SQ3R Strategy:

Try the SQ3R strategy to better comprehend and remember a text by following these steps:

• Survey the text in advance.
• Form questions before you start reading.
• Read the text and filter the information according to the guiding questions.
• Recite and/or record important points during and after reading.
• Review and reflect on the text after you read.

Survey: Before you read, you survey, or preview, the text. As noted earlier, reading introductory paragraphs and headings can help you begin to figure out the author’s main point and identify what important topics will be covered. Simply paying attention to the title of the piece can provide important clues. However, surveying does not stop there. Look over sidebars, photographs, and any other text or graphic features that catch your eye. Skim a few paragraphs. Preview any boldfaced or italicized vocabulary terms. This will help you form a first impression of the material.

Question: Next, start brainstorming questions about the text, or carefully read any questions that have been provided to you by the instructor or textbook. What do you expect to learn from the reading? You may find that some questions come to mind immediately based on your initial survey or based on previous readings and class discussions. If not, try using headings and subheadings in the text to formulate questions. For instance, if one heading in your textbook reads “Medicare and Medicaid,” you might ask yourself these questions:

• When was Medicare and Medicaid legislation enacted?
• Why?
• What are the major differences between these two programs?

Although some of your questions may be simple factual questions, try to come up with a few that are more open-ended. Asking in-depth questions will help you stay more engaged as you read.

Read: The next step is simple: read. Look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary. As you read, notice whether your first impressions of the text were correct. Are the author’s main points and overall approach about the same as what you predicted—or does the text contain a few surprises? Also, look for answers to your earlier questions and begin forming new questions.

Recite/Record: While you are reading, pause occasionally to recite or record important points. You might do this at the end of each section or when there is an obvious shift in the writer’s train of thought. Put the book aside for a moment and recite aloud the main points of the section or any important answers you found there. While recording, consider the following prompts written by Liza Long:

• Do you agree with what you are reading?
• Does it remind you of previous things you have learned, either in this class or in another?
• Do you have personal experience with the concepts discussed?
• Do you need clarification or more information about a concept?

Review & Reflect: After you have completed the reading, take some time to review the material more thoroughly. You will want to record information in a more detailed format than you used during reading, such as in an outline or a list.