SQ4R

Survey Question Read Recite Rephrase Review

A reading strategy known as SQ4R helps you
 
  • Warm up your brain for in-depth reading
  • Identify the important facts and concepts
  • Understand how the information is related together
  • Retain the information in your memory
S stands for Survey
  The goal of surveying is to "warm up" the brain, to discover the main point of the reading material, and to identify the relationship between the parts and subtopics. Psychologistsexperimenting with rats running a maze found that learning was more efficient when the rats could see the whole maze before starting. Print out the article you wish to read on the computer or open your textbook and begin surveying.
 
  • Think about the title and what might be included in the chapter.
  • Read the introduction.
  • Read the main headings and subheadings.
  • Look over charts, tables, pictures, and graphics.
  • Read the chapter summary
    If you find your mind wandering during this step, read aloud. Also, try standing up and slowly walking around the room as you read. Surveying should reduce your study time because:
   
  • You should concentrate better. You now know what to look for as you are reading.
  • The main points stand out more. You will know the author's organization in advance.
  • Details will fall into place and be easier to remember. You have an organizational framework on which to place facts.

Q Question
  Questioning gives purpose to reading. Reading becomes an active search for information. Concentration and focus improve
   
  • Turn headings and subheadings into questions. Ask who, what, where, when, why, and how about the headings.
  • If headings are missing, look for topic sentences (often the first or last sentence of the paragraph) and turn them into questions.
  • Make chapter objectives into questions.
  • Use the authors' questions at the beginning or end of the chapter. Use a workbook or study guide for questions.
  Having a question in mind results in:
   
  • Improved concentration since you are reading with a specific purpose in mind
  • Reading for meaning
  • A way to decide which details are important and which are not
R #1 means Read
 

Read the paragraphs under a particular heading so that you are reading a small amount at a time. Stop when you are finished with that section

   
  • Read to answer the question.
  • Move quickly.
  • Sort out ideas and evaluate them.
  Two important purposes in reading textbook and articles are -----
   
  • To get the main ideas of a paragraph, a section, and a whole chapter.
  • To locate important details which support the main ideas.

R #2 indicates Recite

  Have you ever tutored someone? If so, you know that the more often you explain a concept to another person, the clearer that concept becomes to you and the longer you remember it. Reciting guarantees memory, for the more senses you use in learning, the better you will remember the information. For most courses, 50% of your study time should be spent reciting. Follow this technique for effective learning through recitation:
   
  • Aloud, try to answer the questions you generated from the headings. First, try to answer the questions in your own words; next, try to answer with the language of the text
  • Aloud, state from memory the main points of the section you just read.
  • Take time after each section to recite. All reciting should not be left until the completion of the whole chapter.
  The benefits of reciting are:
   
  • You remember more.
  • You need to reread less.
  • You can't fool yourself about what information you have learned and that which you do not know.
R #3 signifies Rephrase or "Rite"
  Notice that this step may seem out of place according to the way in which many students study. Do you take notes or underline while you are reading? If you do so, try the SQ4R method of highlighting after you read and recite. Why is this sequence better for learning? If you highlight or take notes as you read, most of the sentences you read seem to contain important information. You don't have the overall picture of that section, so it's easy to confuse unimportant details with the important information. You may end up with too much of the section highlighted or too many notes. Remember, the purpose of highlighting, marking your text, or taking notes is to condense the material for review purposes. When you review for a test, you do not want to read the chapters again in order to select the important information for study. In order to accomplish the R #3 step successfully, perform one or more of the following strategies. Your individual learning style will make some of the strategies more appealing to you than others.
   
  • Underline or highlight key words or phrases, not whole sentences.
  • Summarize key points in your own words on the margin of the page.
  • Draw a single line in the margin next to a main point and a double line next to an important detail.
  • On paper, write questions from the chapter and then the answers using only key words, listings, etc. that are needed to recall the whole idea.
  • Outline the chapter or sections of the chapter. This method forces attention to the structure of the material.
  • Develop summary notes if each text chapter does not include a summary.
R #4 stands for Review
  Without review, most students forget 80% of what they read in just two weeks. Your goal as an efficient student is to use review to move information from your short term into your long term memory. Review two or three times each week by answering the questions that you formulated from headings. Cover your text and try to recite the main points you highlighted in each section. Do the same with the notes you may have written. In addition to formulating detailed questions for learning specific facts, write a short paragraph stating only the main ideas of the entire chapter. These ideas may form the basis of essay-type questions. Remember, if you can’t say it, you don’t know it. Work with your brain. You will perform better if you review frequently in shorter periods rather than trying to learn everything at once.