web pages

  1. Read the abstract or overview
  2. Read all the headings and subheadings
  3. Go to the end of the reading and read any section labeled “Summary,” “Conclusion,” “Application,”  or the like.

Q
Question

Creating a few questions about the reading increases interest, curiosity, and attention to it, as you read carefully in order to answer them. Questions can be created from your look at the chapters, pictures, graphics, or from the map you drew. Here are some sample questions created about an article discussing an archeological dig that found artifacts dated at 20,000 years old.

  • What evidence will the author produce that will be convincing about the date of the artifacts?
  • Will he respond to critics or alernative theories?
  • What methods of dating will he use?
  • This article was written twelve years ago. Have there been any responses to it? Is it still current? How can I find out?
  • I wonder what he means by “in situ anomaly”?

R
Read

Read the work carefully and actively. Don’t just sit back at breeze through it. If you own the book (such as a textbook) or have a printout of the article, mark it up.

  • Use a highlighter, or better, underline important phrases and sentences with a pen. Re-read the sentences you mark as you mark them, so they will be remembered better.
  • Write notes in the margin: summaries, paraphrases, agreements, objections, aditional examples, counter examples, cross references
  • Draw diagrams or tables in white space areas of the reading, to graphically represent content. (For example, a teeter totter or scale to show a balance or tradeoff between two things.)

If you don’t own the work or are reading from the screen,

  • Take notes about the key ideas
  • Copy sentences of importance (being sure to put quotation marks around them and citing the page number)
  • Create diagrams to show the structure of the argument (idea map, flowchart, fishbone diagram, matrix)

For all the reading, answer the questions you formulated earlier.

R
Recite

Reciting is the process of reproducing the important ideas from the reading. Here, “reproducing” means any of the following:

  • Recite out loud the key concepts you remember
  • Explain to a friend, study buddy, or study group what the claims and evidence are, what your evaluation is, what was important in the reading, or a summary of it.
  • Summarize the material, in whole or by section or chapter
  • Paraphrase important claims, ideas, or definitions
  • Recite on paper or computer file by creating an outline, summary, comments, objections, confirmations, additional examples, a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions with answers), a mind map, or other recitation method

Reciting is a powerful memory tool because it causes you to engage the material again (repetition is a key to learning), requires that you work with and process the ideas, not just read them (transforming reading material in some way enhances learning), and if you recite aloud by reading your notes, you get the benefit of dual encoding–visual and auditory (eyes and ears) channels are both activated.

R
Review

To review your reading experience, do this:

  • Page through the assignment, re-reading the printed headings and subheadings, and also the underlined or highlighted sentences, together with your notes in the margin (or notebook or word processing file).
  • Look again at the overview or abstract of the material, together with any summaries you created. Check to see that the notes you made agree with the printed material.
  • Review the questions and answers you created.
  • GIve an ad hoc verbal summary and commentary on the reading assignment. You might pretend to give a speech about it to a group of interested people.

To take your reading assignment and go to the next level of high performance learning, do one or more of the following:

  • Write a song whose lyrics summarize the assignment, naming key concepts, the order of steps, etc.
  • Write a skit in which the actors discuss the material, perhaps playing one-upmanship (where each character adds another detail to the previous character’s lines) or if the material iincluded diffferent perspectives or positions, write the skit as an argument between the characters.
  • Make a video showing some of the information visually, or showing visual metaphors for the information.
  • Create a PowerPoint presentation of the material, with graphics and possibly audio narration. (Save it as a self-running show or as a .wmv video.)

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