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Reading is Fundamental!

Throughout the course of our lives, it is inevitable and necessary that we learn the valuable process of reading. It is through reading that we discover and acquire various sets of knowledge, experience, and other social skills. In this blog post, we will together learn about nine study techniques to accompany and enhance our reading skills, especially in our respective fields of study — in my case and in your case in particular, the study of law.

In their book The Art of Critical Reading, Peter Mather and Rita McCarthy identified nine study techniques that readers, students, and professionals alike can use in enhancing their reading skills and their work (Mather & McCarthy, 2016).

These are: (1) Scanning; (2) Skimming; (3) SQ3R; (4) Summarizing Short Articles; (5) Underlining, Highlighting, Annotating; (6) Outlining; (7) Mapping; (8) Comparison-Contrast Chart; and (9) Time Lines.

Discussing them in depth and providing examples in some of these techniques, let’s begin learning!

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1. Scanning

Scanning involves the rapid reading of a text in order to find specific information, such as a particular name, date, or in the case for us law students and for those of you out there who are interested in entering law school, a particular issue, a specific law, or jurisprudence which was cited in a given case.

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2. Skimming

Skimming involves a fast read-through of a text to familiarize yourself with the subject, concept, main points, and overall content of that specific text. This is usually done before readers begin reading the text in depth and at their own pace. To contextualize, it’s the way we usually cram on reading our materials, reviewers, cases, books, and coverage for the day in our classes.

Scanning v. Skimming

Although they both involve fast-paced reading, they differ in the purpose of the reader — the former is more specific, which is focused on finding certain facts, and the latter is more general, which is focused on having a general overview of the whole text.

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3. SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review

A study technique developed by Dr. Francis P. Robinson, the SQ3R will help develop and improve your reading comprehension. A short explanation of each stage:

The first stage, Survey, is familiarizing yourself with the reading material by reading both the opening paragraph and the conclusion or summary, the headings and subheadings, and at times glancing at illustrations, if there are any. Just like in skimming, you aim to get a general idea of the structure of a text and what it talks about in survey.

The next step, Question, is about purposely locating the main points by asking the 5Ws and 1H — who what where when why and how, and transforming the headings and subheadings you encounter into questions. This stage is essential in your studying for you to be able to dynamically try to answer the formulated questions as you read and understand the text more in the next stages of this technique.

The third step, Read, is pretty self-explanatory. The key to reading effectively is to always read actively. We do this, in reiteration, by trying to answer the questions that you have formed in the previous stage, underlining or highlighting words or phrases which you feel are important, taking down notes on the sides of the text or in any piece of paper you want, and trying to summarize the points you’ve taken down and have underlined in your own words. I even encourage you to reread the text a few times for you to be able to find new meanings behind what you’ve read.

The fourth step, Recite, is intended for you to answer the questions you took note of, either to yourself or out loud to determine whether or not you have understood what the text is all about in your own words from your memory.

The last step, Review, is mainly repeating what you have read and answered in the given text. While some of you may have been blessed with good memory so you don’t have to constantly repeat what you’ve already finished reading, a lot of people (including me) tend to study through repetition to improve their memory.

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4. Summarizing Short Articles

In this next studying technique, what’s important is to show the main and supporting ideas of the reading material you will read and to arrange them by importance. The result would look like a shortened version of the original text by at least 1/4, because the goal of summarization is conciseness and brevity. You can do this by formulating questions and answering them while being able to group them into sections.

The perspective of this technique is always in the eyes of the author and should not be in the first person. It is imperative to avoid writing down your thoughts and opinions about the text, and focus more on the ideas that were intended by the author. To again contextualize things, a perfect example of summarizing short articles is digesting particular cases, which we do a lot in the study of the law, to help us understand the codal provisions and see them applied in real-life situations.

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5. Underlining, Highlighting, Annotating

This is more of what we are mostly accustomed to in law school. I’m sure you’ve encountered jokes and memes about how law students make their law commentaries as coloring books because they often make the mistake of highlighting everything, saying that every word, sentence, and paragraph are all equally important and should be highlighted. This is absolutely not the case and should be avoided as much as possible.

The purpose of underlining or highlighting is to mark mainly the important key words and sentences to save you time when you reread and review the reading material. Annotating is another useful method wherein you write down notes to yourself usually on the margins of the text, make abbreviations, mnemonics, figures, and the like, for you to easily identify the ideas.

Below is an example of underlining or highlighting in one of my books in Criminal Law:

Below is an example of annotating a concept in Marriage:

Solemnizing officers in marriage under Article 7 of the Family Code

JPSMC

J: any incumbent member of the JUDICIARY within the court’s jurisdiction

P: any PRIEST, rabbi, imam, or minister of any church or religious sect duly authorized by his church or religious sect and registered with the civil registrar general

S: any SHIP captain or airplane chief

M: any MILITARY commander of a unit to which a chaplain is assigned, in the absence of the latter, during a military operation

C: any CONSUL-general, consul or vice-consul

Below is an example of all three together:

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6. Outlining

Outlining is ordering certain ideas and concepts from general to specific ones, which illustrates their relationships with one another, and organizing them in a purposeful way to show their importance through the use of different styles of headings, usually: roman numerals for main headings (I, II, III, IV, V, and so on), capital letters for subheadings (A, B, C, D, E, and so on), and small letters (a, b, c, d, e, and so on) or even numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on), for sub-subheadings.

These “levels” in the outline show the importance and specificity of certain information in the order they appear, from general to specific. In making main headings in outlines, you should always have two or more subheadings. For you to make a good outline, you should clearly demonstrate the relationships between, and importance of the topics in the order which they were shown in the original text.

Below is an example of an extensive outline about the three branches of our government, which will be tackled in your Constitutional Law classes:

The Three Branches of Government

I. Executive Department

   A. Executive Power

       1. Definition

       2. Scope

       3. Where vested

       4. Ceremonial Functions

       5. Executive Immunity

       6. Executive Privilege

       7. The Cabinet

   B. The President

      1. Qualifications

      2. Election

      3. Term of Office

      4. Oath of Office

      5. Privileges

      6. Prohibitions/Inhibitions

      7. Vacancy, Rules of Succession

      8. Removal from Office

   C. The Vice-President

       1. Qualifications

       2. Election

       3. Term of Office

       4. Oath of Office

       5. Prohibitions/Inhibitions

       6. Vacancy

       7. Removal from Office

       8. Appointment to Cabinet

   D. Powers of the President

       1. Appointment

       2. Control

       3. Military

       4. Executive Clemency

       5. Borrowing

       6. Foreign Affairs

       7. Budgetary

       8. Informing

       9. Other Powers

II. Legislative Department

   A. Legislative Power

       1. Definition

       2. Classifications

       3. Scope

       4. Limitations

       5. Non-delegability

   B. Powers of Congress

       1. Inherent Powers

       2. Express Powers

   C. Congress

       1. Senate

       2. House of Representatives

       3. Qualifications

       4. Term of Office

       5. Party-List System

       6. Election

       7. Legislative Districts

   D. Emergency Powers

       1. War Power

       2. Delegation of emergency powers

   E. Legislative Process

       1. Origination Clause

       2. One bill-One subject rule

       3. Passage of a bill

       4. Presidential approval, veto, or inaction

       5. Legislative Veto

       6. Executive Impoundment

III. Judicial Department

   A. Judicial Power

       1. Definition

       2. Scope

       3. Intrinsic Limit

       4. Grave Abuse of Discretion

       5. Role of Legislature in Judicial Process

   B. Jurisdiction

       1. Definition

       2. Scope

       3. Role of Congress

   C. The Supreme Court

       1. Nature

       2. Composition

       3. Qualifications

       4. Judicial and Bar Council

       5. Appointment

       6. Salaries

       7. Tenure

       8. Removal

       9. Prohibition

   D. Powers of the Supreme Court

       1. General

       2. Specific

       3. Original Jurisdiction

       4. Appellate Jurisdiction

       5. Temporary Assignment of Judges

       6. Change of Venue

       7. Rule-Making Power

       8. Appointment of Personnel

       9. Administrative Supervision

       10. Disciplinary/Dismissal Powers

       11. Contempt

   E. Judicial Review

       1. Definition

       2. Constitutional Supremacy

       3. Functions

       4. Requisites

       5. Political Questions

       6. Declaration of Unconstitutionality

       7. Partial Unconstitutionality

       8. Judicial Review by Lower Courts

   F. Judicial Decisions

       1. Process

       2. En Banc Decisions

       3. Decisions in Division

   G. Other Courts

       1. Composition

       2. Judicial Power and Judicial Review

       3. Jurisdiction

       4. Qualifications

       5. Appointments

       6. Salaries

       7. Tenure

       8. Removal

       9. Prohibitions

       10. Decisions

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7. Mapping

In simpler terms, mapping pertains to a kind of an outline which is in the form of a map. This leans into more of a visual and creative learning aid, rather than just using plain text and restricted rules in an outline. Despite this difference, both outlining and mapping make use of subjects, main ideas, issues, points, and the like, while arranging them in a way that would clearly show their relationships.

In this study technique, you will begin by writing a short description of the main idea or topic you want, and encircle it, or enclose it in any shape you’d like. Then, look for the concepts, ideas, and subjects that relate and support the main idea, and organize them into specific categories with short descriptions and enclose them in your preferred shapes too.

Connect your main idea with the supporting ideas you wrote using lines, and if you want to add more subcategories for your supporting ideas about the main topic, you can write short descriptions for them, and repeat the process of enclosing them in shapes and connecting them with lines. The outcome is a graphical and visual synopsis of the reading material.

Below is an example of mapping about Crimes Against National Security and the Law of Nations, which you would tackle in your Criminal Law II class:

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8. Comparison-Contrast Chart

As the name suggests, comparison-contrast charts are used to illustrate the parallels or affinities and distinctions or disparities between two or more subjects. This helps in classifying and differentiating topics which are all part of the same theme or subject matter, but vary in their use, definition, purpose, application, and the like.

Below is an example of a comparison-contrast chart about Void and Voidable Marriages, which you will encounter in your Persons and Family Relations class:

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9. Time Lines

Time lines, simply put, are the perfect study and reviewing technique for information which can be categorized and arranged in chronological order, specifically events or anything that has to do with time and dates.

Below is an example of a timeline about the Philippine Constitution, which you will learn in your Constitutional Law classes:

The timeline of the Philippine Constitution

November 1, 1897: Biak na Bato

January 23, 1899: Malolos Constitution

December 10,1898: Philippine Organic Act, Philippine Autonomy Act, Tydings-McDuffie Act

November 15, 1935: 1935 Constitution

October 14, 1943: 1943 Constitution

January 17, 1973: 1973 Constitution

March 25, 1986: Provisional Constitution

February 2, 1987: 1987 Constitution

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And that concludes our intimate and extensive discussion on the Nine Study Techniques formulated by Peter Mather and Rita McCarthy. I really hope you gained a lot more insight on how you can improve your reading and studying skills, whenever you may need them. If you find this helpful, please go ahead and follow me here, and share this blog post with your friends. I’ll see you soon, future law school buddy! And again, Reading is Fundamental!

Reference:

Mather, P., & McCarthy, R. (2016). The art of critical reading: Brushing up on your reading, thinking, and study skills. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

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About the blogger

Christopher Miranda is a second-year law student at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law. He graduated from the University of the Philippines — Manila with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.

He enjoys consuming and analyzing content, interpreting artistic visions, and redefining stereotypical societal norms.