Study Advices

# Reflective Reading

This entry is based on the preface to the book "introduction to psychology - a gateway to mind and behavior" by Dennis Coon and John Mitterer. It looks at the difference between *reading* a text (or a book for that matter) and *studying* a text and supplies a set of concrete tools and strategies to do so.

## Basic concepts

**experiential cognition**: cognitive processes during passive experiences, such as relaxing and watching TV, it describes simply *having* and experience

**reflective cognition**: cognition in active experiences, where one takes active part

## The reflective SQ4R method

S - *Survey*, getting an overview over a section before reading it thoroughly

Q - *Questions*, turn the headings into questions while reading - gives the reading a purpose

R1 - *Read*, find the answers to the questions posed before and read in short bites only

R2 - *Recite*, recite the just read part giving answers to the questions, make notes and fill up possible gaps of knowledge. Go through the text subsection by subsection from S to R2 until finishing an entire section

R3 - *Reflect*, reflect upon the text while reading, through e.g. self-reference (relating new information to own personal experience) and critical thinking (analyzing, synthesizing and comparing)

R4 - *Review*, once done reading go through the notes again and make a quick self-quiz

## The LISAN method

L - *Lead. Don't Follow*, read the material before listening to a lecture and formulate questions beforehand

I - *Ideas*, basis of every lecture, always strive to grasp the main idea at any given point

S - *Signal Words*, listen for words indicating the identity of a certain concept or relations between concepts (such as opposites, etc)

A - *Actively listen*, bring the questions that arose from pre-studying and make sure to ask them, get involved, stay alert and active

N - *Note taking*, be selective and note down key points

## Self-regulated learning

Goal: be your own teacher and turn the content of what you are studying into your passion.

1. *Set specific, objective learning goals* - begin each learning session with specific goals in mind, focus on the skills you want to accomplish
2. *Plan a learning strategy*, make detailed plans on how to accomplish the goals
3. *Be your own teacher*, give yourself guidance, try to answer your own questions
4. *Monitor your progress*, keep an overview of what you have studied and test yourself regularly, make study guides
5. *Reward Yourself*, when reaching the self-set goals, do yourself some good and also be able to praise yourself for your success from time to time
6. *Evaluate your progress and goals*, frequently evaluate your learning progress, if you do not come closer to your long-term goals, reset your short-term targets
7. *Take corrective action*, if you fall short of your expectations you might need to change the learning plan or your learning environment

"Virtually every topic is interesting to someone, somewhere. You may not be particularly interested in the sex life of South American tree frogs. However, a biologist might be fascinated. (Another treefrog might be, too.) If you wait for teachers to “make” their courses interesting, you are missing the point. Interest is a matter of *your attitude*"

# Study Environment

The environment in which we study fundamentally affects, how well we study, how good our concentration is and in consequence how much we are able to gain from a study session. If we realize that our study environment is not optimal for us in that it inhibits us to make the most of our studying time there are three different actions we can take (apart from the obvious, which is simply making do and will most certainly not lead to the most effective studying time and subsequently also very likely not to personal satifsfaction)

1. **Change your environment**: When you know what environment is good for you and in which environment you can study best, try to make your concrete study environment at the given point in time fit to these requirements. e.g. if you need sufficient light, buy lamps, if you need silence, buy earplugs, if you need to eat regularly take food to wherever it is that you are studying and plan regular eating breaks
2. **Change yourself**: If you are in an environment which inhibits you to make certain changes which would be necessary for you to study well, see whether you can adapt yourself to the environment and change your requirements. e.g. If you want to study in the library with your friends and they want specific lunch and coffee times, see whether you can adapt your own study rhythm to that pattern and still reach optimal performance
3. **Leave the environment**: If the environment can not be changed and adapting to the environment is not able to make you study at your best, consider leaving the environment and looking for someplace else to study. e.g. if your realize that you get easily distracted at home, consider going to the library, if in the library you get distracted by friends, consider looking for a private study room etc.

# References

1. ↑  Coon, D., Mitterer, J 'Introduction to Psychology - Gateways to mind and behavior', pp.2-3
2. ↑  Coon, D., Mitterer, J 'Introduction to Psychology - Gateways to mind and behavior', p.4
3. ↑  Coon, D., Mitterer, J 'Introduction to Psychology - Gateways to mind and behavior', p.6
4. ↑  Coon, D., Mitterer, J 'Introduction to Psychology - Gateways to mind and behavior', p.7