EDPL 259: Developing Question-Answer Outlines for Lecture Notes and Text Books

 

Key rules for all Q & A Outlines: 

  • Do not use questions that can be answered “yes” or “no”.  You will always lose points for these.
  • Do not ask detail questions such as specific dates or names. 
  • Begin by understanding what the lecturer or author’s purpose is.  What is the material about?  What are the big ideas?  What are the important concepts? 

 

 

Module 6: Developing questions based on lecture notes.

 

There are three types of questions.

 

1)      Recap Questions-these questions should be general, encompassing multiple concepts, ideas and words from your notes.

·        The point of these questions is to be general enough so that you will be able to connect ideas. 

·        This type of question is important particularly if you are studying for a test that is going to be presented to you in essay format and/or short answers.

·        Recap questions capture information that you can think of as a “section” or a “chapter”.  For example:  “What were the origins of the Vietnam conflict?” or “How do you solve various types of rate problems?”  or “How is the money supply related to the rate of inflation?”

·        These questions are used to:

    i.      Make sure that you understand the material

    ii.      By developing the questions you are rereading and actually studying the material while you develop the questions…therefore developing questions is a studying technique

                                                            iii.      Finally, when reviewing notes for a test or to prepare for the class you can skim the questions and practice your essay answers.  If you are able to answer the questions then you’ll know if you can relate concepts presented to you in lecture

2)      Reflection questions- these are more specific than any other question.

·        The questions are more specific, which therefore requires that the answers reflect specific concepts, definitions, or ideas presented in your notes.

·        The questions “reflect” what is in the notes. 

·        Many of these question start with “What is…” or “How is”

·        Do not write detail questions.  Detail questions ask for details such as specific dates, names, and locations.  Yes, sometimes you will be required to memorize details.  If so, use flash cards, vocabulary lists or timelines rather than putting details in your Q & A outlines. 

·        The point is to make sure you are able to answer questions about specific, important concepts in your lecture notes. Therefore, when you use the outline to study, you’ll only have to look at the question.  If you don’t know the answer then you know you’ll have to study that part of the lecture in more depth.

 

 

3)      Reasoning questions—these are the questions that you think the professor might pose in order to see if you can extend your knowledge.

·        The questions should be constructed so that the answers encompass not only the material discussed in your lecture notes, but also so they relate to ideas outside the lecture….perhaps from prior classes or personal knowledge

·        That is why the answers to these questions CAN NOT be found in the lecture material

·        The point is to understand the material in lecture in a different context.

·        If you can take a concept/idea and relate it to other situations then you should feel confident that you understand the material.

·        When answering these questions, you will also be studying the class material and will be better prepared to answer an essay and/or a short answer question on a final. Reasoning questions should be the kind of questions you might see on a difficult essay test. 

 

Module 7: Developing Question-Answer (Q-A) outlines from your text book

 

(1)   The point: Develop questions about the material presented in the book, so that when you go back to study you’ll only have to study the questions and answers.  If you can answer all of the questions then you are prepared for the test.  The same rules for preparing questions from lecture notes apply.  Scan the material before writing your Q-A outline to get an idea of what the text is about and how it is structured.  Otherwise, you risk writing questions about details, without understanding the big picture. 

 

 

Key features in a text that will provide you with a warning to develop a question.

 

(2)   Headings and subheadings.  Any heading is a cue for you to write a question.  Headings and subheading should indicate to you that what is to follow is a related set of ideas.  Headings and subheadings connect multiple words, definitions, and ideas.

(3)    You can easily construct a RECAP question from a heading or major subheading. In a textbook with good headings and major subheadings, you can construct RECAP questions directly from the headings and subheadings—just turn the heading into a question.  For example, if the heading is “The origins of the Vietnam conflict”, the RECAP question is “What were the origins of the Vietnam conflict?”  If the heading is “Descriptive Statistics”, the question is “What are descriptive statistics?”

(4)   Minor subheadings or paragraph subheadings can be the basis for REFLECTION questions.

(5)   Important illustrations, diagrams, figures or lists presented to you in the text can be the basis for REFLECTION questions.

(6)   Bold or italicized words.  Any words that the writers have highlighted are probably important and can be the basis for a REFLECTION question.  For example:  “What is a standard deviation?”