Elaboration
"There’s always more to the story"
What is it
Elaboration is all about you asking questions of and adding details to the concepts you’re learning to make them your own and make it easier to recall them later. You can practice elaboration throughout the learning process.
• As you add details and connect learning to other ideas you strengthen pathways to the knowledge and also locate the new knowledge within your existing knowledge. Both of these make it easier to recall later. • Asking and answering questions about the material helps you to make sure that you understand it on your own terms and do so in connection to concepts you know already.
If you’re learning in a classroom ask questions of the professor and in your notes. It’s also important to follow-up and find answers to the questions. You can also elaborate on your learning by describing how it connects to your own experience and things you’ve learned before. You can do this by writing notes, creating flash cards or drawing pictures or diagrams. It’s a funny word but a mnemonic device is just when you create something like a rhyme or acronym or other association with what you’re trying to remember. For example, people use the acronym ROY G BIV to remember the colors of the rainbow: Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet. use your own words to summarize the main ideas of a topic. If you can put them together into a short story it will help even more. The story doesn’t have to be great or even make sense to someone else, it just needs to help you remember a set of ideas. What is Effective?
How to Use
• Ask Questions •
• Create Connections •
• Create a Mnemonic •
• Write it Yourself •
When to Use
• Adding details and making connections works best when you’ve become somewhat familiar with a topic.
• Writing it in your own words works well when you have a book, good notes, study guide or other material to look at to make sure your words are correct.
Tips & Tricks
• Change the conditions of the examples given in class and figure out what the consequences are (check the answer with the materials, the professor or a tutor).
Resources
Video
Study Strategies: Elaboration
Podcasts and web sites