Several of my students have come to me concerned that they are having trouble understanding the readings in our theory class. That’s a reasonable concern: reading theory is tough, and this week we are on Habermas, and Habermas is very, very tough.

I always think the key to learning is figuring out yourself how you need to see information presented. For example, I have a huge problem understanding verbal instructions. However, if I read something, it’ll go into my head forever. So I have a very standard way of taking notes.

When I attempt to learn from reading, I read something more than once, and then I work through every problem or every paragraph. If the book isn’t a particularly good book, you can skip some paragraphs or problems, but in most well-constructed books, those are all there for a reason, building up the information bit by bit.

Here is what a book looks like when I’ve worked through it: