Today we’re dealing with the most deceptive tool on the study skills workbench: the highlighter.
And deceptive is the right word, specifically when highlighting a textbook.
Highlighting a textbook as you read does help make you feel great. It looks like you’ve done an enormous amount of studying. Many students sit down, start reading their textbooks, and immediately begin highlighting everything that looks important. Sometimes they use different colored highlighters. Sometimes they even underline parts of the highlighted information.
It’s hard not to feel good about highlighting a textbook.
That’s my story anyway.
I used to fit in that “highlighters are a good idea” camp. I was a highlighting fiend. They make sense, right? You have all the important info right there in front of your eyes. It’s color coded for your memory. And you don’t have to waste a bunch of paper or time taking notes.
Well, as it turns out, they look more helpful than they are. Specifically when compared with taking notes, highlighting a textbook pales in comparison. Here’s three reasons why highlighting your textbook is not as effective as taking notes.
1) Highlighting a textbook doesn’t require input
By “input” we mean that you don’t actually have to read the paragraph you highlight. You can put the highlighter to the page, start moving your hand, and think, “Oh yeah, this is good.”
But it doesn’t accomplish much. In order to learn the material in the textbook, you have to understand it first. This requires a fair amount of thought. And thus it requires reading what was written. Don’t get lulled into skipping important info by your highlighter.
Taking notes, on the other hand, requires understanding what you’re writing to a much greater degree. Sure, you can skimp on the understanding. But usually taking notes involves more input than highlighting.
2) Highlighting a textbook doesn’t require output
All effective learning is not just input. It also involves output.
Highlighters let you bypass that entirely. The extent of the output needed to highlight your textbook is moving your hand across a page. Let’s shoot for study skills that are slightly more involved on the thinking side of things.
Taking notes is a far better option to improve output.
3) Studies prove highlighting a textbook just isn’t effective
A recent report by put out by a bunch of people with PhD’s evaluated a number of common study strategies based on a lot of evidence. I’ll save you the details. Here’s the point: it doesn’t work.
Highlighting made it on the list of worst study skills.
Some study skills don’t take much time. We recommend some of those skills because they provide a boost without much effort. Other study skills take more time, but they pay off in the long run. For example, implementing a review schedule takes a fair amount of effort and time, but it’s extremely valuable.
Highlighting does neither. It takes up time. And it doesn’t boost retention. That’s the standard of ineffective. It strikes out on both our scorecards.
And FYI – taking notes doesn’t strike out. It soars.
So are highlighters good for anything? Or should we burn them all?
Don’t burn them. A highlighter can be a good tool if used correctly. Check out this blog on studying with a highlighter the right way for more info on positive ways to use highlighters. While highlighting a textbook is a bad idea in some ways, there are some significant potential benefits too. Stay posted.