CRCB ch. 10 summary- Textbook Marking

CRCB, chapter 10 summary Textbook Marking



Textbook marking is defined as, a systematic way of marking, highlighting, and labeling ideas to show how they are related to each other and which are most important. For example, when I read a new text, I highlight things that I think are important such as specific words, their definitions, and phrases. You could also write notes in the margin of the text explaining to yourself why you highlighted the words and phrases you did. A few of the items you should mark to make your reading and understanding more efficient are: Main ideas, major supporting details, and new vocabulary. In text book marking, the first step is to preview the material that has been assigned to you. While skimming the text identify all the unfamiliar vocabulary words and write them down. Later, you can look up the definitions of the words to understand their meanings. When reading a text book I usually keep a dictionary by my side, so when I come across words new to me I can look them up right away. Once you have looked up the words that are new to you, you can create questions using the title and sub-headings to try to predict what the reading will be about. Step two is to study-read the assigned reading in sections. First read the section before marking anything. It is important to make sure you understand each section you read before you continue on to the rest. Now you can go on to step three. When you are finished reading all the assigned material, you can then go back and highlight the information that answered the questions you came up with, the main ideas, and the major supporting details. Finally you have arrived at step four, writing margin cues. A margin cue is defined as a symbol or notation you write in the margin of your text beside important information to indicate what you marked and why. It occurred to me while reading this section on margin cues, that over the years I have not been properly textbook marking while reading. Although I always highlighted important words and phrases I would never label them or use margin cues. The author states, “If you highlight or underline textbook material without labeling your markings, they will be almost meaningless as everything highlighted will seem to be of equal importance.” I guess in the past instead of using margin cues or labels I would try to mentally keep note of the information I would highlight. If I had known what margin cues were years ago I would have defiantly been using them and saving myself the trouble of trying to organize and label everything mentally.