Summary

The article argues that highlighting text is an ineffective study strategy, discouraging readers from this practice, especially on Medium, where there are no exams to study for.

Abstract

The author of the article addresses Medium users who highlight text, suggesting that this habit is not only a waste of time but also counterproductive to actual learning and understanding. Citing various studies, the article asserts that highlighting does not aid in retention or critical thinking and can actually hinder the reader's ability to make inferences and predictions. The author posits that highlighting is more about appearing studious and impressing others rather than engaging with the material. The article encourages readers to simply read and enjoy the text without the unnecessary step of highlighting.

Opinions

Highlighting text is portrayed as a superficial and ego-inflating activity rather than a genuine learning strategy.
The author believes that highlighting gives a false sense of scholarly achievement and does not contribute to real comprehension or retention of material.
Highlighting is seen as an impediment to making inferences and predictions about a text, which are key components of critical thinking.
The article suggests that highlighting is an attempt to appear studious to others, particularly in academic settings like libraries.
It is implied that highlighting on Medium is especially unnecessary and distracting, as it interferes with other readers' experiences without any educational benefit.
The author provides a quick quiz at the end of the article to challenge the belief that highlighting aids in learning, emphasizing the ineffectiveness of this practice.

Dear Medium Highlighters,

Please stop.

Perhaps you highlighted everything under the sun while turning the pages of Beowulf in high school. You might have even carried this habit into college. You thought that the more you highlighted the more information you would retain. The more studious you would appear to those around you.

How did that go? I venture to guess it was a waste of time.

While the yellow and blue highlights in your text might have given you a scholarly feeling that you were learning the material, you weren’t. Highlighting, in fact, was a superficial strategy to inflate your ego. Why? Because it is not actually reading and understanding the material. It’s highlighting.

Studies have shown that other than impressing the hot coed sitting next to you at the library, there is NO BENEFIT in highlighting and can interfere with learning the material (Fowler & Barker, 1974; Johnson, 1988; Rickards & Denner, 1979; Todd & Kessler, 1971).

Highlighting neither helps critical thinking skills nor increases retention of material. What highlighting does do is impede your ability to make inferences and predictions about a text. Fowler and Barker (1974) found that the more you highlight a text for an exam, the lower the test performance.

So why on earth are you highlighting articles, poems, and fiction on Medium? Nobody here is going to give you a quiz after. (There is one at the bottom of the page, if you feel the need.)

If you are trying to provide evidence that you actually read the text, it doesn’t. All it does prove is that you are oblivious to how the highlighting interferes with other readers’ enjoyment of a text.

So my advice: Just read. There’s no need to highlight.

If you must, here are the citations for your highlighting pleasure.

Fowler, R. L., & Barker, A. S. (1974). Effectiveness of highlighting for retention of text material. Journal of Applied Psychology, 59, 358–364.

Johnson, L. L. (1988). Effects of underlining textbook sentences on passage and sentence retention. Reading Research and Instruction, 28, 18–32.

Rickards, J. P., & Denner, P. R. (1979). Depressive effects of underlining and adjunct questions on children’s recall of text. Instructional Science, 8, 81–90.

Todd, W. B., & Kessler, C. C., III. (1971). Influence of response mode, sex, reading ability, and level of difficulty on four measures of recall of meaningful written material. Journal of Educational Psychology, 62, 229–234.

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Quick Quiz for Highlighters.

True or False:

Highlighting helps with the retention of material.

Highlighting is evidence that you are reading.

Highlighting helps other readers understand a text.

Highlighting helps readers make inferences about a text.

Highlighting helps readers make predictions in a text.