MORE ON STUDY MAPPING.

Working on an Essay Mapping is a particularly powerful tool to use during the early stages of writing an essay, before you write the first rough draft. When you start out exploring material that may be useful for your essay, you can summarize your readings -- using Mapping, as described above -- to help discover fruitful areas of research. Finding a suitable thesis is a process of exploration and approximation, and later on, insight. You may want to look for something that you find interesting and somehow problematical, with implications beyond itself that you can explore. It is often difficult to find a powerful thesis for an essay; hence, there is an inevitable, often unpleasant, and occasionally lengthy, period of confusion. During this period, to progress toward a resolution, it is necessary to know where you stand: - what you know; - what your specific questions are; - what your own opinions or interpretations of the material are; - whether own opinions are applicable or should be questioned. Remember, try not to refer to notes or other source material when you are doing your Map. Ask questions such as those listed above (#7, "Summarizing Notes"). Organizing the material is another common problem that people have when they are writing essays. Mapping will allow you to see the major categories of your essay, but will not impose an order on them. This will allow you to place your ideas in a sequence most applicable to your purposes. Aside from summarizing readings, always feel free to use Mapping to help you think, when you are working on an essay. Use this technique as often as you like, particularly when you are stuck, and as you become familiar with it, you will find it more and more useful and flexible. An additional incentive: Tony Buzan notes that "Using these techniques at Oxford University, students were able to complete essays in one third of the previous time, while receiving higher marks." (Use Your Head, p.102). When you are mapping for an essay, emphasize arguments, explanations, definitions, and abstract categories and relationships. An example of this sort of Map occurs in the essay entitled "Essay Writing as Play," (Ed. B-425: Anthropology and Education), in the Student Essay Library, at Counselling Services. Creative Writing While you are working on an essay, you may experience a particularly important insight as you are Mapping: of course, you cannot predict what this "creative spark" will be about or when it will occur--however, if you are serious about writing orthinking, you should become familiar with the process that precedes insight. One very effective way to do this is to use Mapping for creative writing. An excellent book on the use of this technique for such literary (and even "therapeutic") purposes isWriting the Natural Way, by Gabriele Lusser Rico, who refers to her version of Mapping as "Clustering." Reading List *.Buzan, Tony.Use Your Head. *.Rico, Gabriele Lusser.Writing the Natural Way. *.Counselling Services Handout. "How to Read University Texts." If you would like to practice doing a concept map, and then compare your work with an example on the next release....

USES OF MAPPING AND SUMMARIZING READINGS.

Summarizing Readings Summarizing is important for at least two reasons: 1. it aids memory, and; 2. it encourages high-level, critical thinking, which is so important in university work. Use Mapping in the following ways, to summarize an article, or a chapter in a book: 1. Read the introduction and conclusion of the article, and skim it, looking at sub-headings, graphs, and diagrams. 2. Read the article in one sitting. For longer material, "chunk" it -- into chapters, for example -- and follow this procedure for each chunk. 3. Go back over the article until you are quite familiar with its content. (This is assuming that it will be useful and relevant to your work -- one would not wish to spend this amount of work on peripheral material). 4. Do a Map as described above, from memory. Do not refer to the article or lecture notes while you are doing the Map if you do, you will disrupt the process. 5. Look over what you have done. It should be apparent if you do not understand, or have forgotten, anything. Refer back to the source material to fill in the gaps, but only after you have tried to recall it without looking. 6. Up to this point, the Map is made up of information derived from what you have read. If you want to add your own comments, you can differentiate them by using a different colored pen -- or you could make a whole new Map. This is useful if you want to go more deeply into the material -- to help to remember or apply it, or to work on an essay. (See the section on "Working on an Essay," below.) 7. Now, ask questions about the material on the Concept-Map: - How do the parts fit together? - Does it all make sense? why, or why not? - Is there anything missing, unclear, or problematic about it? - How does it fit with other course material? How does it fit with your personal experience? Are there parts that do not fit? Why not? - What are the implications of the material? - Could there be other ways of looking at it? - Is the material true in all cases? - How far does its usefulness extend? - What more do you need to find out? Of course, not all of these questions will apply to every Map; however, the more closely you look at the material, the more questions will come to you. Try to think of the central, most important question about the material: if something does not make sense, or seems unresolved, try to state explicitly why, in what way, there is a problem. This may be difficult to do, but it is worth the effort, because it will make it easier for you to find an answer. Summarizing Lectures Some people use Mapping to take lecture notes. If you find that this works for you, by all means do it: however, if it does not work, you can certainly take lecture notes as you normally would, and summarize them later (as soon as possible after the lecture) in the way described above. Be sure to do this first from memory -- then check it over for accuracy. If possible, give yourself adequate time to do this -- the more time you spend, the better your retention will be. However, even a brief summary will have very beneficial effects for your memory, and your overall understanding of the material -- its salient points and how they fit together. Making Notes in a Seminar or Workshop A seminar differs from a lecture in that it lays more emphasis on process: in a more-or-less open-ended discussion among all members of the group, there is a less linear progression of ideas than there is in a lecture. A Map can be useful for keeping track of the flow of ideas in such a context, and for tying them together and commenting on them. Reviewing for an Exam Mapping can be a productive way to study for an exam, particularly if the emphasis of the course is on understanding and applying abstract, theoretical material, rather than on simply reproducing memorized information. Doing a Map of the course content can point out the most important concepts and principles, and allow you to see the ways in which they fit together. This may also help you to see your weak areas, and help you to focus your studying.

USES OF MAPPING AND SUMMARIZING READINGS.

Summarizing Readings Summarizing is important for at least two reasons: 1. it aids memory, and; 2. it encourages high-level, critical thinking, which is so important in university work. Use Mapping in the following ways, to summarize an article, or a chapter in a book: 1. Read the introduction and conclusion of the article, and skim it, looking at sub-headings, graphs, and diagrams. 2. Read the article in one sitting. For longer material, "chunk" it -- into chapters, for example -- and follow this procedure for each chunk. 3. Go back over the article until you are quite familiar with its content. (This is assuming that it will be useful and relevant to your work -- one would not wish to spend this amount of work on peripheral material). 4. Do a Map as described above, from memory. Do not refer to the article or lecture notes while you are doing the Map if you do, you will disrupt the process. 5. Look over what you have done. It should be apparent if you do not understand, or have forgotten, anything. Refer back to the source material to fill in the gaps, but only after you have tried to recall it without looking. 6. Up to this point, the Map is made up of information derived from what you have read. If you want to add your own comments, you can differentiate them by using a different colored pen -- or you could make a whole new Map. This is useful if you want to go more deeply into the material -- to help to remember or apply it, or to work on an essay. (See the section on "Working on an Essay," below.) 7. Now, ask questions about the material on the Concept-Map: - How do the parts fit together? - Does it all make sense? why, or why not? - Is there anything missing, unclear, or problematic about it? - How does it fit with other course material? How does it fit with your personal experience? Are there parts that do not fit? Why not? - What are the implications of the material? - Could there be other ways of looking at it? - Is the material true in all cases? - How far does its usefulness extend? - What more do you need to find out? Of course, not all of these questions will apply to every Map; however, the more closely you look at the material, the more questions will come to you. Try to think of the central, most important question about the material: if something does not make sense, or seems unresolved, try to state explicitly why, in what way, there is a problem. This may be difficult to do, but it is worth the effort, because it will make it easier for you to find an answer. Summarizing Lectures Some people use Mapping to take lecture notes. If you find that this works for you, by all means do it: however, if it does not work, you can certainly take lecture notes as you normally would, and summarize them later (as soon as possible after the lecture) in the way described above. Be sure to do this first from memory -- then check it over for accuracy. If possible, give yourself adequate time to do this -- the more time you spend, the better your retention will be. However, even a brief summary will have very beneficial effects for your memory, and your overall understanding of the material -- its salient points and how they fit together. Making Notes in a Seminar or Workshop A seminar differs from a lecture in that it lays more emphasis on process: in a more-or-less open-ended discussion among all members of the group, there is a less linear progression of ideas than there is in a lecture. A Map can be useful for keeping track of the flow of ideas in such a context, and for tying them together and commenting on them. Reviewing for an Exam Mapping can be a productive way to study for an exam, particularly if the emphasis of the course is on understanding and applying abstract, theoretical material, rather than on simply reproducing memorized information. Doing a Map of the course content can point out the most important concepts and principles, and allow you to see the ways in which they fit together. This may also help you to see your weak areas, and help you to focus your studying.

CONCEPT MAPPING.

"Concept-Mapping" is a tool for assisting and enhancing many of the types of thinking and learning that we are required to do at university. To do a Map, write the main idea in the centre of the page -- it may be a word, a phrase, or a couple of juxtaposed ideas, for example -- then place related ideas on branches that radiate from this central idea. How to do a Map *.Print in capitals, for ease of reading. This will also encourage you to keep the points brief. *.Use unlined paper, since the presence of lines on paper may hinder the non-linear process of Mapping. If you must use lined paper, turn it so the lines are vertical. *.Use paper with no previous writing on it. *.Connect all words or phrases or lists with lines, to the centre or to other "branches." When you get a new idea, start again with a new "spoke" from the centre. *.Go quickly, without pausing -- try to keep up with the flow of ideas. Do not stop to decide where something should goi.e. to order or organize material -- just get it down. Ordering and analyzing are "linear" activities and will disrupt the Mapping process. *.Write down everything you can think of without judging or editing -- these activites will also disrupt the Mapping process. *.If you come to a standstill, look over what you have done to see if you have left anything out. *.You may want to use color-coding, to group sections of the Map. Common Organizational Patterns *.Branches.An idea may branch many times to include both closely and distantly related ideas. *.Arrows.You may want to use arrows to join ideas from different branches. *.Groupings.If a number of branches contain related ideas, you may want to draw a circle around the whole area. *.Lists. *.Explanatory/Exploratory notes. You may want to write a few sentences in the Map itself, to explain, question, or comment on some aspect of your Map -- for example, the relationship between some of the ideas. Advantages Of Mapping Mapping may be seen as a type of brainstorming. Both Mapping and brainstorming may be used to encourage the generation of new material, such as different interpretations and viewpoints: however, Mapping relies less on intentionally random input, whereas, during brainstorming, one may try to think up wild, zany, off-the-wall ideas and connections. Brainstorming attempts to encourage highly divergent "lateral" thinking, whereas Mapping, by its structure, provides opportunity for convergent thinking, fitting ideas together, as well as thinking up new ideas, since it requires all ideas to be connected to the centre, and possibly to one another. Paradoxically, the results of brainstorming usually appear on paper as lists or grids -- both unavoidably linear structures: top to bottom, left to right. Mapping is less constrictive -- no idea takes precedence arbitrarily (eg. by being at the "top" of the list). Here are some advantages of Mapping, which will become more apparent to you after you have practiced this technique a few times: *.It clearly defines the central idea, by positioning it in the centre of the page. *.It allows you to indicate clearly the relative importance of each idea. *.It allows you to figure out the links among the key ideas more easily. This is particularly important for creative work such as essay writing. *.It allows you to see all your basic information on one page. *.As a result of the above, and because each Map will look different, it makes recall and review more efficient. *.It allows you to add in new information without messy scratching out or squeezing in. *.It makes it easier for you to see information in different ways, from different viewpoints, because it does not lock it into specific positions. *.It allows you to see complex relationships among ideas, such as self-perpetuating systems with feedback loops, rather than forcing you to fit non-linear relationships to linear formats, before you have finished thinking about them. *.It allows you to see contradictions, paradoxes, and gaps in the material -- or in your own interpretation of it -- more easily, and in this way provides a foundation for questioning, which in turn encourages discovery and creativity.

CONCEPT MAPPING.

"Concept-Mapping" is a tool for assisting and enhancing many of the types of thinking and learning that we are required to do at university. To do a Map, write the main idea in the centre of the page -- it may be a word, a phrase, or a couple of juxtaposed ideas, for example -- then place related ideas on branches that radiate from this central idea. How to do a Map *.Print in capitals, for ease of reading. This will also encourage you to keep the points brief. *.Use unlined paper, since the presence of lines on paper may hinder the non-linear process of Mapping. If you must use lined paper, turn it so the lines are vertical. *.Use paper with no previous writing on it. *.Connect all words or phrases or lists with lines, to the centre or to other "branches." When you get a new idea, start again with a new "spoke" from the centre. *.Go quickly, without pausing -- try to keep up with the flow of ideas. Do not stop to decide where something should goi.e. to order or organize material -- just get it down. Ordering and analyzing are "linear" activities and will disrupt the Mapping process. *.Write down everything you can think of without judging or editing -- these activites will also disrupt the Mapping process. *.If you come to a standstill, look over what you have done to see if you have left anything out. *.You may want to use color-coding, to group sections of the Map. Common Organizational Patterns *.Branches.An idea may branch many times to include both closely and distantly related ideas. *.Arrows.You may want to use arrows to join ideas from different branches. *.Groupings.If a number of branches contain related ideas, you may want to draw a circle around the whole area. *.Lists. *.Explanatory/Exploratory notes. You may want to write a few sentences in the Map itself, to explain, question, or comment on some aspect of your Map -- for example, the relationship between some of the ideas. Advantages Of Mapping Mapping may be seen as a type of brainstorming. Both Mapping and brainstorming may be used to encourage the generation of new material, such as different interpretations and viewpoints: however, Mapping relies less on intentionally random input, whereas, during brainstorming, one may try to think up wild, zany, off-the-wall ideas and connections. Brainstorming attempts to encourage highly divergent "lateral" thinking, whereas Mapping, by its structure, provides opportunity for convergent thinking, fitting ideas together, as well as thinking up new ideas, since it requires all ideas to be connected to the centre, and possibly to one another. Paradoxically, the results of brainstorming usually appear on paper as lists or grids -- both unavoidably linear structures: top to bottom, left to right. Mapping is less constrictive -- no idea takes precedence arbitrarily (eg. by being at the "top" of the list). Here are some advantages of Mapping, which will become more apparent to you after you have practiced this technique a few times: *.It clearly defines the central idea, by positioning it in the centre of the page. *.It allows you to indicate clearly the relative importance of each idea. *.It allows you to figure out the links among the key ideas more easily. This is particularly important for creative work such as essay writing. *.It allows you to see all your basic information on one page. *.As a result of the above, and because each Map will look different, it makes recall and review more efficient. *.It allows you to add in new information without messy scratching out or squeezing in. *.It makes it easier for you to see information in different ways, from different viewpoints, because it does not lock it into specific positions. *.It allows you to see complex relationships among ideas, such as self-perpetuating systems with feedback loops, rather than forcing you to fit non-linear relationships to linear formats, before you have finished thinking about them. *.It allows you to see contradictions, paradoxes, and gaps in the material -- or in your own interpretation of it -- more easily, and in this way provides a foundation for questioning, which in turn encourages discovery and creativity.

CRITICAL THINKING.

Thinking Critically: If there is one thing professors like to see in student essays, it is evidence of critical thinking. Students, however, often do not know what critical thinking is, or what it looks like, or how to do it, and so their essays are a form of learning by trial and error. To be able to think critically about a topic, you must have something to thinkabout. Since critical thinking requires a reasonable level of content knowledge, and since we don't know specifically what you are working on, we can only provide very general guidelines here. The critical thinking process is a question-guided process. Students often have difficulty in: asking appropriate question about their topic; finding and/or developing appropriate answers to those questions, and; presenting their findings in appropriate ways. Critical Thinking Guidelines Ask Questions The following general procedure may help you ask and answer questions about your material: 1.Write down everything you know about the topic (a concept mapis a useful format for this). When you can't think of anything more, give yourself a few minutes to look for details that you may have missed. Ask yourself, "Is there anything else?" Be as inclusive as you can at this stage. 2.Re-organize the material into categories or groupings, by asking, "How do these things fit together? What elements are related and how are they related? What general groupings are there?" 3.Ask, "What is the significance of all this? What can it be used for? What are its implications? Is there anything that doesn't fit, or that doesn't agree with the facts, or with other theories on the topic, or with my personal experience?" You may want to write an explanation of your answers in a paragraph. Push Past Your Limits Remember, when you are doing these activities, that the interesting ideas are the ones you haven't thought of yet. Always push yourself past the point at which you think you have said everything that needs to be said. Always ask questions that you can't answer, and always ask more questions than you can answer. Don't Just Think -- Write Write down every thought you have. There are a number of reasons for this: you don't want to forget what you thought; you will be able to retrace the steps you took to get an idea, so you can learn to deliberately apply the same steps in the future when you are faced with a similar problem; you will have a pile of raw material with which to work -- good ideas often come from apparently trivial or insignificant ideas. Also, you will find that writing down ideas will encourage you to think more. Individual Help The strategies above might help you get started, but, as we mentioned, critical thinking is one of those things that may be most effectively addressed through individual help. If you get stuck while you are working on an essay, for example, be sure to make an appointmentwith David Palmer-Stone. We can help you work through your difficulty, then discuss the strategies we have used, with specific reference to your own concerns. Workshops We offer a free Essay Writing workshop periodically, which presents strategies to foster critical thinking (an important component of essay writing). Check our schedulefor this term. Courses The Modular Learning Skills Coursecontains information related to critical thinking, particularly in the sections on reading, and essay writing. Four modules cover the essay writing process. Handouts and Books In our Learning Library we have an excellent article by B.F. Skinner entitled,How to Discover What You Have to Saythat many students have found helpful.

MEMORY AIDING DEVICES(MNEMONICS)

Mnemonics (Memory-Aiding Devices) Anatomy: To remember the cranial nerves: "On Old Olympus' Towering Tops A Fat Angelic Girl Viewed Spanish Hops." (Olfactory, Optic, Oculomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducent, Facial, Auditory, Glossopharyngeal, Vagar, Spinal Accessory, Hypoglossal) Astronomy: To remember the order of the planets from the sun: "Mary Very Easily Makes Jam Saturday Unless No Plums." (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) Biology: To remember the classification of living things "Kings Play Cards On Fairly Good Soft Velvet." (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, Variety) Colours of Spectrum: To remember the order of the colours of the spectrum: "Roy G. Biv" (Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) Geography: To remember the names of the Great Lakes: "HOMES" (visualize summer homes on the edge of the lake - Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) Marine Navigation: To remember the names of a ship's side and the light colour of each side: "PORT is a red wine and red is the left side of politics." (The left side of the ship is called Port and has a red light). or PORT has four letters, as does LEFT. Economics: To remember that a "tight labour market" means there are many jobs available: "Tell your boss to fly a kite, When the labour market is tight." Nerves: For the order of nerves that pass through the superior orbital tissue in the skull: "Lazy French Tarts Lie Naked in Anticipation." (Lacrinal, Frontal, Trochlear, Lateral, Nosociliary, Internal, Abduceir) Amino Acids: For the ten essential amino acids: "These Ten Valuable Amino Acids Have Long Preserved Life In Man." (Threonine, Tryptophan, Valine, Arginine, Histidine, Lysine, Phenylalanine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Methionine) Blood: For the functions of blood: "Old Charlie Foster Hates Women Having Dull Clothes." (Oxygen (transport), Carbon Dioxide (transport), Food, Heat, Waste, Hormones, Disease, Clotting) Bile: For the properties of bile: "Bile from the liver emulsifies greases, Tinges the urine and colours the faeces, Aids peristalsis, prevents putrefaction. If you remember all this you'll give satisfaction." Excretion: For the excretory organs of the body: "SKILL" (Skin, Kidneys, Intestines, Liver, Lungs).

HOW TO REMEMBER.

Remembering Have you ever arrived at the bottom of a page in a textbook and realized that you haven't the foggiest notion what it was about? Or, have you tried to remember later in the day what happened in a lecture that morning, only to discover that it's pretty much a blank? Or perhaps you have found yourself in an examination looking at a familiar question, but are not able to recall much by way of an answer? Well, join the club. You are not alone. All of us experience problems remembering from time to time. Principles 1) We divide remembering into two basic types: (1)recognizingand (2)recalling,and each requires a different type of practice to optimize learning and memory. We arerecognizingsomething when we can spot it, and pick it out of a set of similar items, as in a multiple-choice question. In recognizing, the focus is on thematerialrather than on your response to it. In contrast, we arerecallingsomething when we can produce or reproduce information as in a short answer question. In recalling the focus is onwhat you are able to doin response to the item. 2) You must learn something before you can remember it. To do this you must pay attention and respond to the material as you are learning. This might mean paraphrasing main ideas and concepts as you are reading or listening to a lecture, relating the things you are learning to other things that you know (perhaps with a concept map), or discussing what you have learned with a colleague or in a study group. 3) Recognition and recall of learned material improves with practice. To put it another way, you must practice remembering a concept if you want to be good at remembering the concept. Ideally, you will do this practice in a context that is similar to the situation where you will need to remember the concept. Sometimes this involves practicing in the absence of certain things. For example, to practice recalling the contents of your notes, you must not look at your notes; otherwise you are simply practicing recognition. 4) Practice should continue until you are both accurate and quick in remembering the material. Accuracy + Speed = Fluency. With fluency comes retention, endurance, ability to apply concepts, understanding, confidence and fun. Workshops From time to time we have Workshops devoted to issues of remembering. However, we encourage students to make an appointment to see one of us ( David Palmer-Stoneor Tricia Bestor June Saracuse) as soon as remembering concerns arise. Courses Students enrolled in the Learning Skills Coursework through several modules specifically related to remembering. One module deals with Memory and Fluency, and another deals with Memory Techniques including mnemonics. Indeed, many of the modules in the course involve issues of remembering. For example, the module on 3-R Reading and the module on Note-Making both provide strategies that enhance learning and recall, by promoting active review. Handouts The following handouts on techniques for remembering are available at the Counselling Services. *. Concept Mapping *. Example Mnemonics (Memory-Aiding Devices) *. Books on Memory in our library

HOW TO REMEMBER.

Remembering Have you ever arrived at the bottom of a page in a textbook and realized that you haven't the foggiest notion what it was about? Or, have you tried to remember later in the day what happened in a lecture that morning, only to discover that it's pretty much a blank? Or perhaps you have found yourself in an examination looking at a familiar question, but are not able to recall much by way of an answer? Well, join the club. You are not alone. All of us experience problems remembering from time to time. Principles 1) We divide remembering into two basic types: (1)recognizingand (2)recalling,and each requires a different type of practice to optimize learning and memory. We arerecognizingsomething when we can spot it, and pick it out of a set of similar items, as in a multiple-choice question. In recognizing, the focus is on thematerialrather than on your response to it. In contrast, we arerecallingsomething when we can produce or reproduce information as in a short answer question. In recalling the focus is onwhat you are able to doin response to the item. 2) You must learn something before you can remember it. To do this you must pay attention and respond to the material as you are learning. This might mean paraphrasing main ideas and concepts as you are reading or listening to a lecture, relating the things you are learning to other things that you know (perhaps with a concept map), or discussing what you have learned with a colleague or in a study group. 3) Recognition and recall of learned material improves with practice. To put it another way, you must practice remembering a concept if you want to be good at remembering the concept. Ideally, you will do this practice in a context that is similar to the situation where you will need to remember the concept. Sometimes this involves practicing in the absence of certain things. For example, to practice recalling the contents of your notes, you must not look at your notes; otherwise you are simply practicing recognition. 4) Practice should continue until you are both accurate and quick in remembering the material. Accuracy + Speed = Fluency. With fluency comes retention, endurance, ability to apply concepts, understanding, confidence and fun. Workshops From time to time we have Workshops devoted to issues of remembering. However, we encourage students to make an appointment to see one of us ( David Palmer-Stoneor Tricia Bestor June Saracuse) as soon as remembering concerns arise. Courses Students enrolled in the Learning Skills Coursework through several modules specifically related to remembering. One module deals with Memory and Fluency, and another deals with Memory Techniques including mnemonics. Indeed, many of the modules in the course involve issues of remembering. For example, the module on 3-R Reading and the module on Note-Making both provide strategies that enhance learning and recall, by promoting active review. Handouts The following handouts on techniques for remembering are available at the Counselling Services. *. Concept Mapping *. Example Mnemonics (Memory-Aiding Devices) *. Books on Memory in our library

HOW WE REMEMBER.

1. Memory itself probably cannot be develope d; however, improvem ent in remember ing comes from correctin g certain habits or thoughts so that we use our memory to its’ fullest potential. Remembe ring is like seeing; improvem ent in either function does not depend upon how much we use it but, rather, how we use it. 2. The first and most important rule for remember ing is: cultivate the habit of close attention to the thing you wish to remember . Be sure you have a clear, sharp impressio n of the face, name, date, or facts, which you will need to know at a future time. If you wish to remember a fact, make it meaningf ul to you. 3. When we are learning, we should try not only to get a strong impressio n but also to obtain as many different kinds of impressio ns as possible. Some people can remember colors distinctly, but have a poor memory for shapes. But anyone, by putting together and using all of the impressio ns our sense organs bring us about one thing, allows us to remember it much more clearly than if we were to rely on sight or sound alone. For example, try reading your lesson aloud. In doing this, your eye takes in the appearan ce of the printed word, your ear passes the sound of the words to your brain, and even the tension of the muscles of your throat add their bit to the total impressio n which your mind is expected to store away. 4. Try to visualize it. Either remember a diagram or a picture of the material to be remember ed, or take short notes about it, which help you to visualize. 5. Intend to remember . The mere intention to remember puts the mind in a condition to remember , and if you will make use of this fact in studying you will be able to recall between 20 and 60 percent more of what you read and hear than you would if you were not actively trying to remember . 6. Think about it. A fact doesn't belong to you until you have used it. In making use of this principle, plan to spend not more than one-half of your study period in reading your lesson. Use the other half in doing somethin g with what you learn. Think about what you have studied, write down notes on it, and explain it to somebod y else. 7. Logical memory. One of the most important of all aids to the remember ing process is the habit of associati ng a new idea immediate ly with facts or ideas that are already firmly lodged in your mind. This associati on revives and strengthe ns the old memories and prevents the new one from slipping away by anchoring it to the well-esta blished framewor k of your mental world. 8. Remembe ring by brute force. We will forget more, on the average, during the first hour after learning than during the next 24 hours; and we will forget more, on the average, during the first day than we will during the next thirty days. Whateve r is left after thirty days time, we will probably be able to hold on to without much further loss for years to come. 9. Reviewin g is much more effective if carried out before memories have entirely escaped than it is after considera ble time has elapsed. Repetition s should be strung out over as long a time as is available. We remember better if we pause a little between periods of study. 10. How much to study? You should study more than just enough to learn your assignm ent. Experim ents have proven that 50% more study resulted in 50% better retentio n. After a week had passed, it was found that extra work had salvage d six times as much of the material as in the case when it was barely learned.