Highlighting
There are three guidelines to keep in mind when highlighting a textbook:
- Read a section before you underline or highlight it. Information that seems important at first glance may not actually be so important after reading the entire section.
- Do not underline or highlight too much. Underlining everything is no better than underlining nothing. Try to underline about 15% of what you read.
- Make major points stand out. Develop special notation or highlight in a different color so they are set apart from other information.
Many students find annotation (making notes in margins while reading) to be very helpful and more convenient than making notes on a separate piece of paper. Annotating text also makes it easier to refer to information in books while reviewing lecture notes.