Do You Outline Chapters?

sh1901 · Jan 9, 2009

In most of my classes (even non-nursing) I have outlined chapters. My method is to read the chapter and highlight the points that I think are important and should be on the outline. I usually go with the idea that I don't want to be "retyping" the entire book, but that I want to have more information than just a skeletal outline of the material. Once I've read everything and highlighted, I take the highlighted text and quickly type up an outline based on the highlighted sections. Sometimes I end up omitting some information after I have gone through it that second time, but at least at that point I have already taken 2 passes at it.

I just outlined a chapter in my assessment book and the chapter itself was about 20 pages long and I ended up with 7 pages of outline.

I hope that this helps!!

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2009

i will often do this with the first chapters of a textbook and prior to a lecture, first quiz or test until i get a sense of just how much information the instructor is actually pulling from the textbook. in the last 10 years i have found my computer to be a real help with this. i will sit with a open word document and the textbook. i use the major headings and subheadings in the chapter of the textbook as outline headings. i scrutinize each paragraph and will copy an entire sentence if it seems important. i copy down and include definitions of any terms. anything that is a list gets put down and numbered properly. if i have to read something over 10 times to get an understanding of it, i do. it all gets saved on my computer and if i want i can print it out. the real test though is to see what the instructor does with it during lectures and tests. i have had classes where the instructors barely used any of the information from the textbook. in those cases i stopped outlining immediately. when i discovered that others were true to the objectives of the course listed on the syllabus, then i studied according to them. i will outline if i am having difficulty understanding a concept and how an author is presenting it. taking it slow and breaking each sentence down sometimes helps me get it.

some knowledge just can't be rushed. if you watch the different judges on tv (i'm a big fan of almost all of them), you will see that while the plaintiffs and defendants who know their sides of the story very well want to rush through them, the judges are always slowing them down, breaking their stories into small parts, repeating and clarifying each part so that they get the entire picture correct. when you are learning a new concept from a textbook, you need to do the same. nursing textbooks are loaded with information and some of it can't be rushed through. for some of it you have to slow down, break it down, cogitate on each little piece of it and give it time to sink in. how do you know which of these are important out of all of those pages? use the objectives in your syllabus to help you and pay attention to what is focused on in lectures.

missjennmb · Jan 9, 2009

This will be my second class with this instructor, and I'm pretty sure that she is using the same teaching method as she did for the last. Our syllabus only states which chapters we are covering on which dates, and what efficiencies we will be checked off on during clinicals. We do get more of a heads up during class (she asterisks a lot of items on her power point presentations that will be on the exams) but unfortunately, we get quizzed on material prior to going over it in class, so I still need to prepare before class. Generally the quizzes are on what we will discuss during the class, although sometimes its on things from the class later in the week as well.

I really am learning a lot from taking my notes compared to just reading the material. I just am afraid that I will not have time to do them and will end up missing chunks of material because I did not have time to review it, as the prior chapters took longer.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2009

Since you've had this instructor before you know something about her style of teaching and testing. Learning is one thing. Shooting for a grade is another, isn't it? When you get out of school you can learn for the sake of increasing your own knowledge and not having to answer somebody's test questions.

missjennmb · Jan 9, 2009

Since you've had this instructor before you know something about her style of teaching and testing. Learning is one thing. Shooting for a grade is another, isn't it? When you get out of school you can learn for the sake of increasing your own knowledge and not having to answer somebody's test questions.

agreed. The problem is that every time, if I try to narrow it down, I end up studying the wrong information. If I don't, I end up just reading the chapters over and over again, and reading doesn't sink in very well for me, not like writing and doing questions ect does. I've tried doing end of chapter questions and study guide questions and while they help, they don't ever cover *everything* thats on the test.

Just trying to refine my study habits to do better. :) Always room for improvement right?

VenaKavaRN · Jan 9, 2009

What helped me a lot last semester was focusing mainly on what the book was telling me, as a nurse, to do. I was almost never tested on how something worked, only on what I needed to do about it if it went wrong. For example, I didn't need to know what the causes of hypercalcemia would be, I just needed to know how to recognize it in a patient. I also used to get really bogged down in the whys of body processes and theory of what was going wrong with the patient and didn't focus a lot on the whats of a nurse's actions when something happens. This way, I end up with about one page of handwritten one-sided notes for every 2 pages of text. I do read carefully to get everything else, but I can usually remember it without writing it down since I've usually learned it in A&P, Psych, Micro, etc.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2009

We who have been nurses awhile have an idea of what things are more important to know based on our experiences over the years. People are hospitalized for major types of illnesses, not all of them, and the signs/symptoms, tests and procedures connected with them are what your instructors are likely to focus on because that is what you are going to be confronted with the most in clinical situations. That is how it is decided what is going to be focused on in lectures. A textbook is going to cover everything. The fact is that there are a lot of small unheard of medical diseases that we never deal with because people are never hospitalized for them. You are going to focus on procedures that are frequently done and illnesses that frequently occur. When I was a kid polio was feared and we all knew someone who had gotten polio. Today you can't even find this disease in most nursing textbooks because there is a cure for it and it just doesn't occur with any frequency at all. But look at the Kardex of a medical unit and you will see admission diagnoses like congestive heart failure, urosepsis or pneumonia again and again. Those are some of the biggies and we need to know the medications, tests and procedures connected with them.

TrinaCNA · Jan 10, 2009

When you outline the question you should think of is: WHAT QUESTIONS WOULD THE PROFESSOR PUT ON THE TEST? Make sure you get the main ideas of the chapter and the key details... It really shouldn'y be the whole chapter.

NightOwl0624 · Jan 10, 2009

Also, pay special attention to any charts, tables, lists or "nursing tips" that are set outside of the text. They usually summarize the information and the most important parts. I can't tell you how many times test questions have come directly off of the charts and tables in the textbook.

tencat · Jan 10, 2009

Anything in bold is imporant to know. Major headings are important. You don't have to know every little detail, but be able to summarize what the major heading is about. I never outlined chapters, but I would stop every once in a while and say "Ok, now that section was about....." then rescan the section to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · Jan 10, 2009

My main study routine was to do the objectives for each class. You may be able to find this in the syllabus or a objective book handed to you in class. I basically type up the objectives and answer all of the questions or write notes on what I'm expected to learn or understand after the class. I usually do the objectives BEFORE the class starts... this gives me a heads up on what I'm going to be learning in class. Doing the objectives also causes me to refer to the text book for key points, nursing interventions, and etc. Usually objectives questions are questions like:

1. Define all key terms in chapter

2. Explain how the following medications work

3. Using the nursing process how would you care for a patient with (BLANK)

4. What are the signs and symptoms of (BlanK)

5. What are the nursing interventions for (blank)

6. What are the clinical manifestations of (blank)

Hope this helps. I personally can never outline my readings... We have readings from 3 or 4 different books, and I just don't have the time.

Answering about 10-15 objectives questions pretty much works for me. I usually end up with 2 pages for each class. Good luck.