Try this with the next book you read: use an index card for a bookmark and have a pen handy. Use them to:
Record words you don’t know (then look up when you’re able).- Write out quotations you like.
- Write down page numbers with paragraphs you’d like to go back and re-read; include a few words to prompt your recall.
- Pen thoughts or questions stimulated from the text.
Today I picked up a book my daughter and I are both reading, and I noticed she had an index card stuffed between the page; it had a few of the items listed above on it. She explained she had done this for a report (I thought she must do this all the time), but I thought it was BRILLIANT!
Particularly when I read non-fiction, I always have a pen in hand to highlight thought I want to absorb; it helps me track better with content that’s less than exciting (but important to read). This trick seemed one step better–because I highlight a fair amount, brief notes on a card would help me remember a few points from the book and focus narrowly on thoughts I wanted to retain when I was done.
I suppose you could do this with fiction, too–there are plenty of quotes worth remembering and sharing from any substantive novel. For students, I suppose it could help with homework…but for an old dog like yours truly? It’s a trick I’ll be trying…tomorrow! 🙂
Love your idea! I always write the page numbers inside the covers of quotes I may want to reference later.
Leslie
Great idea! I’ll have to try this.
Stacy
Great tip! When I taught middle school language arts, I had my students take these types of notes while reading using little sticky notes. After they finished, the students could take the notes out and arrange them in various ways to help formulate writing ideas.
Oh, girl-you have such a brilliant daughter. Must get it from her Mom!! 🙂
This is a great tip and I can’t wait to share it with my reading group at church!!!!
Great tip! I’ll try it today. Thanks, Whitney
Great idea. Ever notice that when you encounter a new word in one place, suddenly it pops up in books everywhere?
That is a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Excellent idea!
I write down quotes or the “ah ha” moments in books, but not words that I don’t know. I had never thought of that – but I do love to use 3×5 cards as bookmarks for note taking.
Thanks for sharing this!
How could an idea as simple and brilliant as this escaped me for 41 years??? This would have been SO helpful while I was going to school (I just graduated with a degree in English and read a ton of novels, short stories etc, that I had to write papers on – how much easier it would have been to look up quotes etc, if I’d made a little list. DUH!)
Thanks for the great idea!
Jill
Great Tip!
I know I’m late on this, but this is one more thing I LOVE about my precious Kindle: you can look up words on the fly and make notes as you go in the book electronically (yes, it has its own dictionary).
My Kindle is making it really hard to read paper books, I gotta tell ya…
my son used to do this for school, but we used sticky notes. i like the 3×5 card idea better 🙂