Learning how to study with Rowntree
This being an eminently practical book, I will write about and respond to it in a practical and transactional way. My main take-aways and notes to self from this text are as follows:
- Find somewhere to study. I find my environment is very important when I am reading, writing, preparing sermons, studying. I need peace and quiet and access to good coffee – and a toilet. And I need to hide the chocolate.
- Sort out library access. Being the only international student in the cohort, I cannot get access to George Fox books in the same way as the Americans. I’m thinking of suing. But until then, I need to get to my local library (might also be a good work space – I know a minister who hides in the library every week) and to investigate the layout and the inter-library loan system. Otherwise, things could get very expensive.
- Plan ahead. I have a vague sense that there is a tsunami of work coming my way, and I may need to start paddling soon. I hate Excel and spreadsheets, but I need a plan, and quicker than the A-team. So I will map out the term ahead, with key assignment dates, and work back from there. This may stop me hyper-ventilating.
- Plan the next week. With a number of plates spinning merrily away now, I will take some time on a Sunday evening to plan my week ahead in more detail and to schedule in study times etc. I will make a list of things that I MUST accomplish in the coming week, and then I will sigh and watch Match of the Day.
- Use SQ3R. Just because it sounds like something out of Star Wars – and I think I already do it – nearly. I need to get better at reviewing though.
- Learn to think and write critically. Not just my usual “does Stu look like Tommy Lee Jones?”, or “why is Chip wearing pink shorts?”, but really begin to examine and question an author’s thinking, premises, reasoning etc. I am still tempted at times to think – “It’s in a book – it must be true.”
- Think about my note taking and how I am going to do it. Being of the Generation X, I still lean towards “proper” books and pen and paper. I have to get better at electronic reading, note taking and filing etc. I am trying to zotero and using GoodReader etc. I use summary notes and mind maps, depending on what I am taking notes for.
- I have to GET ORGANISED and have a system. Otherwise I am going to drown. I do like order and think I may have Germanic blood in me, but I’m too busy to get organised?!
- Do I need to keep a study journal? I am not sure. But certainly a good filing system. Did I mention I need to GET ORGANISED? And I mean those capitals.
- This is a collaborative process. Learn as much as I can from my fellow students. Fellow Sevens – I am counting on you. I know some of you are already way ahead of me! You girly swots. Yes, Chip, I’m talking to you.
About the Author
Geoff Lee
8 responses to “Learning how to study with Rowntree”
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I Love your post. How you weave the author’s points with your personal traits and your fellow cohort’s reality.
I was intrigued by the SQ3R also ad quickly went to read what it was all about.
What organization tool will you initially use?
I am using Zotero and GoodReader and good old Microsoft Word. I may get a colleague to help me do a spreadsheet as well, because I hate spreadsheets, and she does them for fun as a leisure activity!
Absolutely thoughtful and hilarious! I agree with your need to get organized. I will consider your spreadsheet option. I think that would be great for me to be able to look at everything in one place and use it as a checklist for the semester. It would help me organize my research as well as motivation seeing how much I am able to accomplish in a short period of time.
I am not a fan of a “study journal” per se but I guess I am doing something similar by using Google Keep to add thoughts or information throughout this semester so far.
Who would have thought that Geoff was the comedian of the group?
Seriously, I appreciate your summary of your “take always.” This book is coming at the right time. I am about to begin sifting through the pile of books that I have been assembling. Thanks for your insights.
Sincerely, Tommy Lee Jones.
Really enjoyed your post Geoff! The organizational/system part always gets me. I spend a lot of time trying to get the right system in place. However, for me this sometimes (well…often) means that I spend time on a system when I could be writing. You are right that this is a collaborative process. I have learned so much from everyone. Can’t and don’t want to do this alone—the lone ranger mentality has hurt many in ministry and in life. I’m sure you’ve heard proverb, “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together. I want to go far!
Love that dry, understated British humor!!
My “journal” stays in every book I read. I write my notes on note cards that stay in the books as book marks. When I return to a book I read through these note cards. In my time during the Dark Ages, we would take notes on note cards that went into a file box, etc.. I think I simplified that with my method, but the problem is the memory. Where did it go? What book did I read that in? Who are you anyway and why am I responding to your post?
Seriously, you had a lot of good points, and I am putting some of them on my list of to do’s, especially the find a place to study. Thanks, Geoff.
Girly swots, eh?
This is a great summary, Geoff. I love your take-aways AND your pop culture references (did they televise the A-Team in the UK?). And while I think SQ3R is more reminiscent of Star Trek than Star Wars, I am right with you on the need to get organized! I just got done telling Mary that I am completely old school when it comes to note-taking. I’m glad to know that it’s possibly a GenX thing (that means I’m not old, right) rather than a reluctance to move ahead with the times. Like you, though, I feel like if I take time to get organized I won’t have time to do something I need to do. Let me know how it goes developing your system!
1. Geoff, you are going to keep us all rolling. I see that, beneath your introvertedness, you are a creative, humorous, and delightful thinker.
2. Finding good coffee might be hard in England.
3. As a fellow gen-Xer and as one who libraries, I’ll suggest that hesitancy to jump on the e-book bandwagon is not a bad thing. In discussions with library workers from multiple libraries, we frequently comment that readers prefer to use hard copy books rather than e-books, especially when reading full books (rather than articles or chapters).
4. Interlibrary loan can be your good friend, even in England.
5. Someone needs to spell check your “GET ORGANIzED” 😉