How to understand theory at university: Learn to train like an athlete and get theory fit!

Theory is a part of all academic assignments for students at college and university. Essays, dissertations, presentations, exams. Whatever you’re working on, it needs to include a critical, analytical, evaluation of theory.

How can you ensure that you’re ready for this with every assignment?

You can get theory fit!

Enhancing the theoretical breadth and depth of your assignments is like training as an athlete or sportsperson. You need to continuously work on and develop your underlying theory strength, stamina and flexibility on a regular basis. This needs to become part of your routine, part of your week, part of your month, part of your year.

This training will serve you well for when you have to prepare for an assignment. Assignments become like sports events you compete in: if you’re putting in the regular theory training in advance, you’re going to do better than if you’re not. You won’t be starting from scratch every time if you’re gradually, incrementally building up your theory fitness and maintaining it at a good level.

Here’s my monthly study plan for students who want to become the equivalent of an Olympic athlete when it comes to their theoretical knowledge.

(1) Identify a 90-minute slot each week to devote to your theory training.

You can find 90 minutes each week. Try to keep it routine and regular. Is this going to be your Wednesday morning thing? Your Friday afternoon thing?

Tag this onto something that is an established habit or routine in your calendar, something you do anyway. Don’t put it in on a “quiet” day, because you’re less likely to do it.

Do you have a lecture at 1100 on Tuesday morning? Could you get to campus at 0930 and get it done then? Do you have a big gap between lectures that you could slot this into? Are you on the go on a specific day and could find 90 minutes to go and sit in a coffee shop in between the other things you’re doing?

Find the time that works for you and stick with it. Now, open up your calendar and make an appointment with yourself to do that right now. Put 12 weeks in, go on – do it!

(2) Pick your Theory of the Month

Every month you are going to pick one theory or area of theory to focus on. Think about the theory you’ve come across so far in your studies. Which theories have you found challenging? Which ones have you got stuck on? Think about any new theory you need to look at this semester or next semester and make a note of that.

Come up with a list of three theories for the first three months. This will be specific to your subject. For example, criminologists might decide they really want to get their heads around routine activity theories, strain theories and cultural criminology. Counselling students might decide they want to explore psychodynamic, humanistic and cognitive behavioural approaches to counselling. Sociology students might want to explore subcultural theory, labelling theory and feminist theory. If you’re not sure, ask a professor or lecturer to recommend something. Look at the documentation that comes with your degree – the course handbook or whatever it’s called in your university – that will likely name some specific theories. Which one do you want to start with? Pick your first theory and implement the following training plan.

(3) Your week-by-week theory training plan

Week 1 - Introductory Theory Textbook

In your 90 minutes this week, you are going to read about the theory in an introductory theory textbook. Look for a textbook in your field that will give you an overview of the main bodies of theory. Something with a title like “Introduction to Criminological Theory”, or “Introduction to Counselling Theory”. Look up the chapter on the theory you’re focusing on that month. You might need to experiment with a few different books to see which ones you prefer. You are going to read through this chapter, absorb it, take it in and make some notes on it. Check out my other blogpost on how to read academic literature for more tips.

Week 2 - Original Texts

In your 90-minute slot this week, you are going to go to the original texts. The chapter in the introductory book you read in Week 1 will have references in it to the original texts. So, if you’re a criminology student, you might have decided to focus on Strain Theories this month and read a chapter about this in a theory handbook. That chapter will include a reference for Robert Merton’s work on anomie, another one for Stanley Cohen’s work on delinquent youth. Access those original texts, read through them, make notes, save the notes.

Week 3 - Theory Application

In your 90-minutes this week, look at how the theory has been applied. Do a citation search on the original texts - here’s a video on how to do that. Look at how other people have used the theory in their work. Where has the theory been applied? To what topics? Groups? What topics are appearing towards the top of the search results? How has it been used more recently? How have the authors interpreted the theory? What have they said about the theory? Here, you’re getting a feel for how other academics are using the theory. Note down your thoughts on this. Does anything surprise you? Can you see any patterns here in terms of to whom or what the theory is being applied, and to whom or what it isn’t? How helpful did these authors find the theory? Make some notes on this.

Week 4 - One Page Summary

Your 90-minute slot in Week 4 is going to focus on getting all of your learning this month into an accessible, easy to use format. You’re going to be writing up a one-page summary of this theory that you can pull out and use in your assignments. This is going to include a description or the theory, its key principles and arguments – that you established in Weeks 1 and 2. You’re going to summarise your notes on the use of the theory and where it’s been applied that you looked at in Week 3. You’re also going to evaluate the theory. Based on your understanding of the theory, and how it’s been applied, make a judgement about its value. How helpful is it? How relevant is it now in the C21st? Try your hardest to keep this document to a one-page summary. Don’t make it much longer than this. When you’re researching and writing your assignments, you don’t want to have to read through reams of notes, you want a quick refresher, not another mammoth reading task!

That’s your theory training plan!

At the end of every month, you will know a lot more about this theory than you did at the start. Your overall knowledge of theory will increase month by month. You will refine your techniques for going through these stages. You will develop little tweaks and hacks that work for you to make this super effective. Now you know how you do that, get started!

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