textbook highlighting and marking

Textbook Highlighting and Marking

Gayla S. KeeseeEducation Specialist

Paine College, Augusta, GA Mack Gipson, Jr. Tutorial and Enrichment Center rev. 10/2006

Common Methods for Marking Textbook Materials

Highlighting

Marking

Highlighting and Marking

Textbook marking is an important skill for finding the main ideas and for identifying organizational patterns.

If it is well done, text-marking helps you make the best use of your text, and it is an excellent preparation for making study notes.

Marking and Highlighting Effectively

1. Use a good pen.Pencil marks smear and will fade. Highlighters are good for color-coding different kinds of information.

2. Read a section first, then go back and underline or highlight.Everything looks important the first time through. You need to see the whole picture in order to mark selectively.


3. Use the boldfaced headings to form questions.After you read the section, go back and highlight the parts that answer your questions.

4. Pay attention to the signal words in the passage.Good authors help their readers navigate through the text with transition words. Use these clues to help organize information.


5. Mark only the main points.Look for topic sentences—usually first or last sentence in a paragraph. As you identify and highlight main ideas, look for facts, statistics, or examples that support them. Be selective about underlining examples or details.

6. Underline phrases, not sentences.Highlight as few words as possible in a sentence. Just mark the key parts (nouns, verbs). Rereading the marking should give you a short, accurate summary of the text.


7. Be consistent and complete.Mark all items in a set or list. The author probably had a good reason for grouping ideas together.

8. Highlight accurately.The information should convey the content of the passage.


9. Develop a regular and consistent marking system. Determine how and what you will mark. Highlight terminology, headings, sub-

headings. Use color, brackets, and asterisks to separate

main ideas and details.

Highlighting the Right Amount

Too Little? You miss valuable

information.

Too Much? You don’t identify

the most important ideas.

Just Right! No more than

one-quarter to one-third of each page

Generally, not more than 20% to 30% of the material

Circle unknown words. Number lists of ideas, causes, and reasons. Place asterisks next to important ideas or

definitions. Place brackets around important passages. Draw arrows to show relationships. Underline main ideas with full lines and

minor details with broken lines.

Marking a Textbook

321

*

[ ]

Marking a Textbook Use numbers in the margins to indicate a

series of points or items being discussed.Pay attention to signal words such as first, second, next, most important, as a result, on the other hand.

Draw rectangles around names or places that might be used on a test.

Use small Post-It Notes to jot down key words. Transfer these notes to your summary or outline.

1. Ideas

2. Causes

3. Reasons

Marking a Textbook Write summary words or phrases in the

margin.This is especially effective in passages that contain long and complicated ideas.

Put question marks next to confusing passages.

Use the margins to write what you feel is important, questions for your instructor, or notes to yourself.

1. Use pen

2. Main ideas

3. Details

Good idea

RR later

Margin Notes

Ex = example

T = good test question

Sum = good summary

Def = important definition

RR = reread later

Abbreviate= (equal) + (and)

& (and) # (number)

w/ (with) w/o (without)

Dept (department) eg (for example)

ie (in other words) NYC (New York)

pol (politics) lib (liberal)

subj (subject) cons

(conservative)

assoc (association) bio (biology)

bkgrd (background) rdg (reading)

Gov (governor) info (information)

gov’t (government) cont’d (continued)

Use symbols and graphics.

Use only the first syllable of the word.

Use first syllable and first letter of second syllable.

Eliminate final letters. Omit vowels. Use apostrophes.

Testing Your Marking1. Did the process of marking my book

help me understand it?

2. Does the marking show the main ideas of the passage?

3. Does the marking show the organization of the passage?

4. Can I find important information quickly?

5. Have I used my system consistently?

6. Does the marking translate easily into useful study notes?

Reflective Questions

Why should you highlight and mark chapters when you read them?

What guidelines should you follow for effective highlighting?

Why should you supplement your textbook highlighting with marking?

Why do highlighting and marking work as a way to prepare for study?