STUDY GUIDE:
A Brief Overview of
How to Study

Purpose of study

Not to find the detail, nor to memorize concepts and names; rather it is to organize the major points and ideas. In organizing you will see main ideas and details, the relationships among ideas and details. Most importantly, the method of study described below is designed for use from the beginning of the semester. To be most effective, it must be used before the material is discussed in class. Note also that you cannot study successfully using this technique if you wait until the week before the examination.

The Survey Q, Three R Method of Study:

The SQ3R method is a means of study which outlines in concrete form some of the techniques you have already been using in your study habits, but it adds some techniques which you may not know. The SQ3R method gives you a definite outline of a study procedure that has been proven useful to those who practice it. SQ3R has been developed and experimentally shown to be successful at one of the major universities.

1. Survey

Take a minute or two to do the following (look for summaries):

read the title of the chapter, what do you already know about the subject?
read the introduction
read all headings and sub-headings
look to pictures, tables and graphs, what do they have to say?
read the summary
read any questions, terms or other important material at the end of the chapter

The purpose of the survey is to provide a broad view of what the author is trying to say or achieve in the chapter, by surveying you will have a notion of what the broad idea is.

2. Question

Ask yourself questions based on the text, using boldface headings such as GROUPS: THE SOCIOLOGICAL SUBJECT. Turn this into an active questioning sentence such as "What is the sociological subject?" and "What are the kinds of groups?"

3. Read

to answer your question
read, the answers may appear in bold-face type.

By now you are reading, not passively, but actively with certain definite questions in mind, and attempting to answer these questions and to organize the material. Read only to the end of each headed section.

4. Recite

to questions you have written down, look away, answer out loud
if cannot answer it in your notes, mark it so that you can listen especially for that point in class
once answered move to next, make up question, answer it out loud and so on until you get to end of the chapter

5. Review

two steps:

first: upon completion of the study session review what was covered, -- repeat the process until you can answer every question that you posed.
second: this should take place once a week until you are tested on the material. Review material every week.

6. Additional sources of questions:

Tables and graphs. These are important summaries of material and you should turn their headings into question, if possible, or ask yourself questions about them.
Italicized phrases. These the author considers important and you should, too. Ask yourself questions about them.

Now repeat the steps: QUESTION, READ, RECITE, and REVIEW on each succeeding headed section. That is, turn the next headings into a question, read to answer that question, and recite the answer, followed by a brief review. Read in this way until the entire lesson is completed. Question yourself from the chapter summary also.

Is the SQ3R method an easy way to study? No, it is not. It is an easy technique to understand and to memorize, but it will call for deliberate effort on your part to practice these techniques regularly. It will not be easy to learn to apply it, because your old, more passive habits of reading will interfere with the active effort to study at first. But you can learn to apply the SQ3R method successfully and you will find it rewarding.

Study Guide:
Introduction

Study Guide:
Note Taking

Study Guide:
Test Taking

STUDY GUIDE: A Brief Overview of How to Study