… is an excel­lent method for “pro­ces­sing” rea­ding mate­ri­al. It con­sists of the fol­lo­wing five steps:

Sur­vey: Befo­re begin­ning to read have a look at the table of con­tents, the (sub-)title (of an artic­le) and/or the chap­ter (sub-)headings. Check for intro­duc­to­ry and sum­ma­ry para­graphs, refe­ren­ces, etc. Resist rea­ding at this point, but see if you can iden­ti­fy the major idea(s) of the artic­le / chap­ter / book. The over­all aim is to build a “struc­tu­re” for the thoughts, facts and details to come.

Ques­ti­on: Ask yours­elf what this artic­le / chap­ter / book could be about and how its con­tents might rela­te to what you alre­a­dy know about this topic. What is/are the question(s) that it is try­ing to ans­wer? What question(s) do you have that it might ans­wer? You may always add fur­ther ques­ti­ons as you pro­ceed. When your mind is actively sear­ching for ans­wers to ques­tions it beco­mes enga­ged in learning.

Read: Read one para­graph / sec­tion / chap­ter at a time loo­king for the ans­wer to your ques­tion(s). This is acti­ve rea­ding and requi­res concen­tration so find your­self a place and time whe­re you can concentrate.

Recite/write: Say to yours­elf (loud if pos­si­ble) or wri­te down (e.g. in the mar­gin) a key phra­se that sums up the major point(s). It is often use­ful to use your own words, do not just copy a phra­se from the book. Rese­arch shows that we remem­ber our own (acti­ve) con­nec­tions often bet­ter than ones given to us. If you like you may high­light key words/phrases/passages but take care not to high­light too much.

Review: After repea­ting the­se steps for each para­graph / sec­tion / chap­ter you have a list of key phra­ses that pro­vi­de a sort of out­line for the artic­le / chap­ter / book. Test yours­elf by cove­ring the key phra­ses and see­ing if you can recall them. Do this right after you finish rea­ding the para­graph. If you can­not recall one of your major points, that’s a part  you need to reread. Review again after some time to see what you have alre­a­dy for­got­ten and refresh your memory.

Eine deut­sche Anlei­tung zur SQ3R-Metho­de fin­dest du hier.