I am always interested in ways of structuring, presenting, and absorbing information. I came across SQ3R while reading Peter Barry’s excellent Beginning Theory. SQ3R is one of a family of study algorithms for humans, and it is not too dissimilar from the way search spiders scan web pages.

What is SQ3R?

SQ3R, and its variant SQW3R (now it’s getting silly…) is a step by step algorithm introduced in 1946 by Francis Pleasant Robinson in his book Effective Study,and it goes something like this:

SQ3R, step-by-step

1. Survey the material [2 mins]: Scan headings, sub-headings, picture captions, charts, and so on. Some sources also suggest opening and closing paragraphs. At the end of this stage one should have an idea of what the chapter is covering.
   This is similar to search spiders gaining information about a text by scanning header (H) tags.
2. Question [30 secs]: put the learning of the previous step into question form. What is this material about? What questions do I have this chapter may be able to answer? What do already know about this?
3. Write [optional]: write the questions down.
4. Read [open ended]: read trying to find actual answers to the questions, slowly and carefully.
5. Recite [30 secs]: With the book closed, answer the questions from the previous step verbally. Write down the answers, or key phrase summaries. Go back to the book and highlight sections there too.
6. Review. This process takes place a few days after the previous ones. By now you should be able to repeat the material, and create a written summary which you’ll be able to refer back to later on
   .

Alternatives to SQ3R

There are other similar methods, such as PQRST, and KWL Table, which I am also going to look into. To be honest it all looks very common sense, but it is worth learning from someone who’s had the time to look into it at depth.
Learning about this can also be useful on the other side – by structuring content so as to make it easier for readers (or web spiders) to apply those methodologies on the text.