Outline the Chapter: Five Study Skills You Need To Know

One of the biggest study skills you can teach your student is how to outline the chapter. This series of blog posts come from the tutoring sessions I’ve been having with local teenagers. I conduct these sessions either in a live group setting with slides and props for examples or in one-on-one live or video coaching. Sometimes teens need us to come alongside them and teach them some basic study skills.

I have found that a lot of kids do not know what to do with a textbook.

I thought I would take some time to share some of what I teach the kids who attend my study skill classes and/or tutoring sessions.

The first study skill I think teenagers need to know is how to make an outline of a chapter in the textbook they are studying.

Use the Headers

As you are reading a textbook, use the headers of each section to define your outline and then fill in points underneath the headers. You can also use the Table of Contents of your textbook to create a skeleton of your outline and then fill in subheaders and bullet points. Add bullet points that detail the key points and information that go under each subheader. But that is not all you should do with the headers.

Ask Questions

Ask yourself questions about the subheader.

For example, if the subheader is “Gettysburg” in your history book, as yourself questions like,

“What was Gettysburg?”
“Where was Gettysburg?”
“What happened there?”
“Who were key people involved?”
“What was the number of casualties on both sides of the battle?”
“Is there anything we can learn from Gettysburg?”

Make sure you include all vocabulary words and anything that is typed in bold print in your textbook.

Can you explain it?

If you were to tell someone what this chapter was about, what would you say? Do you know enough about it to be able to talk fluently about it? Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Outline the Chapter: Five Study Skills You Need To Know – Part I Share on X Think through the key topics and see if you are able to describe it to yourself or someone else.

Ask yourself what it is about and see if you have enough words to describe it accurately. Read and study the information until you are able to go explain it to a friend or parent.

Review Your Outline

Now that you have made this outline, sit down and go through and review it. Mark it up with colored pens/pencils if it helps you. Underline things you had forgotten or don’t know. Make sure every vocabulary word is on it and go over it several times. Maybe it’s too long and you can shorten it now that you really understand the material.