Locate—find content for learning#

The locate step involves gathering the content you need for learning. Sometimes this may be easy. The course may prescribe texts and materials for you. At other times you may be learning something that few others have, so you have to forge your own way. You may be somewhere in the middle, with some texts prescribed for you and some further research to do.

This section describes:

Content sources #

Common sources for learning content including books, texts, instructors, lecturers, the Internet, computer-based training, other students, others already in the field, biographies, video, and other references.

What to look for #

How to contrast theoretical information with practical and useful knowledge, and how to tell the difference while searching for content. Includes examples showing the difference between “why it’s important,” “here’s how to do it,” and “here’s how to learn it” content.

Specific content collection tips #

Techniques for collecting content including intelligent note taking, intelligent highlighting and marking, and organizing what you collect. Note taking covers what to write down, use of white space (such as the Cornell technique), writing in your own books, and alternative formats. Highlighting covers what to highlight, when to highlight, use of colors, and transferring notes to other formats.