Freelance Writing Jobs | Today's Articles | Sign In

SQ3R Method to Read and Study Nonfiction

Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review Content Area Texbooks

Dec 12, 2008 Kelley Huston

Students have difficulty reading content area textbooks and getting the necessary information from them. Following these 5 steps will make any student successful.

Content area textbooks are some of the most difficult reading students will do in school. They include technical terms, many facts and lots of important information to remember. Students often struggle with this reading and give up before they have gotten all the information needed.

Students who employ the SQ3R method are more successful in tests and homework. They get the information needed and tend to remember it for their tests. The SQ3R method involves the following five steps: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review.

Survey the Chapter

In the Survey step, the student glances through the section looking at the headings. No actual reading is done as the student is only getting an idea of what the section will be about. Illustrations, diagrams and pictures are also viewed in this step. The student gets a general idea of what will be discussed and learned in this section.

Ask Questions Before Reading

The Question step again requires no actual reading. The student goes through the section and turns headings and subheadings into questions. The questions are jotted down on a piece of paper for use later. Bold words are also jotted down. The bold words will be vocabulary words which will be important later as well. These questions will be used in the Recite and the Review steps. The Question and Survey steps could be combined into one step.

Read the Assignment

The Read step is the first time actually reading is done. The student reads the section carefully to get all needed information from the text. Picture captions and sidebars are read as well as they often provide needed information. Careful reading insures that the student is getting the information discussed and allows the student to reread anything that is considered confusing.

Recite Answers to Questions

The questions formulated in the Question step are used in the Recite step. The student reads the questions and tries his best to answer them. He also defines the vocabulary words jotted down. Any questions the student is not sure of can be looked up in the section. The answers should be done verbally or mentally as the questions can be used again in the Review Step.

Review on Another Day

The Review step is not done on the same day as the other 4 steps. It is done the next day and on subsequent days through the test. The sections of the text previously studied are reviewed through the use of the questions created in the Question step. The student gets feedback on what is forgotten in each section and can look back and review to get the necessary knowledge.

The Review step is repeated each day for all the previous sections. Reviewing each day keeps the textbook information fresh in the brain and aids in preparing for a test. Reviewing a little each day saves hours of studying on the night before the test.

SQ3R is the method successful students employ when studying science or social studies. It uses the steps of Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review to make studying easy.

The copyright of the article SQ3R Method to Read and Study Nonfiction in Middle/High School is owned by Kelley Huston. Permission to republish SQ3R Method to Read and Study Nonfiction in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Textbooks