Research on study techniques indicates that any study technique can help if it enables students to process the right information in the right way. Students often have to be carefully trained to use a technique to advantage. Guidelines are provided. (Author/MLF)

The process of studying text material is a criteria-related, self-directed form of reading involving three phases: prereading, reading, and postreading. Prereading consists of clarifying the criteria for study, constructing a study guide, and surveying the text to determine how much is already known, how interesting it is, and how difficult or…

Learning outcomes and reading behaviors of 171 sixth-graders were investigated while they read expository text and answered adjunct questions. The 2,400-word text was divided into four lessons, and students answered text explicit-, text implicit-, or no questions (a control group) as they read silently and were videotaped. In addition, the…

Describes two studies which attempted to determine whether or not generating good comprehension questions while studying prose material was an effective study technique. Students taught to ask main-idea questions generated better questions, and self-questioning during study appeared to be more effective for lower than for higher verbal ability…

In an attempt to study strategies that college students use to attain high marks in a difficult course, a community college study skills instructor enrolled in a regional geography course and monitored the strategies he used to study for the course. The goals of the study were to determine how knowledge of the criteria was gained, how attention…

This report reviews traditional research on studying and supplements it with theory and research from other areas of education and psychology to obtain a clearer picture of the way people study. The state variable of the student's knowledge of the criterion task and the processing variables of encoding and of focusing attention are explored. Some…

The main purpose of these two studies was to determine whether or not generating good comprehension questions while studying prose material was an effective study technique. In the first study there were two treatment groups to which the high school seniors participating in the study were randomly assigned: a questioning-with-training or a…

Using the conceptual frameworks of "levels of processing" and "transfer appropriate processing," the research literature on listening and notetaking was interpreted. Based on these frameworks, implications for encoding and external storage hypotheses are presented and critiqued. The report concludes that there is a potential…

The effectiveness of mapping for middle school students was tested, using 11 eighth graders who were taught to map short expository prose passages during approximately 12 hours of instruction. Mapping is an innovative reading comprehension strategy in which students identify the important relationships defining the text structure and re-represent…

A review of the research on study techniques indicates that reading and generating questions from the material is an effective technique for ensuring better comprehension. Familiarity with a model of studying that divides studying into prereading, reading, and postreading provides one explanation for this effectiveness. In prereading, students…