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In your coursework, you are often confronted with big, intimidating blocks of information. Especially if you’re not a great reader, it may feel overwhelming and impossible. But just as we suggested in our discussions of how to use your study time, things become more manageable if you break it up in smaller units.
Have you ever built a jigsaw puzzle? When you first empty the pieces onto the table, you’re faced with chaos. There are hundreds of small, non-descript pieces with no way to tell how and where to arrange them – unless you have the picture on the box.
That picture changes everything. It gives you an overview, and context. Now you can approach it step by step: sort the edge pieces, gather colours that belong together, and start clustering patterns. The edge is the most important, because that holds the whole thing together.
Reading an academic text works exactly the same way.
When we open a textbook, article, or research report, we are often tempted to begin at the first word and move sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, hoping that understanding will somehow appear along the way. Sometimes it does. But more often, we end up confused, frustrated, or worse — bored.
Why? Because we haven’t seen the picture on the box.
You need an overview. You need context. Where does this fit into the course as a whole? What are the main ideas? How did the author structure them? What is his conclusion?
You can ask AI to help you with this. Simply ask, “Where does (the specific content you’re starting on) fit into this course?”
With that framework in mind, skim the text, looking for headings, subheadings, and sub-subheadings. That will give you the structure you need, to start building the puzzle picture of your understanding.
Think of headings as the puzzle’s borders — they give shape and scope to the topic. Subheadings are the clusters of colour or texture within the frame — they help you see where one part of the argument ends and another begins. Sub-subheadings, if they’re present (or if you add them yourself), are like the fine details — smaller sections that make the larger picture more manageable. If the text does not provide headings and sub-headings, create your own. Use highlighters, sticky notes and a mind map on a big piece of paper next to your text book. Break it up.
Let’s say you’re reading a chapter on climate change. Without structure, it’s just 15 pages of dense text. But with headings in place, you can start to make sense of the flow:
- Introduction (what is climate change and why it matters)
- Causes (human and natural factors)
- Effects (rising temperatures, extreme weather, biodiversity loss)
- Solutions (policy, technology, behaviour change)
- Conclusion (summary and future directions)
Each heading divides the text into a meaningful chunk. Within those, subheadings might explore further details: under “Effects,” you might have sections on heatwaves, droughts, sea-level rise, and ecosystem collapse. With this structure in place, your mind can begin to see how the pieces fit together.
Pause after each section to summarise it in your own words. Don’t just repeat to yourself what you’ve just read, look for meaning. What is the main point? What question does this section answer? How does it relate to what came before? Are there examples? Do they work for you, making the theory clearer? Jot down a few words next to each section on your mind map.
Finally, having studied the whole section, use your summary or mindmap as support and explain it aloud, either to a real study partner or just to yourself. Is it clear enough in your mind to explain to someone who knows nothing about the subject? If not, go back, reread, think again. Keep the “frame” of your “picture” in mind all the time: where does this idea fit into the whole?
All of this is what goes into the process of active studying. It’s much more interesting than just trying to cram the facts into your brain.
Happy studying!
The GRAD team
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- Introduction (what is climate change and why it matters)
- Causes (human and natural factors)
- Effects (rising temperatures, extreme weather, biodiversity loss)
- Solutions (policy, technology, behaviour change)
- Conclusion (summary and future directions)
Each heading divides the text into a meaningful chunk. Within those, subheadings might explore further details: under “Effects,” you might have sections on heatwaves, droughts, sea-level rise, and ecosystem collapse. With this structure in place, your mind can begin to see how the pieces fit together.
Pause after each section to summarise it in your own words. Don’t just repeat to yourself what you’ve just read, look for meaning. What is the main point? What question does this section answer? How does it relate to what came before? Are there examples? Do they work for you, making the theory clearer? Jot down a few words next to each section on your mind map.
Finally, having studied the whole section, use your summary or mindmap as support and explain it aloud, either to a real study partner or just to yourself. Is it clear enough in your mind to explain to someone who knows nothing about the subject? If not, go back, reread, think again. Keep the “frame” of your “picture” in mind all the time: where does this idea fit into the whole?
All of this is what goes into the process of active studying. It’s much more interesting than just trying to cram the facts into your brain.
Happy studying!
The GRAD team
———————————————————
Click here to check out our other podcasts
If you like our content, forward and share!
