How to Memorize an Essay
Memorizing an essay is a regular task in a class. Thought, for some students who do not practice memorizing a lot it can become a challenge. Memorizing the text is also a very important part of the preparation for a speech or presentation. That is why, it is important to master the skills and improve the memory because it can come in hand for you at any time: in college or at work. Plus, you may make a nice impression on people if you cite a couple of sentences or a small paragraph to the point.
The more you memorize, the easier it becomes to learn other texts. So, if you feel like you need to improve your skills in memorizing – this article will help out!
Work Out a Logic Plan
Memorizing techniques differ according to the task you are given and to the length of the text. Before we take a look at each of them separately, there are some basic pieces of advice for any cases. First of all, never postpone memorizing the text for the last minute. Memorizing in one night won’t do you any good. That’s why rule of thumb: make a schedule. As long as you’ve planed the work – you are safe. Learning step by step is much more effective because you don’t panic that there’s no enough time and the head is not overloaded. Don’t be a procrastinator – plan your future A+ ahead! Secondly, break the essay into small parts. Usually, each paragraph has a specific idea that is why it is easy to divide the text for memorizing according to the paragraphs. You may write down a key word or an outline for each paragraph – it will serve as a small plan. In that case, you know the structure of the essay well enough and the ideas of each part are logically structured in the head. If the essay is longer than two pages, you may divide it into bigger parts beside the “paragraph technique”. As described previously, outline main ideas of each part and think of a small plan to keep in mind. Don’t try to learn a page at a time. Depending on the task you where given – memorizing a text for preparation to a public speech or just a class task to present the memorized text – the techniques may differ. Why does it happen, we’ll talk later in the article.
Listen to Your Body Moves
In case you are allowed to have some notes, you should write the outlines or key words of the paragraphs on small cards that you can follow while presenting the essay. Warning: Do not peep into the text while you are learning. Try hard to recall what the next part is. The more you force the brain to work and recall things, the easier it will be for you to learn the following parts. Think of asking a friend for help to follow the text while you are speaking. He or she can give you a hint and you will eventually recall the missing part by yourself. When learning a paragraph by paragraph you may forget which one is next. To avoid the confusion, when you’ve learned the second paragraph try to reproduce it together with the first one. Repeating the newly learnt part together with the previous one will establish the connection between them in your mind. Moreover, when it comes to a public speech, there may be much more pressure and responsibility to do the presentation than in front of a small audience in the class. That is why we recommend making up “body linkers”. When you feel that the connection between one paragraph and another is lost in the memory, think of a body movement that can be associated with the following sentence. Backing up the text with some gestures while learning, will settle in the head. If you practice the moves together with the text for a couple of times, the next lines will unconsciously pop up in the head because of the related move you make.
Try Visualizing the Essay
Some of us feel that visualization of the information with the help of a chart or table is useful in learning. It is true for memorizing as well. To remember the plan of the essay you may draw a chart to structure the parts. You may as well draw a small sketch on the topic of the paragraph that is associated with it. Writing down the text is a part of visualization as well. Try to rewrite the essay twice or thrice. Though, do not copy it. Write down what you have memorized. Do it as a self-dictation – it’s both memorizing and checking yourself at the same time. One more awesome tip is to visualize the text not only on the paper but in the head as well. There is a well-known technique “the method of loci” or a memory palace. It was first adopted in ancient Rome and Greece but it is still useful nowadays. The trick is to imagine the room that you know the best and associate the furniture and the stuff in it with the sentences you have to remember. But move around the room in your imagination only in one direction all the time. Otherwise, you will lose the sentence order. For example, a desk that you see first in the room is your first paragraph; photo frames, statuettes and other stuff represent the sentence sequence. Just be creative and think of the connection.
