TABLE XIX. PERCENTAGE USING VARIOUS DEVICES OF STUDY BY GRADES Two results obtained by Giles in his investigation confirm in substance those of Rickard. About 46 per cent of Giles's pupils employed outlines; 43 per cent wrote out notes on their lessons; about 81 per cent in studying history, science, and English literature, etc., tried to pick out the most important points in a lesson and master them. Table XX contains addi tional information on these points. TABLE XX. - METHODS OF STUDY FOUND MOST HELPFUL Outlining and underscoring are preferred to writing notes. Summary. It is not a question of whether or not many or all pupils employ these methods (although it is interesting to find how many do favor them), but the question of more fundamental importance is how these methods are prosecuted. Underscoring, outlining, notebook work, can be helpful or harmful. Unless they are employed skillfully they are labor and material wasted. If recognized as tools, kept in effective condition, and drilled upon, they can become most useful. They are already part of high school education, but in all too many instances are taught, if at all, only in courses in English. Each teacher will find it an advantage to devote time to this work and to evolve modifications or elaborations of the methods and devices discussed so far in this chapter. Eventually in the fourth year of high school and later in college, each pupil should be able to fashion his own methods with more success if schooled in this kind of work. CHAPTER VIII METHODS OF STUDYING (Continued) 5. Reports, Special Papers, Etc. No small part of the pupil's work consists of handing in reports or papers on various topics. This is an elaborate form of problem assignments, and, when properly done, a mark of high efficiency. It is employed in what has been called the social recitation,1 which essentially is a prolonged or extended supervised study period. a. How to prepare for Writing Reports. The report, as a rule, consists of a collection of data illustrating some topic, proving an hypothesis, or presenting evidence on some moot question, etc. Whatever the form or contents of the report, it may be called a simple type of research work. It implies originality and organization, and may offer recommendations or state conclusions. For this reason certain principles and rules of procedure should be borne in mind. Data or references should be organized under separate heads to which all items can be referred. The filing system previously considered is one form of this method of collecting data. Another is illustrated in the accompanying figure. Several pages are shown lying side by side with the topic at the top. Relevant material is noted under each topic. Cards may be used in the same way. 1 An excellent example of this type is found in The Modern High School, edited by Chas. Hughes Johnston, Chapter IX, by Miss Dora Williams, Teacher of Physiology and Hygiene, Boston Normal School, Boston, Mass. The loose-leaf notebook lends itself to this method very conveniently. If more than one sheet of paper is required, they should all be pinned or "clipped" together and each page numbered. State accurately all sources of information, giving name of author, title of book or article, publisher or volume, and date of magazine and pages. Pupils as a rule are very negligent in this matter. But it is of utmost importance that they should be trained to give proper credit for information acquired. It is not only just to the author, but it gives strength and dignity and authority to the pupil's statements. A convenient mode of stating the reference is by parenthesis after the point itself or at the close of the paragraph. The reference usually takes this form: S. S. Seward, Notetaking, Boston, 1910, p. 50. Quotations, besides the usual quotation marks, may be stated in an indented paragraph, about half an inch farther in than the main section, observing this margin to the end of the passage. They should be as brief and as few as possible and employed only for purposes of clear illustrations or very exact language. When this preliminary work of gathering material is complete, the various sheets, topic by topic, should be collected and the material organized under logical heads, care being taken to discuss each point under a distinct head rather than scattering the material without any clear scheme of arrangement at all evident Duplicate notes and others not important for the present purpose should now be discarded or filed as the first draft of the report is organized. The first writing of the report should follow the outline suggested under b on next page. But it often becomes necessary to make changes in the arrangement; additions are also needful. The first draft, although the pupil should take the greatest pains to write it well and logically, is rarely finished enough for others' eyes. Revision is a constant necessity. A convenient device for supplementing the first draft is to add the new material on another sheet of paper numbered like the first sheet of the old material but bearing also a letter. For example, the first page is 10. The added page will be 10a. On page 10 at the place where the new material is to be added write "insert here page 10a." If the additional material is brief, an interlinear line or marginal reference will suffice. The second writing should not be undertaken until the pupil is satisfied that all necessary revision has been made. The second draft should then be written in clear, concise |