Reading & Understanding Textbooks

Read Actively. Begin with the chapter title and subheadings. Check your syllabus to see if any topics will be a focus.  

Take notes.  Using the titles, subheadings, and topic sentences from the book, create an outline of the information in the book.  Writing helps you remember.

Do Not Read Every Word or Sentence. Think of writing your high school English papers. Each section has a focus and each paragraph has a topic sentence.  The topic sentence tells you what the paragraph is about.

Look up words.  If you do not understand any words, look them up.  Write them on flashcards with the definitions to help you study them later.  

Write down any questions.  If you cannot understand something and cannot find the information on the internet, write the questions in your notes.  Remember to ask your instructor the questions during class or by email. 

Add pictures or drawings.  Pictures can help you remember things that are important. Draw the pictures yourself, or you can use your phone to photograph and email the picture to yourself to print it out and add it to your notes.