SIMPLE:

A Strategy for

Reading College Materials


SIMPLE: A Strategy for Reading College Materials

SIMPLE is a six-step plan to help with reading comprehension and taking notes from college texts and other materials. Each letter in the acronym SIMPLE stands for a step in the plan. By using the SIMPLE method, you will better understand what you read and you will be prepared to make a written record of what you learned for use in formulating assignments. The written record will be a valuable tool for participating in class discussions, for developing research papers, and for haloing you to study for other assessments. Read the following in order to learn what to do for each step in the SIMPLE process.

Survey

Surveying helps you remember what you may already know about the topic of a chapter and will help to prepare you for more learning. Surveying a chapter is really a simple process. First read the chapter title and then read the introduction. Now you will have a basic understanding of what concepts the chapter is going to cover page through the chapter, reading the headings, and when you get to the end of the chapter finish by reading the conclusion or the summary. Many texts will also contain visual aids to help you conduct your survey. As you go through the chapter from heading to heading, make sure and take a look at any maps, graphs, pictures, or tables and read their captions. Surveying a chapter is a quick and efficient way to learn what a chapter is all about.

Inquire

As you read through the material keep questions in mind. Questions provide the purpose for reading and will help you to remain focused on the reading assignment. An easy way to form questions is to turn the chapter headings into questions, or gather questions from the mind map, scenarios, simulations, or other materials provided in your courses. Use the words why, how, where, when, who, or what to form your questions. As an example, if the section heading is "Styles of Leadership" in a chapter that is about how transformational leadership improves firms, you might form a question similar to "What is a transformational leader’s style?" Sometimes a heading is already stated as a question so go ahead and use it. A heading may also contain several ideas, see if those ideas are reflected on the mind map and then formulate a question for each idea that is represented. Do not worry about forming any questions for introductions, conclusions, or summaries.

Make the Effort


Now it is time to read, but you want to read strategically. Start by reading the first paragraph or two that follow each heading. Many times you will find the answer to the question you formed here. While conducting your reading, you may decide that a question needs to be changed or a question may need to be broken down into several questions. Again, make sure any question you form corresponds to a mind map concept. Remember to remain flexible, but stay focused as you want to gather the information you need to answer the question you posed. Do not try to memorize the reading. In fact, all of the chapter material may not be necessary to answer your question. As in the previous example, the chapter may describe many leadership styles, but the important information to gather regarding your question involves what defines the style of a transformational leader.

Prepare a Research Notebook


When you formulate a question, make sure and write it down in a notebook or type it into a file along with the answer you uncovered. When you have recorded you questions and answers make sure you understand what you wrote, that it is legible, and that all of the information needed for a complete answer is included. You may also want to note where in the book you found the answer so that you can easily return to that section for additional information. If you found the answer in other college materials such as a website or a library database, make sure and properly note where you found the answer so you can correctly cite the course when the time comes to write a research paper.

Learn

Find out what kind of learner you are.

Are you an active learner?

If you are an active learner in a class that allows little or no class time for discussion or problem-solving activities, try to compensate for these lacks when you study. Get your learning team members to take turns explaining different topics to each other. Work with your learning team to analyze what will go into research assignments and figure out how you will answer in class questions. You will always retain information better if you find ways to do something with it like discussing it with others (Felder & Soloman).

Are you a reflective learner?

If you are a reflective learner in a class that allows little or no class time for thinking about new information, you should try to compensate for this lack when you study. Don't simply read or memorize the material; stop periodically to review what you have read and to think of possible questions or applications. You might find it helpful to write short summaries of readings or class notes in your own words. Add these to your research notebook. Doing so may take extra time but will enable you to retain the material more effectively and it will be readily at hand when it comes time to complete an assignment (Felder & Soloman).

Evaluate

This is the final step in the process where you will evaluate your Lessons Learned. Look back at your use of SIMPLE for the project and reflect on what went well, what went not so well, and what you can do to improve the process for efficiency. By continually honing your skills, you will develop a kind of mental muscle memory that will form into study and research habits providing value in data and concept analysis throughout the rest of your life.

As you get practice using the six step SIMPLE plan, you will find you are learning more while at the same time creating excellent study notes to formulating research papers, prepare for class participation, and completing other assessments.

HINT: Don’t forget to reference the Mind Map. Then complete the Question, Read, and Write steps for the first heading, and so on for the remaining headings in the chapter that correspond to the Mind Map. Make sure and use the mind map to keep track of the concepts you will need to cover with the Question, Read, and Write steps.

Felder, R. & Soloman, B (n.d.), Learning styles and strategies. North Carolina State University. Retrieved December 18, 2006 from http://ncsu.edu/felder-public/ILSdir/styles.htm