DETERMINACIÓN DEL RIESGO RENDIMIENTO DE LAS ACCIONES

Reading technical material is a further use of the skills you have been developing. There are many factors that come into play here. Your background, or how much you already know about what you are studying, is one of the most important.

If you are already familiar with the vocabulary and terminology, it will be possible to read faster than when it is new and strange to you.

Technical material is a special category of communication. It consists of highly concentrated facts and symbols in a very organized, tightly reasoned presentation.

Quickly preview such material first. Read the introduction and conclusion and briefly glance at the body of the material to see what it’s about. In this way, you can determine what it contains and what conclusions the author draws. But in order to fully understand all the details and procedures, you must go back and read carefully.

As you read, you are recreating the experiment or research in your mind and looking at its results. If you are already familiar with the type of experience the author is recounting, it will be fairly easy for you to read and comprehend.

If you are entering a particular subject for the first time, it can be more difficult.

You may need to consult a specialized dictionary, other reference works or earlier background material. At times, you may want to repeat the experiment. There are no magical quick steps for absorbing technical knowledge; you must work your way through it. It will take as long as it takes you to understand the terms and to think your way through them.

You can get the overall idea quickly and easily, but an exact reconstruction in your mind of what the author is saying will take more effort and concentration.

Sometimes, however, this is not necessary. You may only want to find out who is doing what and how and what conclusions are being drawn. Often, this can be done with a quick preview or reading.

Taking notes as you read is an excellent habit to cultivate. It is covered more fully in the next section on study. A consolidation of these notes onto 3x5 or 4x6 cards is a handy method of establishing your own "permanent" cross-reference, memory file system. Copying or cutting out articles and storing them in folders and file cabinets can also be useful. However, it has the disadvantage of becoming bulky very quickly and storage can be troublesome.

Another note-taking method is to use 8.5x11 inch or legal size note pads. Be sure to leave room in the margins to add more notes later on.

Computer documents and Internet articles can be stored in file folders you name for the subjects they contain. Often it is a good idea to put the year as part of the name of the folder that contains all of the subject matter documents or articles stored in that year. It is extremely important to take a few extra moments and clearly label and date the file or article so you can easily find it later. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to put a short generic label on a file. This can waste hours or make the information unfindable months or years later. For example, “technical reading methods – Power Reading_2001” versus “techread.” In file naming, the use of spaces,

dashes, commas, underlines or “underscores” and dating (which may include month-day-year) is up to each individual.

The two most important factors are to know what the information is and where to find it. The journals and other publications are available in libraries, but what you must know is which article you need. Making your own card file and/or computerized system is one of the best methods of keeping this information for yourself.

Technical information comes in many formats. You can easily see what they are as you do your own research and investigations. The patterns of organization usually are readily discernible because a good amount of effort has been expended putting them into a logical format. Usually directions and instructions are included in journals and reference works. Going to the library or onto the Internet and investigating for yourself is the best way to familiarize yourself with available information and its presentation.

Technical reading utilizes the same three basics we have used throughout this book: “Looking at the Whole or Preview,” “Your Approach” and “Regulating Speed.”

“Your Approach” differs in the care you give to technical material. You will read it a number of times. This is a multiple reading approach. It bridges over into the field of learning and study handled in the next chapter; everything covered there is applicable to technical reading.

The main difference is that you are usually less familiar with study material, so the reading process is more exacting. Most students are not sure of what they need from the material because they lack experience with the subject. Technical readers, on the other hand, usually have a clearer conception of what they are reading and why.

They are keeping abreast and adding to their store of information, not learning and trying to organize it for the first time. Thus, it is easier for them to comprehend and judge when they have read enough.

The basic procedure for technical reading is to follow the path established by previewing, finding out what the material is about and determining what you want or need from it. Then reread the material as thoroughly as necessary. Finally, a quick review is helpful to remember the information for later use, and written notes will give you a permanent record. Later review will keep it fresh in your mind.

We will see this procedure again in even more detail in the next chapter on study.

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Chapter 22

Study

Studying is what a student does in order to learn. It is the directed, purposeful application of one's mind to understand and use a subject. Study can take place under the guidance of an instructor or on one’s own. In either case, the actual process of study is the same.

There is a difference for many students when it comes to studying a subject they actually will be using in life versus one they are only trying to memorize for a test.

The basic procedures for studying are the same, but the purposes are entirely different. One day your life may depend on knowing and remembering what you once studied; this happens daily in driving a car. On the other hand, you may need to take a certain history course, but have little desire to do more than get a good grade. If so, it is likely you are not motivated to learn and retain the information permanently, and usually you won’t. Make sure you don’t do this when you study something you need to use in life.

While reading encompasses 70-80% of most college work, there is far more to the process of study. One of the biggest myths among students is that study just consists of reading assigned pages and reviewing them before an exam.

Unfortunately, this "once over” reading method is only a part of the study process and does not work well by itself.

Research has shown that more effective learning comes from repetition rather than from a single application. Seeing or reading something once does not ensure that you will learn it. The more times you go over it, the better you will learn it.

Generally, learning is accelerated in an environment that includes breaks rather than uninterrupted, prolonged sessions. Neither 6 hours nor 5 minutes is the best length for your study sessions. Take a break every hour or so; do something different before coming back. Some people find 20 to 40 minutes of concentrated study followed by a 5 to 10-minute break and then a 2 to 10-minute review and note-taking period to be most effective before proceeding on to new material.

You will retain what you have learned much longer by studying it over again.

Study until you get it and then a bit more. This "overlearning" gives you better retention. No matter how well you learn, you will begin to forget some of it immediately. Without additional review, you can forget 80-90% or more of what you have learned within 24 hours. With periodic review, you can remember it indefinitely.

So sitting down and reading something once is not the best method for study. It is only part of the overall study process.

Study begins with establishing your purpose clearly in your mind. This should be done each time you study.

Why are you studying this material? Is it for a test? Is it background research? Is it something you will have to do and use in your life or work? How soon do you need to use this information? These questions, and more, are important.

There is one basic difference between study and all other types of reading.

When you study, you are usually responsible to someone or something other than yourself for the information. It may be an instructor, an employer, even nature or the stock market, but you need to get and remember not only what you want, but also

what is required. And what you need is not determined by you alone, but by the pur-pose for which you are studying.

Two factors are crucial. You must understand the information correctly and fully, and secondly, you must be able to remember and use it when you need it. These are two separate processes. Understanding and remembering are not the same thing, although they are interdependent.