I really want to try this, but i always worry that i might be missing some vital information if i cut a paragraph's worth of information into one sentence! Thoughts? Examples? ><
A little tip, most paragraphs have their main point as their first sentence with successive sentences providing supplementary information or evidence.
You're not going to learn without trying it, so do it yourself first and you'll start developing it as you keep doing it. Learning processes like this aren't inherent to anyone, so you'll have to use a bit of trial and error and build up your experiences to get better at them. Use a highlighter, keep the context of the content in mind eg, Don't highlight the useless generic stuff like "This discipline has been around for about 100 years" when the important part is most likely going to be the definition or the processes involved. Also use your unit outline, it will tell you quite clearly through the title and the relevant readings what the main point for the week will be, so covering something opposite to that is probably not in your best interests.
And the point of a paragraph is that it usually has ONE point, otherwise its just bad writing. The skill of processing is also something which can't really be taught, we can show you examples etc but the decision making is part of being an adult and a student. This is why you have ilectures and lecture notes, so you can compare at the end of the day, if you've got the same basic idea. Can your notes substitute a lecture? If not then your notes aren't detailed enough and you've missed something. If they can, then the next step is can you remember those notes if you were in an exam?
It took me till 2nd year at the very least to realise I can't remember anything if I don't re-write it at least once, even lecture notes! So I do the rough copy of the lecture/readings for the week and just blindly get as much information down as I can, and then re-write it in a more cohesive manner. Also realised I'm not someone who can sit still and learn, I need to be doing something, twirling a pen, drawing on the back of my book, etc. to be able to take in what the lecturer is saying.
Part of the uni experience (academically at least) is figuring out how you learn, how your process things, and what deficiencies you have in regards to those things, I think anyway. I'm not saying everyone needs to be a study freak, on the contrary, some people actually figure out how to do things quite efficiently on the last week or day of submission! (Some people may just work better while under pressure).
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