Read It Like A Scholar

23 Sep

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There’s an article up at lifehack.org expressing two different points of views on how you should go about studying for a class. The article starts off with a recent post at Scholastic.us which says you simply need to buckle down, read, and underline the most important sections.  It’s more in-depth than that, but you get the point.

The lifehack article, however, goes on to somewhat disagree upon this point.  The author says you should have the following six questions in mind while studying:

  1. What is the author trying to say?
  2. How does the author say what they’re trying to say?
  3. Why is the author’s point important?
  4. Do you agree or disagree with the author? Why?
  5. How does this work connect with other works?
  6. What is the social context of the work?

I disagree.

Eventually, you will need to answer those six questions, but not while you’re studying.  When you’re reading for class, all you should be doing is reading the text, pulling out the most important bits of information, and staying on the look-out for key terms.  In fact, I have never heard of someone saying you should be thinking of “Do you agree or disagree with the author?” while you’re reading.  That’s the subject for a class discussion or an essay, and you certainly aren’t going to be asking “Why” you feel that way.

In any case, it’s an interested read even if a slightly ridiculous one. But if you ignore the author whenever he says “while you’re reading” and instead see that as “after you read,” then it works out pretty well.

2 Responses to “Read It Like A Scholar”

  1. Snoink 23. Sep, 2007 at 12:51 pm #

    Not necessarily. If you read slow enough, you can actually think about it. For me, this method actually works the best because I can’t remember anything that I can’t relate to and, by questioning what is being written and putting it closer to myself, I am able to read better.

  2. IMP 23. Sep, 2007 at 2:44 pm #

    I have to agree with Snoink, if not add to her point. ^_^ I’d never remember half a sentence, hyperbolically speaking, if I didn’t ask most of the above five questions rather often.

    Looking for key terms just to pass the test and the class–bloody dull.

    IMP

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