Teaching Students How to Succeed

Study Skills

Instructors can also help students learn specific study techniques that will help them succeed throughout their education. These lessons can be useful for all students, either as an introduction to the topic or as a quick reminder. Here are some examples of study tips and guides that can be shared with individual students or any entire class:

University of California/San Diego Psychology How to Study Less and Remember More
This one-page handout has information on “effective learning techniques from cognitive psychology research.” It explains concepts such as (a) use of retrieval practices; (b) use of spaced practice; and (c) successive learning.

Ohio University University College Improve Your Study Strategies
This site presents the 5-step study cycle (preview, attend, review, study, and assess). It also provides advice on planning study sessions: (a) Set goal, 1-2 min.; (b) Study actively, 30-50 min.; (c) Reward, 5-10 min; and (d) Review, 5 min. Additionally, it has information on procrastination, notetaking, test taking, and test anxiety.

Oregon State University Learning Corner Active Studying
This is a one-page summary of the “Fun-Damentals” of active Studying. It describes what to do for initial learning then for review and self-testing. For example: First, “Focus some attention on the pictures, graphs, and graphics in your textbook or notes.” Then, “Redraw information from memory, or practice explaining the concept they illustrate.” Or: First, “Identify steps needed to solve problems in the textbook.” Then, “Work through practice problems without looking at the answer or process.”

Oregon State University Academic Success Center Note Taking
This hand-out describes how to take notes before, after, and during class. For example, before class, take notes on reading and identify main concepts and important terms, as well as questions you might have. During class, take notes in your own words that capture main concepts in sufficient detail and note new questions or areas for clarification. After class, summarize your notes and relate them to other concepts from previous sessions. The site gives additional suggestions for effective ways to take and use notes.

University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill Campus Health Avoiding Study Traps
This site lists 10 common “study traps” and gives advice on how to avoid them. Examples include (a) “I don’t know where to begin.” (b) “I think I understand it.” (c) “There’s too much to remember.” (d) “I knew it a minute ago.” and (d) “Cramming before a test help me keep it fresh in my mind.”

University of Wisconsin/La Crosse How to Study Effectively
The site lists 10 “essential” study skills that include (a) using daytime hours to study, (b) establishing specific study times each day, (c) reviewing material close to when it is first presented, (d) reviewing in an active way, (e) using short and focused study sessions, (f) setting specific goals for study sessions, (g) learning from multiple perspective, (h) preparing for classes, (i) getting proper sleep, exercise, and nutrition, and (j) controlling electronics.

South Dakota State University Study Hub Study Skills Checklist
This is printable list of six aspects of studying “smarter not harder.” They include memory, notetaking, planning, reading, test taking, and time management. Each comprises a list of helpful practices that students can adopt.

University of Washington Academic Support Programs Effective Reading
This section of a larger Study Skills unit has information on (a) best reading strategies, (c) close reading, (c) marking your text, (d) making time for close readings, (e) chapter review, and (f) reading difficult material. Their underlying message is that “To make meaning out of a text, it’s important to be an active reader and fit new facts into a pre-existing web of information. It’s important to engage in a dialogue with the text, ask meaningful questions, and search for answers.”

University of Washington Academic Support Programs Time Management
This site provides ideas for how students can actively manage their time, including creating a schedule, estimating weekly study hours, tackling procrastination, and using time effectively (e.g., limiting study sessions to 2 hours, separated by long breaks; putting hardest subject first and easiest subject last; and reviewing often, even in odd bits of time).

Northern Illinois University Academic Success Center Study Smarter Not Harder
Among the many strategies offered on this site are suggestions for active studying that include (a) creating a study guide or quiz for yourself, (b) saying the information aloud as if you are the instructor, (c) deriving examples from your own experience, (d) creating concept maps or diagrams, (e) developing symbols to represent concepts, and (f) Figuring out the main concepts and explaining, comparing, contrasting, and evaluating them.

Cornell University Learning Strategies Center How to Tackle Exam Questions
This subsection of a larger section on How to Study divides exam questions into three types: (a) “Green Light” questions are factual questions with straightforward answers, and students should study for them by making flash cards or quizzing themselves or a study partner); (b) “Yellow Light” questions are more detailed factual questions and call for similar study methods although they will necessitate knowing more information and details, and (a) “Red Light” questions call for making inferences or applying knowledge, and studying for them may involve making diagrams or concept maps that link ideas together as well as thinking about how the information might be used.

Cornell University Learning Strategies Center Concept Mapping
Concept maps are a way to identify relationships among ideas; depicting them visually can help students learn and retain course information. This page lists steps for creating concept maps: (a) brainstorm a list of the main big-picture ideas to study; (b) Choose one idea from this list; (c) Put that idea down on paper or on a whiteboard or chalkboard, in the middle; (d) Go through the original list looking for other terms that are related to the one chosen (e.g., based on a hierarchy, a timeline, small things going to large things, etc.); (e) Develop “linking terms” that explain how the ideas being are related to each other; (f) Arrange and re-arrange all of the ideas identified on the brainstorm list until the way they are organized makes sense.

Critical Reading

Definitions

An important study skill that students need to learn to be successful is critical reading. Critical reading “is reading actively with the goals of identifying arguments, weighing evidence, evaluating sources, looking for conflicts of interest, and questioning underlying assumptions. It is distinctly different from the passive reading associated with reading for pleasure, which many students mistakenly apply to academic texts.” Critical Reading in the Social Sciences

According to the University of California/Davis Center for Educational Effectiveness, research shows that good readers are active readers who monitor and evaluate their own reading processes. They vary their reading processes according to their purpose, predict content before they read it, and construct and question the meanings they make as they read. Engaged Reading

Critical reading, which is essential for learning, is concentrated, active, engaged reading in which students evaluate and challenge the material. However, students often believe that reading an assignment (e.g., textbook, journal article, essay, or report) means just getting the “gist” of the material; therefore, they skim the reading without “interacting” with the content. They do not ask questions, note problems, draw implications, make connections, or identify gaps; that is, they do not read critically. Critical Thinking 

How to teach critical reading skills

The Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University provides some ideas for how to teach critical reading skills to students:

• Be explicit about what you mean by critical reading. When you assign a reading, articulate what you expect students to do when they are reading the assignment.
• Explain what you want students to do to challenge the reading. Give them opportunities to practice challenging the text by
  • Specifically asking them to identify strengths and weaknesses in each reading
  • Assigning students the role of disagreeing with the author or finding a questionable assumption.
• Give students prompt questions tied to the assignments that require critical reading. For example, for each reading, you could ask them to
  • Identify the main point and the author’s assumptions
  • Outlining the paper’s argument and evidence
  • Explain how the reading fits into the literature
  • Research the author’s background
• Share and model your approach to critical reading.
  • Demonstrate your reading process while reading a text out loud. Identify and share some of the common steps you take (e.g., don’t skip the introduction; glance at the section/chapter titles to get a sense of the structure; read the footnotes to evaluate the source of information).
  • Explain that you engage in critical reading differently across different contexts (e.g., for original research articles versus literature reviews, for academic articles versus popular pieces) and provide examples of comments you might write in a text.

Steps in critical reading

What, specifically, does critical reading involve? Most models break the process in steps for students to follow when they read critically. These recommendations often include the following steps:

• Preview
  • Skim the text quickly for its main ideas.
  • Review table of contents and references.
  • Note titles, main headings, and subsections.
  • Pay attention to the introduction and the topic sentences of paragraphs.
  • Look at charts, graphs, and tables
• Read and annotate
  • Annotation is a strategy whose purpose is to increase engagement with the text
    • It is a tool that helps students uncover patterns, process the material, and identify important terms and main points.
    • It involves both underlining and creating notes within the document.
    • It is an active learning strategy that improves comprehension and retention of information.
  • Ask questions as you read, for example
    • What is the writer’s purpose?
    • Who is the writer’s intended audience?
    • What is the thesis or main idea?
    • What are the main points and supporting evidence?
    • How is the text organized?
    • How is the text related to
      • Class lectures
      • Class discussions
      • Other readings in the course
      • Other course topics or themes
      • Own experiences
  • Read carefully, underline, and write words, phrases, and questions in the margin of the text
    • Use a pencil or pen; do not rely solely on a highlighter, which can be distracting.
    • Underline key points and terms
    • Make marginal notes about
      • Thesis and main points
      • Key terms, phrases, and concepts
      • Main evidence to support argument
      • Reactions to assertions in the text
      • Ideas stimulated by the text
      • Points that seem important or interesting
      • Questions about parts that are unclear or confusing
      • Related personal experiences
    • Use comment and highlight features built into pdfs, online/digital textbooks, or other apps and browser add-ons.
  • Develop a symbol system that will capture observations. For example,
    • ? to indicate a question or something to explore further
    •  ! When something is interesting, a connection, or otherwise worthy of note
    • * For anything to use as an example or evidence when using this information.
• Respond actively to the text
  • Outline. The purpose is to see the skeleton of the argument and how the text is organized.
  • Summarize. Paraphrase, using your own words in sentences and paragraphs to make connections between ideas explicit.
  • Analyze. Evaluate the logic, credibility, and effectiveness of the argument. Become aware of the functions of various parts and their relationship to one another and the overall piece. Questions to ask:
    • What is the writer asserting?
    • What are the writer’s assumptions?
    • What are the writer’s biases?
    • Are the writer’s sources relevant, credible, current?
    • What reasons or evidence does the author supply (e.g., facts or opinions)
    • Is the logic reasonable?
    • What are the implications?
    • Are there places in the text that do not make sense?
•  Contextualize
  • Acknowledge the role of the historical, cultural, or intellectual circumstances of the writer.
  • Determine and understand the writer’s purpose and perspective.
  • Examine own circumstances and values.
•  Reread
  • Write down any additional questions remaining after annotating the text.
  • Look up any unfamiliar words or concepts.
  • Clarify any confusing or complicated sections of the text.
  • Focus on levels beyond basic information (e.g., style and tone, details, or examples).
• Review, reflect, and respond
  • Review your notes and reflect on them.
  • Develop some review questions, such as
    • What 3-5 questions would you ask about the reading?
    • What terms do you think are most important?
    • What questions will you ask or what points will you make about the reading during class?
  • Write a brief response
    • Agree or disagree with ideas presented
    • Include specific points
  • Discuss text with others
    • Compare annotations with peers
    • Verbalize ideas to other individuals or in a group

Sources

University of California/Davis Center for Educational Effectiveness
Engaged Reading 

Carnegie Mellon University Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation
Critical Thinking 

University of California/Berkeley Graduate Student Instructor Teaching & Resource Center
Critical Reading in the Social Sciences

University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill Learning Center
Annotating Texts

Harvard University Library Guides
Interrogating Texts

Hunter College Rockowitz Writing Center
Annotating A Text

Colorado State University Writing
Reading Critically and Actively

Brown University Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning
Promoting Effective Course Reading

Seton Hall University English 1201
Critical Reading Strategies

Las Positas College Reading &Writing Center
Reading Critically

Trent University Academic Skills
Read Critically and Efficiently

Montclair State University Center for Writing Excellence
Critical Reading