146 - Processing a Textbook for Understanding
When processing a undergraduate textbook, I think of a four tasks
- Create notes for the important concepts themselves (often bolded terms in the book)
- Link the note (concepts) with other important notes (concepts) in the textbook chapter
- Link the note with the immediate context it sits in (e.g. the textbook chapter)
- Link the note to the wider context (e.g. the field you are studying)
For example, I am undergraduate psychology student (hypothetical) with a plan on going into the sub field of cognitive psychology. When reading I would create a note for the concept of “semantic memory”. Following the four tasks, I would:
- Create a note for Semantic Memory
- Link it to the related concept of “episodic memory”
- Both semantic memory and episodic memory are forms of explicit memories, which in turn is a form of long term memory. So I would create a link to my notes on long term memory and explicit memory. This is the “immediate context” that semantic memory sits in.
- I would then create a link to the wider context, saying why “episodic memory” is important to the field of cognitive psychology. Or even doing something as simple as including a tag in the note #CogSci