Study skills · Principles
Words and Visuals: Make Concepts Easier to Understand
A diagram is useful when it shows a relationship you can also explain. Turn arrows, labels and positions into sentences, and turn the sentences back into a drawing. The aim is a clear model of the idea, not an attractive page of notes.
What supports this approach
IES recommends combining graphics with verbal descriptions and connecting concrete with abstract representations. These recommendations do not establish fixed visual or verbal learner types.
Evidence and background: IES: Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning.
Methods to put it into practice
Label the relationship
Give each arrow a meaning: causes, moves to, increases or comes before. Avoid lines whose purpose you cannot explain.
Translate representations
Describe a diagram in words, then redraw it from that description. Compare the two for missing steps or misleading arrangements.
Reconstruct and check
Hide the original diagram, draw its essential parts and label them. Correct the relationships before adding colour or decoration.
A repeatable study pattern
Inspect the model and its explanation.
Describe what each important mark means.
Reconstruct the model without looking.
Check and repair the relationships.
Example: draw a process, not a picture
Sketch a puddle, an arrow rising from it, and a cloud. Label the arrow ‘evaporation: liquid water becomes water vapour’. Add ‘condensation: water vapour becomes droplets’ at the cloud. The arrow does not mean the sun pulls up liquid water.
Add an arrow from the cloud to the ground labelled ‘precipitation’. Write one sentence explaining each transition. Check whether the diagram implies that all water follows the same route; it is a simplified model, not a map of every pathway.
Cover the sketch and rebuild it from the three process names. Compare labels and directions. An accurate rough sketch is more useful for this task than a beautiful picture with an incorrect arrow.
Try it in another subject
For history, use a timeline to show order, then a separate explanation for causation. Events placed next to one another are not automatically cause and effect.
Common mistakes and adjustments
Do not add unrelated images that compete with the concept. Keep labels close to what they describe.
If drawing is difficult, use a supplied diagram and explain its parts orally or with labels. Artistic skill is not the target.
An example week
This is an example week, not a prescribed review interval. Adjust the tasks, time and support to the learner’s course and recall results.
| Day | Task | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Label and explain a science process diagram | 20 |
| Thursday | Reconstruct the diagram and check arrows | 15 |
| Saturday | Build a history timeline with explanations | 15 |
Put the week in your calendar
Replace the bracketed date and time zone, then paste the prompt into Magic Generate in School Calendar. Review dates, durations and tasks before adding the events. See the Magic Generate guide.
Systems that use this principle
Some systems use this principle as a core step; others offer it as an optional extension.
Cornell Notes: Turn Lesson Notes into Questions and Review
Use Cornell notes to turn a lesson into cue questions, covered-note recall and a later review, with a complete science example and practical adaptations.
Offers this principle as an optional extensionThe Feynman Technique: Explain an Idea and Find the Gaps
Use a Feynman-style explanation workflow to uncover gaps, verify claims and refine your understanding, with a simple circuit example and study schedule.
Offers this principle as an optional extensionA Worked-Example Practice Cycle for Maths and Science
Follow a complete algebra practice cycle from a solved example to missing steps, independent work and later mixed questions, with answer checks included.
Offers this principle as an optional extensionFor a subject-specific plan, see Science study routines. Or return to all study principles and systems.
Sources and review
Reviewed 2026-09-27. Examples and calendar schedules are editorial illustrations.