# Question about learning and highlighting text **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893 "2014-06-03T03:50:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/1 "2014-06-03T03:50:36Z")
This website says highlight while you read (step 3): [http://www.howtostudy.com/read-text-slowly-before-and-after-class/](http://www.howtostudy.com/read-text-slowly-before-and-after-class/) > [@](#): > > Step 3: Read – Once you’ve become familiar with what the chapter is going to cover, it is time to start reading. Use what you discovered in step one to recognize any important terms or concepts. It is also a good idea to underline or highlight any information you think is important and that you would like to revisit later. You’ll get the most out of lectures by reading the chapter your professor is going to discuss in advance of the class. By reading ahead of time, you will be more receptive and will have context for understanding challenging concepts. After class, focus your reading on concepts your professor emphasized in class. This one says read first then reread and highlight (step 5): [http://www.wikihow.com/Study-a-Textbook](http://www.wikihow.com/Study-a-Textbook) > [@](#): > > Step 5: Read the entire chapter through without taking notes or doing anything else. Just read it. You have two objectives in doing so. The first is to get a sense of the purpose of the chapter. Ask yourself: what is the author trying to convey in the chapter overall? Second, how does the author build the information or argument in the chapter? When you have a mental picture of these two questions, you can then begin taking notes that will benefit you in your study for exams and research papers. Both say to skim/preview the chapter first. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/2 "2014-06-03T03:58:43Z")
This site says skim/preview, then take a few notes as you read the whole chapter, and avoid heavy underlining at all stages: > [@](#): > > Make More Than One Pass > Reading articles and textbooks often requires more than one pass. It usually takes two, three, or even more readings to grasp difficult concepts. Whether or not you decide to employ the SQ3R Method, you should always preview the material to be read. Skim the table of contents, preface, headings, and conclusions. Stop and think about the author’s intent as well the instructor’s purpose in making the assignment and purpose for reading. > > Take Notes > In early readings, take the briefest of notes while reading by adding brackets in margins or underlining minimally. Note pages where you might want to take formal notes. After reading, take more extensive notes. When reading and note taking is are complete, reread all of your notes, think about what you’ve read, and add more notes based on your reflections. Your goal is to have notes that are concise, capture the reading - and replace it so that you don’t have to go back and reread. > > Don’t Highlight > If you underline text, do so minimally and stay focused on the important details. Avoid the temptation to highlight every line. Heavy highlighting is a procrastination tool because usually you’re marking what you should learn instead of focusing on learning it. from [SQ3R Method of Reading — Retain More Information](http://gradschool.about.com/cs/reading/a/read.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/3 "2014-06-03T04:10:15Z")
There is no ‘correct’ way. Whatever method you find most helpful is the right method. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/4 "2014-06-03T04:17:11Z")
What **Cunctator** says. I found highlighted text horribly distracting; most of my female classmates loved their hilites; most of the guys used different-colored ink from the start but no hiliters. I culled my classnotes into mini-notes (the very act of “distilling” and writing helped me a lot more than re-reading); my BFF would read things a zillion times, some of them out loud (Blaancaaaaa! The rest of us are trying to study too, shut up!); other people trusted notes copied from other students rather than their own or liked to read their own as well as copies from half the class. Some people do better in the library, some in a silent room, some prefer having unimportant noise in the background. Whichever works. On that specific advice, I wouldn’t highlight _in advance_ like the first quote says. If you do that and the professor’s notions of what’s important differ from yours, you will end up with a book that looks like it’s been used as a coloring book by a 3yo. Read in advance, yes. Highlight in advance, no. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/5 "2014-06-03T04:23:16Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > What **Cunctator** says. > > I found highlighted text horribly distracting; most of my female classmates loved their hilites; most of the guys used different-colored ink from the start but no hiliters. I culled my classnotes into mini-notes (the very act of “distilling” and writing helped me a lot more than re-reading); my BFF would read things a zillion times, some of them out loud (Blaancaaaaa! The rest of us are trying to study too, shut up!); other people trusted notes copied from other students rather than their own or liked to read their own as well as copies from half the class. Some people do better in the library, some in a silent room, some prefer having unimportant noise in the background. > > Whichever works. > > On that specific advice, I wouldn’t highlight _in advance_ like the first quote says. If you do that and the professor’s notions of what’s important differ from yours, you will end up with a book that looks like it’s been used as a coloring book by a 3yo. Read in advance, yes. Highlight in advance, no. Yeah I’ve heard a few times that reading it out loud really helps. I walk 30 minutes to the subway everyday so I might start reading the notecards outloud I make while I walk. I’ve also heard reading the notes onto audio in your own voice and then hearing it played back helps. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/6 "2014-06-03T04:52:24Z")
it depends on what you’re learning and your learning style. sometimes factual stuff like math and science can’t easily be interrupted, the facts need to all fit to understand it. don’t highlight as you read. read through, maybe only noting (not in the book on a piece of paper the page and paragraph) things that are confusing, if you make notes the go back and reread the paragraph or section from the start. once you’ve read and have an understanding then highlight or take notes of what’s important. if you highlight before understanding then you likely will over mark the text, then later it will just be a distraction. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/7 "2014-06-03T05:11:17Z")
Highlighters are a good way of categorising things. For example, green for factors that increase stability, yellow for factors that decrease stability. Whatever your categories might be. Highlighting converts bland text to a visual image which for many people is easy to memorise or process. Highlighting emphasises things (obviously). This is my main reason for not highlighting most of the time. I do not always want the same thing emphasised when I examine a text. It limits my scope and rail-roads me down a thought process I have been before. And I am sure there is a whole lot more that might be said about highlighting. The point is to ask what is it that you expect the highlighting to do and question whether it is actually doing it.If it works, then great. If it does not work, then do something else. If your professor suggests a particular approach then by all means consider it. But remember that you are the one learning and you should choose an approach that matches both your learning style and what you are trying to achieve. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/8 "2014-06-03T13:43:36Z")
Echoing the others who say to use whatever works for your learning style and needs. I tutored one student whose biggest difficulty was recognizing what a homework problem was asking for and stopping when she got to that point, so I recommended to her that at the start of the problem, she highlight what the question is asking for. Another student I tutored, his biggest problem was keeping track of units, and even if his learning style were such that highlighting would help in general, there’s really nothing to highlight to address that need, so I didn’t recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/9 "2014-06-03T16:07:13Z")
Semi-related hijack: what do you guys call the process of turning a “word problem” into equations? Many of my students had problems with that but they didn’t seem to know a shorter way to describe that process (Spanish has a verb for it, _plantear_); I’ve never found a dictionary which gave a translation for that specific meaning. It’s another thing with which neither highlighters nor notes would be particularly helpful - and reading the problem out loud in the middle of an exam doesn’t sound like a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-learning-and-highlighting-text/689893/10 "2014-06-03T22:39:01Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Semi-related hijack: what do you guys call the process of turning a “word problem” into equations? When I was tutoring maths, admittedly a long time ago, I simply used to say “write/put that into algebraic form/equations”. I’ve occasionally heard people use the verb ‘algebrise’.