i’ve seen many posts with study tips saying highlighting is ineffective because it lets you become a passive reader, but since i personally find it useful when done correctly i wanted to make a post specifically about highlighting effectively! note that these are all my personal tips and you should always go with what works for you :]
the big NO: passive highlighting
- the “highlight everything that’s important” technique where everything seems to be important
- don’t do it!!!
- you’ll end up with pages of yellow text not knowing what u just read
- this doesn’t help u study at all
when should i highlight?
- reading in advance for a class or sth, you have a really long text + you want to be able to recall important parts easily later – not necessary to colour code
- you need to extract information from a text to answer different questions or similar – colour code: different colour for each question
- you’re studying for a text and want to make a study guide – colour code: vocabulary + definitions, dates + people, etc
- don’t highlight when the information is already very compressed, short + to the point, but you can make annotations if you want
colour coding
- the art of highlighting
- colour coding your notes
- colour code and highlight efficiently [+ scientific evidence]
- how to colour code
- colour coding notes 101
- colour coding annotations
- example of a key
- another example
- yet another key
- create your own key to suit you best!
- use different keys for different subjects
tips + advice
- keep your key somewhere visible, like a post it note, an index card, the highlighters themselves, etc
- is there something important that u feel like u may not remember or don’t understand? highlight it, make a note on the side
- don’t highlight titles/subtitles bc they’re usually already made to stand out. same with already bold words, but do highlight the definition/explanation
- you don’t need to highlight the whole sentence either – figure out what’s important in the important information
- accompany highlighting with annotating to engage more + make it more effective – why did i highlight this part? do i have any info to add? personal comment/reminder?
- don’t think just because u highlighted a chunk of text u’ve already studied it/know it – highlighting shouldn’t at all work as a study technique on its own
- if you have few highlighters but want more colours, mix them!
highlighting supplies
- very cute pastel highlighters!!
- oh – so – famous – mildliners
- candy color marker pens [actually highlighters]
- cheap + good bic highlighters
- clear view sharpies!!
- stabilo boss wallet of 8 highlighters
- soft colours + window!!!
- muji twin tip highlighter
+ masterposts
i hope i was any help at all and that u never fall in the grips of passive highlighting!! happy studying!
– sofi xx
starry-eyed 