An Introduction to the Liberal Arts
The Individual and the Community

Reading

• annotating: this means writing comments in the margins of your books.  Have you ever read a page and realized that you don't remember what you just read?  Writing your reactions to what you are reading will force you to remain attentive
. Include both emotional reactions and intellectual ones.  Note connections to other ideas in the book and in the world.  Write questions about what you are reading.  Mark words or ideas that you find confusing.  This will also provide you with something to say in class and will help you to find sections of the book for discussion and assignments.  Annotating doesn't take much time at all and it provides lots of benefits. 

• summarizing: many college students find it difficult to remember all of the content for their courses--the readings, the lectures and discussions, etc.  Remembering is a skill that improves with practice.  One way to improve your memory is by putting the ideas into your own words in an abbreviated form.  Take five minutes after a class to jot down main ideas.  After reading a section in a textbook, write a sentence or two of summary. At first, this will take more time but it will improve your memory and save you studying time when you are working on assignments, writing essays, and preparing for exams.  The more that you focus on remembering, the less summary you will have to do as your skills improve.

Taking notes

Focus on "the big picture" first.  What are the main ideas and how do they relate to each other?

Listening and understanding comes first; note taking second. You can write coherent notes if you aren't following the ideas of the speaker.

Use informal outlines to show the relationships between the ideas.

Use abbreviations that make sense to you (I use ↑ to mean "more," "lots," "increase," or "up."

Review your notes after class to fill in details and to make sure that they make sense to you and to verify that you've gotten "the big picture."

Include few direct quotations; focus on the major details with attention to transitions such as "Secondly..." or "More importantly...."

Listening

Commit yourself to listening carefully and with an open mind.

Keep your eyes on the speaker and on your notebook as you write notes.

Don't believe everything that you hear: consider the ideas in light of other evidence from your experience and from what you have read and studied.

Your mind is moving faster than the speaker is speaking. If you are distracted or find your mind wandering, make an concerted effort to refocus on the speaker. Asking yourself questions about the content can help to keep you focused.

Consider the purpose of Monmouth College in bringing the speaker, and think about the biases and objectives of the speaker.

For more suggestions

What to do if you do poorly on an assignment or an exam:

1. Review the assignment or exam so that you know what you did well and what you did poorly.
2. Visit the professor during office hours or set up an appointment.  Make it clear that your goal is to do better next time--not to beg yourself into a better grade for the assignment or to blame the professor.  If possible, come prepared with some specific and open ended questions for her/him. Ask both about the specific assignment, similar future assignments, and suggestions for better studying habits.
3. Track your exams and assignments by using a Scots Guide, Outlook Calendar, or some other date book.  This will allow you to anticipate assignments and to schedule time for studying in advance.
4. Make sure that you keep up on your reading and take useful notes.
5. It may be useful to form a study group with other serious students.  A group of students who performed poorly on an exam/ assignment may be likely to spend precious studying time reflecting on the previous exam/ assignment.