How to Study (1946)

it All Began in civic's class when the students were choosing topics for reports to be done in 2 weeks Jim kendler waited until the teacher came to the subject should labor unions be required to incorporate he chose this topic because it sounded like one that would be interesting to investigate naturally such a report calls for a good deal of study and this is the story of how Jim who is no more fond of studying than anyone makes it as easy as possible for himself by studying in the right way the most practical way the various students in this study hall have many different ways of studying and ways of not studying wasting time and effort all of them could accomplish more with less effort by learning to make the best use of their time Ken certainly isn't getting much out of his time and Frank well we'll see about him later Jim is naturally thinking about that Civics report he doesn't want to put it off till the last minute but still he has 2 weeks and meanwhile there's other studying to be done so he figures out how much he has has to get done and how much time he has to do it in then he decides how long to spend on each assignment first he has to get ready for his science class this afternoon then he can give the rest of the hour to his Civics report budgeting your time to make the most of it is one of the skills involved in studying these skills can be developed and improved just as the skills involved in playing baseball can be developed and improved by paying attention to them and practicing them reading is another skill which can be developed most of us think we know how to read but did you know that there are different rates of reading first there is skimming you skim in order to find the parts of the book or chapter you need you run through through the material looking only at the key sentences like this the second rate of reading is rapid reading you use this rate when you want to take in the large idea is generally about third there is careful reading reading slowly in order to understand thoroughly each idea expressed by the writer in careful reading you take time to stop and make metal summaries of what you've read finally there is rereading reading the same material again to fix it in your mind to relate it to other things you know the rate of reading you should use depends upon the purpose of your reading and the nature of the material you for studying practice will improve your skill in adjusting the speed of your reading to your purpose in studying now the 15 minutes gym allotted to science are up he's ready for science class and he can start work on his Civics report this calls for skill in organizing his work so that he can make the most effective use of his time and effort first he thinks out all he knows knows about labor unions and incorporation and writes it down but some things he's not sure of so he decides to make another list a list of the things he does not know these are the questions to which he must locate the answers through study his search for information begins in his Civics book first he goes through the table of contents to find the chapter on labor problems then he skims this chapter looking for material about labor unions and Incorporation when he finds the section he wants he reads it quickly trying to get hold of the large ideas then he finds the paragraphs relating directly to his topic and he reads these slowly and carefully now he goes back to reread the material to make it his own Jim has made good use of his time and good progress in starting to study for his report but Frank is still buried in the same book He meant to do some studying in the other two but Jim has worked no harder than Frank yet he's finished his work because he planned it carefully 2 Days Later Jim had some more study time allotted to his Civics report but he finds his Civics textbook doesn't contain all the information he needs he'll have to look for more material that's a part of study too the main source for this additional material is the library Jim finds his material quickly because he knows how to find the books he wants on the shelves he knows the overall plan of the library he knows how to use the card catalog in order to locate any book in the library he knows how to use the reader's guide to find material in magazines and other periodicals and the standard reference books for General material who's who for biographical data the dictionaries for special words the encyclopedias for surveys of topics but sometimes you want more material than you can find in a library Jim did he decides to visit a lawyer who he knows can answer some of his questions about incorporation firsthand no matter what topic you're studying book material can always be supplemented in this manner by personal interview and by writing for information to appropriate government and private agencies for his report Jim has written to the National Labor Relations Board by the time he gets the answer to his letter he has completed his other research thus he has located all the material he needs for his report he has allotted himself a full study period for writing the report so that he won't be rushed Jim is no wonder student and studying is not his favorite occupation but since he has to study he has made it as interesting and profitable as possible by developing his study skills we have seen some of these as he prepared his report skill in Reading at the proper rate to suit his purpose skill in organizing his work and SK do more work in less time with less effort by practicing sound principles of how to study