Marking a Textbook

WHY?

Properly marking a textbook is the best way to interact with and master the information.

HOW?

First, mark your textbook, short section by short section, only AFTER you have read the short section. Do not mark while you are actively reading the section. Once you have finished the active reading, go back through it and mark the appropriate items. This gives you a second “touch” on the information. A short section might be a few paragraphs to a page or so in length.

Second, throw away the highlight pens. Highlight pens make it too tempting to mark too much information or information of little use. In addition, highlight pens do not distinguish among different types of information (The Big Six).

So grab a pencil instead, and mark your textbook pages according to the following guidelines:

WHAT TO MARK? THE BIG SIX

TERMS—using your pencil, draw a box around key terms

DEFINITIONS—again using your pencil, underline the definitions that go with those terms. Underline ONLY definitions

EXAMPLES—bracket examples and write “EX of _________” in the margin to the left of the example

LISTS—number lists of items or steps (enumerations) using 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Place the corresponding number at the beginning of each new item.

REASONS WHY—bracket reasons why and write “REASON for ________” in the margin to left of the reason

ITEMS on the BOARD—does not apply to textbooks