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14 STUDY SMARTS LEARNING TIP 6 Beware the Over-Underlined Textbook Of course, if the book doesn't belong to you, you won't be underlining at all. But if you underline, do it sparingly. The best underlining is not going to help you remember as much as the worst note-taking. Your goal should be to be able to explain what's in a chapter, in the most stripped-down terms. Over-underlining is usually the result of following some teacher's favorite textbook-learning system. You've been told, "As you read, underline all the key words and phrases, the definitions, the quotable points, and the examples." Once you've done all that, there isn't much left un-underlined. The first tip for combating that is: never underline at all until you've first skimmed the entire selection, and try to keep it to one underline per paragraph. One researcher found that 30 percent of passages you mark on a first reading aren't important at all. If you must underline the first time through, do it in pencil. The second tip is: rarely underline fiction or outside readings. You'll find yourself concentrating on minutiae when it's the big picture you really want. Instead, use the front inside cover of your book to note significant pages and-briefly-why; on the page put a check in the margin at the important item. (If it's a borrowed book, you can staple a piece of paper onto the title page.) For example, our copy of Walden's inside cover looks like this: 12-what's necessary 14-who book is for 19-clothing conventions 28-civilized vs savage 36-building his house Learning Tips 15 53-4-costs auctions against reg. tGo) astronomy . reading classicc 7-brilliant 112-contradiction (122) I39-sarcasm: intoll. of humans (145) 157+-beauty of pond (165-6, 256) 191-hunting, sport vs killing I93-vegetarian scientific ~.. ~" Emersonian humility 69, 70, 73, 143 good quotes-29, 33,63, 82, 100, 174, 288 On some page margins we've put our own thoughts and conclusions. We've asked specific questions in a few places. We've circled words we didn't understand, hoping to look we figun:d them out faid7 It helps you systems that four colors of ink and six of marks, mainly 7ecause they're not your system but someone else's. It's been scientifically proven that any system you devise or adapt is better than anyone else's system that you try to copy whole hog. That's partly because thoughts that are focused on trying to system won't trying to rem{~m never buy ont: lderlining is in you start you'll rely on the other person's underlining-and you'll never know whether the hand that held the pen got an A or an F in the course. ...

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