How to study: an MIT and Harvard Professor’s guide + an Aerospace PhD’s 9 R’s
By: Shamsheer Singh Chauhan
Tags: Understanding, Education, Study, How To, Engineering

This is a very brief summary of G. F. Swain’s gem of a book How to Study. I have also included the 9 R’s I use to remember the core practices.

During his long career as a Civil Engineering Professor at MIT and Harvard, G. F. Swain (1857–1931) was “continually surprised at the ignorance manifested by students in the higher classes of our technical schools and universities, or graduates from such schools, with reference to proper methods of study’’.

However, he did not simply blame the students for this shortcoming.

He considered it “undoubtedly true that training in the proper habits and methods of study should be inculcated by each individual teacher in the course of his work’’.

Swain also observed that a “student will frequently answer a question correctly, perhaps in the words of the book, but upon further probing the teacher will very likely find that he fails entirely to understand what he is talking about’’ and that “a large majority of college students… have only learned how to do certain routine things in a mechanical way. They have learned by rote’’.

This is similar to what R. P. Feynman wrote in his book “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!’’: “They didn’t even know what they knew. I don’t know what’s the matter with people, they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way — by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile’’. He was also talking about (fellow) students at MIT.

When reflecting on his career, Swain wrote that “probably the most important part of his instruction during the past thirty-five years has been teaching his students how to study and how to think logically’’. The object of education, he wrote, is to give the person “power to meet the problems of life, and to develop all his faculties to the greatest degree’’. Ultimately, education helps make a person “more capable of legitimate enjoyment, or helps to make him contented and happy, or to enlarge his breadth of view’’.

The following very briefly lists his guidelines for how to study (the original book is still definitely worth reading for the elaborations):

1. Proper mental attitude: Courageous and determined

a) Distinguish clearly between reading and understanding (ability to effectively use information)

b) Distinguish mere facts from conclusions and opinions

c) The student’s mind should be a continual interrogation point (searching for the reasons behind the information)

d) Regarding mere facts, ask how they are ascertained (pay attention to the methods and techniques)

e) Be constantly on the watch for evidence of reliability in the writer (non sequiturs, distorted statistics, etc.)

f) Have an attitude of caution (both you and others are capable of error)

g) Study with an open mind, and with no preconceived ideas

h) Train yourself to love correction

i) Remember that the object of study should be to gain wisdom, rather than knowledge (ability to distinguish truth from error rather than just memorized information)

2. Studying understandingly:

a) Form definite ideas (avoid hazy, half-formed definitions and ideas). Exercises to cultivate this include studying the dictionary, trying to define a few commonly used words every day, and studying logic.

b) State a thing in different ways and from different points of view

c) State a thing not only positively but also negatively (both what something is and isn’t; consider objections)

d) In studying a statement, observe which words are necessary and which might be omitted

e) Reflect on what is read (illustrate and apply before moving on)

f) Keep the mind active and alert (contemplative meditation is beneficial and not to be confused with rest, which is beneficial in a different way)

g) When you meet with differences of opinion upon a subject, reflect upon the reasons which may cause them

h) Do not confuse restatements with reasons (e.g., saying that one can see through glass because it is transparent)

3. System:

a) Discover the fundamental idea of the subject (compare a subject to a tree; a trunk can hold many branches and leaves, but a few leaves or branches cannot hold nearly as much)

b) Before you begin to study a subject, think it over carefully and find out what you already know of it or what you can arrive at by your unaided efforts

c) Classify and arrange what you have learned

4. Mental initiative:

a) Cultivate an interest in what you are studying, and some idea of what it leads to

b) Insist upon first clearly formulating the problem, if one is before you

c) Work independently of others (practice solving problems on your own)

d) Draw your own conclusions, whenever possible, before you know those of the writer (e.g., when you read “From the above it is evident’’, stop, close the book, and think what should be evident)

e) If you cannot see how the author reaches a stated conclusion, see if you can come to a conclusion in your own way

f) Learn to generalize

g) Go beyond the book

h) Visualize your results so far as possible (train your imagination to visualize in your mind)

5. Habits and methods of work:

a) Select the best book for your purposes and study it thoroughly

b) Do not study too many subjects at once (but also remember that the mind is rested by change of occupation)

c) Do not be in a hurry (“The more the haste, the less the speed.’’)

d) Do not take up a study lightly, but when taken up do not abandon it without good cause

e) Cultivate the power of judicious skipping (often, certain paragraphs, pages, or chapters can be skipped; while studying, analyze and filter which information is important for your purposes and which isn’t; but, be careful not to fall into habits of careless reading)

f) Be systematic (set times, start at once, alternate with periods of relaxation)

g) Cultivate the power, with habitual practice, of fixing your mind intensely upon one thing for a considerable amount of time

h) Remember to apply what you are studying

i) Be interested thoroughly in what you are doing (“Indifference is a fatal enemy to good work.”)

j) Read the important things again and again until you know your book thoroughly

k) Make a list of references as you proceed (summarize what you learn and construct an index)

l) Review frequently

m) Set special times for your recreative study

n) Do not neglect proper physical exercise

These are a lot of points and won't be easy to remember. I use the following 9 R’s to remember the core practices and ideas. These practices have helped me with absorption, retention, and application over the last decade from high school to graduate school (PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan).

The 9 R’s *

Reasons (related to 3b, 4a, and 5i): Find reasons that create a genuine curiosity and/or interest in you to learn the topic (e.g., recall a related observation that you were curious to understand, imagine a situation in which the information would be of practical use, imagine explaining the concepts to someone, imagine being the indispensable person at work that everyone goes to for guidance on that topic, etc.). This is half the battle.

Relate (related to 2f, 3b, and 4f): Try to continually relate what you are learning to past experiences, observations, or thoughts, or to things that seem similar (e.g., analogies) or may be connected.

wRite (related to 2d, 2e, 3a, 3c, and 5k): Take quick notes by hand during class or while studying independently, even if you don’t plan to use them. This aids with memory and focus. Later, create concise summaries of the content studied (use diagrams and sketches as much as possible).

Re-create (related to 3a, 4f-h, and 5h): In your mind, try to visualize what you are studying. Try to visualize the mechanisms, make predictions, and play around. Create simplified mental models that are easy to use (use analogies when appropriate, but be careful about their validity). Supplement this with sketches.

Rest often (related to 2f, 5b, 5f, and 5n): Take plenty of short breaks. Keep the mind fresh. Listen to your brain. If it feels like it doesn’t want to accept more information, pause (break suggestions: close eyes, lie down for a bit, play an instrument or with a ball, go for a walk, ride a bike, stare out the window, nap for less than 20 minutes, etc.).

Recall often (related to 5j-l): Review and recall regularly and at random moments (especially right before bed).

Reflect (related to 1b-e, 1i, 2c-g, 3c, 4f, and 5e): Think about the sources of the information, assumptions, limitations, applicability, usefulness, and if/how you could have figured out the information on your own.

Reason (related to 1i, 2f, 2g, 4d, 4e, 4g, and 5h): Think about the significance of what you have learned, try to figure out the consequences of the information, and draw conclusions. See if you can discover something new or find errors.

Resist (related to 1a-i, 2a, 2h, 5b-d, 5f, and 5g): Resist accepting information blindly. Resist superficial learning. Resist being in a hurry. Resist multitasking and remove distractions. Resist fooling yourself and others.

*Use mnemonic devices to aid the memorization of fundamental principles (related to 3a and 4).

All the best!

Bibliography