The Underlining Technique In The Study
Knowing how to distinguish and extract important information from a topic or lesson, regardless of irrelevant information, is an essential skill to study effectively. To carry out this task, various selection strategies can be used, such as the underlining technique.
But this study technique is not as simple as it seems. In fact, many students use it in an incorrect way. For this reason, we have prepared the following article in which we explain how to underline a text correctly.
The importance of underlining for reading comprehension
To study and memorize certain information, you must first understand it. Therefore, one of the basic qualities of a good student is having a high level of reading comprehension.
It can be said that performing a comprehensive reading consists of reading slowly, paying close attention, analyzing the meaning of the text and reflecting on it. Therefore, as you read, you have to perform two other actions:
- Ask yourself questions about the text.
- Apply some selection strategy, such as underlining.
The underlining technique in the study
The underlining technique is very beneficial for the study, since the fact of underlining a text helps to assimilate it better. In addition, it can be very useful to make diagrams, concept maps or summaries more quickly and easily.
To correctly carry out this technique you have to:
- Underline, with a certain type of stroke or color, the main ideas of the text. That is, select the relevant information, the one that is directly related to the central issue.
- Underline, with a line or color different from the previous one, the secondary ideas of the text. These ideas refer to supplementary information.
- Write, in the margin of each paragraph, a keyword or a short phrase that defines and synthesizes the main ideas that have been underlined.
By following these simple steps, it is possible to visually highlight the information to be studied. Which is perfect for quickly identifying what’s most important about a topic.
But it is not uncommon to see books or student notes in which most of the information appears underlined. This is absolutely useless and, in fact, is counterproductive, since time is wasted, without actually performing the exercise of selecting the relevant and discarding the irrelevant.
Therefore, when applying this study technique, it must be borne in mind that it is not about underlining all the text with different strokes or colors, but about underlining certain words, portions of lines or key phrases.
Advantages of the underline technique
As Araceli Sebastián, Belén Ballesteros and Mari Fé Sánchez García indicate, there are many advantages of using the underlining technique in the study, since it allows:
- Develop the capacity for analysis and observation.
- Promote understanding and organization of ideas.
- Develop the ability to differentiate the main from the secondary.
- Maintain attention and concentration during the study.
- Facilitate the review and self-evaluation of what has been studied.
- Read the text quickly.
So it is convenient to teach children and young people to underline correctly, as it is a task that does not require a lot of time, but it brings great benefits.
Thus, if this and other study techniques are instilled from the first years of schooling, students will have better academic performance and will enjoy verifying that they know how to study independently and effectively.
