Identifying key Ideas in lectures



Identifying key Ideas in lectures

|Introduction |

|In this tutorial, you will learn how to identify important points in lectures. |

|Important ideas and their elaboration |

|Very often, key ideas are delivered in lectures in the following pattern: lecturers tell the topic sentence in which the |

|key idea is stated and then further elaborate and explain the idea. The elaboration can be explaining key terms mentioned |

|in the idea, mentioning the “why”, “what”, “how” and “when” aspects concerning the idea, or quoting examples to |

|illustrate. |

| |

|For example, the key idea and elaboration pattern can be found in the following extract: |

|The starting point in planning any speech is to formulate a precise objective. This should take the form of a simple, |

|concise statement of intent. For example, the purpose of your speech may be to obtain funds, to evaluate a proposal, or to|

|motivate your team. No two objectives will be served equally well by the same presentation; and if you are not sure at the|

|onset what you are trying to do, it is unlikely that your plan will achieve it. |

|The bolded part of the extract is the key idea. The italic part is the first elaboration of the idea which is about the |

|“how” aspect concerning formulation of objective. The underlined portion is the second elaboration of the idea giving |

|examples of what are possible objectives. |

|Aware of key ideas |

|The key idea and elaboration pattern is the most commonly used method to deliver ideas in lectures. This pattern is |

|repeated used in a lecture so that what you often hear is one important idea, some elaboration , then another important |

|idea and elaboration. |

| |

|The question is how you can identify each of this key idea and elaboration slot. |

| |

|The trick is to be more alert to signals used by most lecturers to indicate key ideas. |

|Key idea signals |

|There are eight common ways lecturers use to signal key ideas: |

| |

|Introduce a new topic:They explicitly say that they have arrived at a new topic. |

|Say words that express importance: They explicitly tell you that the following idea is important. |

|Define terms: They define some terms and you know the statement that express the relationships between these terms is key.|

|Mention stages or a list of steps: They express a sequence of important ideas in stages or in points. |

|Write sentence on blackboard: They write the idea on the blackboard. |

|Verbal or bodily stress: They speak slowly and louder or use exaggerated body movements to help you know the idea is |

|important. |

|Illustrate idea with graphs or drawings: They use graphic or drawing to elaborate the idea. |

|Restate or summarise: They restate, or summarise the idea fearing that you didn’t get it in the first place. |

|Summary |

|You have seen how key ideas are usually followed by elaboration. You have also learnt how lecturers usually signal to you |

|which ideas are important. |

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