WEBVTT - Second Cup: In praise of book reports

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to create a closed book summary of what

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<v Speaker 1>you've just read. Doing this can increase your recall of

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<v Speaker 1>a text far beyond what reading the same text multiple

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<v Speaker 1>times can do. Today's tip, like others this week, comes

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<v Speaker 1>from Amantha Ember's new book time Wise. In this book,

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<v Speaker 1>she shares tips from other people about how to work

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<v Speaker 1>well and feel better about time in general. In the book,

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<v Speaker 1>she cites a study on memory from Jeffrey Karpiki and

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<v Speaker 1>Janelle Blunt from Purdue University. The researchers divided participants into

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<v Speaker 1>different groups and ask them to use different methods to

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<v Speaker 1>study a text. One group was asked to do repeated reviews,

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<v Speaker 1>reading the material over and over again until they felt

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<v Speaker 1>they had learned it. The other group was asked to

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<v Speaker 1>do a free recall, which means they read the text

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<v Speaker 1>once closed the book and tried to recall from memory

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<v Speaker 1>what was covered. Then they were tested on the material.

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<v Speaker 1>They were also asked before taking the test how well

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<v Speaker 1>they thought they had learned the information. Curiously, people who

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<v Speaker 1>had reviewed the material repeatedly thought they knew it well,

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<v Speaker 1>but it turned out they did less well than the

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<v Speaker 1>folks who read the material once and then spent some

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<v Speaker 1>time recalling from memory what was covered. So if you

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<v Speaker 1>want to remember a text well, it helps to write

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<v Speaker 1>the equivalent of a grade school book report. Now. Later

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<v Speaker 1>in school we had to write more das tailed papers

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<v Speaker 1>where we advanced a thesis and argued from evidence in

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<v Speaker 1>the text. But back when you had to do elementary

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<v Speaker 1>school book reports, you basically were just saying what happened

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<v Speaker 1>in the book. You wrote that down, And it turns

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<v Speaker 1>out that writing a basic book report now can help

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<v Speaker 1>you too. Amantha suggests that when you next set out

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<v Speaker 1>to read an article or book, tell yourself that when

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<v Speaker 1>you finish, you will have to write down everything you

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<v Speaker 1>can remember. Then, when you do finish, open a blank

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<v Speaker 1>document or grab a sheet of paper and write down

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<v Speaker 1>a summary. After you do this, if you feel there

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<v Speaker 1>are elements you are missing, feel free to return to

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<v Speaker 1>the text. You can write them into your summary or

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<v Speaker 1>do a second free recall test where you add the

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<v Speaker 1>details from this here second read. One way to keep

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<v Speaker 1>yourself accountable for doing this recall is to make a

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<v Speaker 1>habit of writing summary somewhere like your own blog or

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<v Speaker 1>what site, or for a site like Goodreads. But taking

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<v Speaker 1>the step to recall and reconstruct what is in a

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<v Speaker 1>book can increase your memory and understanding for anything important

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<v Speaker 1>That is probably worth the time. In the meantime, This

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<v Speaker 1>is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

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<v Speaker 1>most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear

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<v Speaker 1>from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b the number

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<v Speaker 1>four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an

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<v Speaker 1>email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That

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<v Speaker 1>before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

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<v Speaker 1>from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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