And it definitely should not be among the highlights in your study arsenal
I must confess that I used to be a notorious highlighter all the way back in 1L. Indeed, my case briefs were often colour coded green, yellow, pink, and more, with each colour corresponding to a different element of the case (i.e., facts, issues, rules, etc.). At the time, I thought this is what all law students should do, right? When someone thinks of lawyers, do they not immediately think of paper, pens, and highlighters? I certainly believed this stereotype.
However, I noticed something during my exam prep last year. I almost never consulted my highlighted textbooks when reviewing the material, preferring instead to analyze my typed up notes and outlines. Indeed, besides tanking the resale value of my textbooks, my “artwork” served little purpose. In fact, I would say that highlighting was actually to my detriment. When you manually highlight passages you also essentially render yourself unable to type and read at the same time. This ultimately results in readings taking longer, increasing the time crunch on students. So, if you’re feeling the crunch right now to crank out those last few readings and you’ve been highlighting because it’s what you think law students ought to do, rest assured that its value is dramatically overrated.
How overrated? Consider the multitude of research online that suggests that highlighting is actually a “low utility” learning activity. This means that highlighting is not generally an effective learning strategy and ultimately, highlighting a key passage won’t necessarily mean you’ll remember it any better than if you didn’t highlight it at all. The learning benefits of highlighting are about the same as simply reading the passage. One article even describes highlighting as potentially detrimental because it can come at the expense of more productive strategies. This means that with the free time saved from not highlighting you’ll have more time to actually review and think about the material in a meaningful way. This is definitely better than mechanically glazing over what you think is important and then writing it down later so you actually have something to consult during exams. Dare I say that by not highlighting one might also reduce the amount of time spent on readings and thus increase the amount of time spent on social activities?
Another problem with highlighting is that it becomes almost too tempting to over highlight, rendering your materials useless should you ever actually take a look at them again. Not highlighting is also better for the environment because you’re not purchasing single-use markers that rapidly end up in the garbage. Further, your textbooks will remain in a good state and can thus live on for future students to use.
This isn’t to say that highlighting has no purpose in all contexts. I would say that highlighting is great when reading passages during an exam or for emphasis when reviewing someone’s work. For some, highlighting will be a key part of your approach and that’s more than okay. However, when it comes to figuring out what works best for you, don’t be afraid to deviate from the “normal” strategies expected of law students.
