#readwise # Highlighting Is Ineffective—Here’s How to Change That  ## Metadata - Author: [[edutopia.org]] - Full Title: Highlighting Is Ineffective—Here’s How to Change That - URL: https://www.edutopia.org/article/highlighting-ineffective-heres-how-change ## Highlights **Harvard’s criticism of highlighting is well-founded. In a 2013 study, researchers concluded that despite being a widely-used strategy, “most studies have shown no benefit to highlighting (as it is typically used) over and above the benefit of simply reading.”** In fact, when students relied only on highlighting as a study strategy, **it came with a significant opportunity cost, preventing them from “engaging in other, more productive strategies.”**  **That’s because students often use a highlighter to identify key ideas**, names and dates, or material they think might be important for a test, **but don’t do the work to process the material more deeply**. ... This approach doesn’t push students to carefully consider why they’re highlighting, and perhaps more importantly, might give them a false sense of mastery. ^on08uz --- **If students aren’t interacting with the text, they’re not going to achieve the deeper understanding they need to think critically about what they’re learning.** ... So **highlighting passages is just a starting point**, she tells her students. **The next step is to annotate the text, synthesizing information and writing short summaries, reflecting, or even drawing representations of the marked text. This turns what would otherwise be “meaningless highlights” into a “meaningful learning experience,”** she says. ^hvv03t ---