18 Ideas for Becoming a Master Student

A paraphrase, with examples, of Paul and Elder's "How to Study and Learn a Discipline. 2001, Foundation for Critical Thinking

Idea # 1 Understand what the class expects you to do. Ask questions about the various course policies. Make sure you understand the rules. To check yourself, ask yourself if there are any points in the course where there is a danger of screwing up assignments, or due dates.

Idea # 2 All courses are about ideas. Prepare to identify the main ideas of the course and work them into your reading, writing, speaking and listening. To check yourself, ask yourself at the end of every class what the main ideas of that class were. Write this down as your final note for that class session.

Idea # 3 Think of each course as an opportunity to think a different way: historically, sociologically, artistically, scientifically, etc. Work to understand the differences between them. To check yourself, ask yourself at the end of every class session how the thinking in this class is different from the last class you had in other subjects.

Idea # 4 Ask questions in class. Even if you think you know the answer, ask just to make sure. As you are reading, writing and listening, write questions down as they occur to you. When the instructor asks for questions, pose the one's you have written down. Questioning is not rude. It is a necessary part of the classroom process. If the instructor is not making enough time for questions, ask for more time. To check yourself, ask yourself when was the last time you asked a question. If more than a week has gone by, you need to ask more questions.

Idea # 5 Look for connections between the ideas and methods contained in a class. Classes are not arbitrary lists. They have a system. Try to figure out the system as early in the course as possible. To check yourself, ask yourself if the connections you are observing resemble a list, a flowchart, a recipe, or its own separate world.

Idea # 6 Connect the course to other activities that you enjoy. If you are active in team sports, imagine the course as a team and the instructor as the coach. You are trying out for the team and mastering the skills and ideas the coach is presenting is what will make the difference for you. If you are musical, imagine the class as the ensemble and the instructor as director. You have to master the repertoire of the course in order to successfully tryout for the ensemble. Any such activity will serve this purpose. The idea is to build your motivation to succeed in the course. To check yourself, ask yourself if you know what you a trying out for?

Idea # 7 Think of the author of the text as a character in a play. You are going to play that character and you will need to represent the ideas of the character accurately. Try to "play" the author by explaining the main points of the text to another student. To check yourself, ask yourself what a conversation with the author about the course would be like. What would you talk about?

Idea # 8 Use class time as if it was a practice session in which you are trying to perfect the skills of thinking critically about a subject. Don't sit back passively and wait for the instructor or the other students to do all the work. Use the techniques that the instructor has offered you to actively think about the ideas of course during course time. To check yourself, ask yourself at the end of the class what proportion of the time were you actively engaged.

Idea # 9 You ought to be able to connect every class you take to issues, problems, or practical situations in your life. If you can't connect it, you may not really understand it. To check yourself, ask yourself how many connections have you found between the class and your life.

Idea # 10 Figure out where your weaknesses are. Practice those skills as often as you can. Recognizing your limitations and pushing the boundaries of your abilities is a sign of strength. To check yourself, ask yourself what can you do now that you couldn't do at the start of the term.

Idea # 11 Constantly ask yourself if you can explain what is being talked about in class to another person. If not, then you have not learned it. Ask the instructor to explain it again. Ask other students if they understand. If people who you believe are doing well in the class are as baffled as you are, there is the possibility that the instructor does not understand the idea well enough to communicate it clearly. Do not challenge the instructor on this, but do give him or her the opportunity to try to explain the idea a different way.

Idea # 12 Every course has a key concept. It begins with the title and the description in the syllabus and is fleshed out in the first few weeks of class. Can you articulate the key concept in detail? As the course progresses try to relate everything you learn back to this key concept. To check yourself, ask yourself how does this idea relate to the key concept.

Idea # 13 Push everything you learn beyond what is covered in class. Can you give a definition that makes more sense to you than the text definition? Can you give different examples than those given by the text? To check yourself, ask yourself have I pushed this idea beyond the class.

Idea # 14 Before class, ask yourself, or even better, write down what you think the main ideas from the previous class. To check yourself, ask yourself if you have really summarized the main points.

Idea # 15 Use real intellectual standards when you write and before you make a comment in class. The most common of these, and the ones that are the easiest to apply to yourself include clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, logic and significance. To check yourself, make sure you understand these intellectual standards and how they apply to your writing and oral contributions.

Idea # 16 Write summaries of everything you read. It only takes a few minutes, but it can add up to a valuable study aid, and aid to memory, and a way to check your understanding. The summaries need not be prose. They can be a list of key terms together with example and evidence. To check yourself, make up exam questions and answer them.

Idea # 17 Assess your listening. Active listening means listen for specific things, like main points, definitions, core examples, counter examples, and qualifications. Listen for logical fallacies. Be attentive to the style of the instructor: chronological or thematic, inductive or deductive. To check yourself, ask yourself if you can elaborate on the main points of the discussion. .

Idea # 18 Assess your reading. Develop a shorthand notation for indicating main points, evidence, examples, counter examples and definitions in the margins. Do not underline more than an occasional word or phrase. Underlining can become so cluttered that it actually gets in the way of reading. Underline consistently. That is, underline for the same reason throughout the book. Pretend that the text is something you have written. Try to see the structure of the writing and not merely the sentences. Good writing follows the intellectual standards, especially for clarity, accuracy, precision, logic and significance. Is the writing good or does it have weaknesses. Ask questions as you read. Force the author to have a conversation with you. Anticipate the next point. Make lists of questions of things you don't understand.