In the
last post we talked about the importance of knowing your own first steps to
learning. Highlighting is one first step
for many students. Summarizing may be a
first step for others. Some use summarizing to overcome the challenge of paying
attention. Students may use summarizing techniques such as explaining
information to a fictitious person that does not know the material or using
sticky notes to summarize each paragraph.
Has anyone tried the summarizing technique of "Three Little Words"? "Three Little Words" is a technique that forces the reader to get to the heart of the message. It is a challenge to summarize the material into exactly three words. Consider starting with summarizing each paragraph, but moving on to a larger chuck of material such as a section or page.
It seems artificial and awkward at first, but it does force the reader to pay attention to what is most important. It is a bit like writing the subject line of a message in an online discussion thread or in an email--the short subject line forces the writer to think about what is most important.
Has anyone tried the summarizing technique of "Three Little Words"? "Three Little Words" is a technique that forces the reader to get to the heart of the message. It is a challenge to summarize the material into exactly three words. Consider starting with summarizing each paragraph, but moving on to a larger chuck of material such as a section or page.
It seems artificial and awkward at first, but it does force the reader to pay attention to what is most important. It is a bit like writing the subject line of a message in an online discussion thread or in an email--the short subject line forces the writer to think about what is most important.
Tell us
how “Three Little Words” works for you.
Next
post will be a short one on subject lines. Stay tuned.
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