Purpose
The SQ3R strategy, which stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review, helps students to focus their understanding of the material as they progress through the text. This includes previewing the text to activate prior knowledge, actively looking for answers while reading through the text, and reflecting to determine whether questions were answers and to determine a level of understanding through discussion with peers.
Procedures
The first step in this process is Survey. To do this, students will browse the text, examining titles and headings, introductory paragraphs, major words that are bolded or italicized, and summary paragraphs. Based on this brief introduction of the text, students are able to make predictions regarding what the text is likely to include. Students can then develop questions based on the major points found in the text and attempt to answer any chapter review questions found in the reading. It may be helpful for students to prepare a note-taking guide to go along with the development of their questions; this can be depicted as a two column chart with headings or section topics on the left and the relevant notes on the topic in the right column. While the students read through the text itself, they are able to actively look for answers to the questions raised previously. In the Recite process of the activity, students summarize the information from the text to a partner, making corrections together; as one partner explains his or her summary, his or her partner can correct any information that is believed to be incorrect, helping to repair each other's understanding. While reviewing, students are able to answer questions and discuss with others. This is often accompanied by a reading quiz, for which students are allowed to use their notes. This forces them to review what was covered in class in a more thorough manner.
References: Central High School, 2012; D'Arcangelo, 2002b