Tips on Reading History Textbooks
Reading history textbooks can be like drinking from a firehose. If it’s not the sheer amount of information that rapidly flows off any single page, it’s the many pages of text to cover on just one topic. And most history textbooks cover multiple topics in a given reading assignment.
One of my former students told me that he thought the best way to get through all the reading was to just focus on the bolded vocabulary words and read a little above and below them in the textbook. Although that approach saved time on reading for sure, this student soon found out after his first AP European History exam, that he wasn’t really prepared. He only knew vocabulary.
There are no real shortcuts to getting through history textbooks. If there were, you could simply memorize quizlets and never look at the textbook again. But then you’d be stuck like my student who could get through a few multiple-choice questions, but completely bomb the essays and DBQs.
The point is: you have to read and re-read history for it to stick.
Fear not. Below are five tips to help improve your reading and retention of your history textbook. They will save you time in the end.
1) Review your most recent reading and notes. This helps refresh your memory and sets you up for new material. Even if you’re starting a completely new chapter, it’s worth skimming through the previous one. You might think you can skip this first step. Don’t. Review becomes an essential tool to building recall and can make studying for exams easier. Make time for review as part of your regular reading, perhaps even in between assigned readings, and you’ll happier later you did.
2) Briefly look over your current assigned reading in its entirety. Note its connection to previous reading and to what follows. Identify the outline of the reading by headings and subheadings in the book; these should map onto your notes. Prepare yourself mentally for reading each section. Try not to focus on how long the reading will take, but rather on what you’ll take from the reading.
3) Starting with the first major heading, read continuously until you reach the next major heading. Some students need to build up to this level by reading each subsection within a major heading at a time. It takes some trial-and-error to find what works for you. The goal is to eventually read an entire major section at a time before pausing. Why? Because reading the textbook this way helps you situate that section in the bigger arc of history. You can learn to see the story in the history—the bigger themes—while balancing facts about people, places, and events.
4) Take notes once you’ve reached the end of a section or subsection. If you are allowed to mark up or highlight the textbook, do so while reading but try to keep it to a minimum. In most textbooks, adding too many marks or highlights does little to help you retain information. Besides the publisher has already gussied up the text in some way. (Your marks are usually more useful in non-textbook reading.) Before you proceed to the next section, make sure you are satisfied with your notes so far and are ready to proceed to the next section or subsection.
5) Once you’ve finished all the assigned reading, briefly skim over all the pages you just read as well as your notes. You might notice that you left out something or misspelled a word. Give yourself the benefit of this brief extra step. It’ll help seal the information in your mind for better recall later. Plus, it could help you prepare for a related assignment, come up with a good question for class, or even create your own quizlet.
These steps should help improve your reading history textbooks. Like sports training or practicing a musical instrument, you’ll get better over time with practice. See the related tips on note-taking. Happy reading!