Mastering the marterial 6 potx

BE A COPY CAT

If you are learning something complex from a pamphlet or book,

choose a few paragraphs you feel are most challenging. Copy them

exactly, and then read them out loud. Copy them a second time, and

then read them aloud again. Copy a third time; read aloud a third

time. This really works!

MAPPING AND DOODLING

Mapping and doodling are visual ways to take notes. You can map or

doodle information about anything you are studying, whether you are

in a classroom listening to a lecture or sitting in the library reading. If

you enjoy visualizing, this is a good study strategy for you because the

process of drawing a map or doodling a picture can make relationships

between topics become clearly visible.

The good news is that you don’t have to be an artist to doodle or

draw an effective map of information. The process is really straight￾forward.

Mapping

In the middle of a clean piece of paper, write down the main point,

idea, or topic under consideration. Draw a circle around this main

topic. Next, draw branches out from the circle on which you can

record subtopics and details. Create as many branches as you

need—or as many as will fit on your sheet of paper. The figure on

page 110 is an example of a simple map; it has only one level of sub￾headings.

The level of detail you will include on each map depends on what

you want to remember. Perhaps you already know part of a subject

thoroughly but can’t seem to remember any details about one or two

particular subtopics. In that case, you can tailor the map to fit your

needs. Consider Nadya, who has studied the seven major United

States Civil War battles in the figure on page 110. She is very famil￾iar with five of them: Gettysburg, Shiloh, Fredericksburg, Manassas,

and Vicksburg. However, she is having trouble remembering two of

them, Antietam and Cold Harbor. The figure on page 111 shows

Nadya’s map, which includes all seven major battles of the Civil War;

in addition, her map includes specific details about the two battles

that she has trouble recalling.

Mastering the Materials 109