 Strategies for Encoding Information by Academy of Learning Career College Learning strategies that help learners structure and translate information from one format to another are most effective. These strategies work by making strong connections in the brain between pieces of information. When this connection is between new information and old information, it helps us remember new information by making connections in the brain to things we already know and remember well. This can also create the right connections between different pieces of information so that they can be more effectively remembered together. Here we present four categories of encoding. 1. Connecting information to your own life is an excellent way to encode information. To do this, find examples of a concept in your own life, understand how this information will be relevant to you in the future. 2. Elaborating on the information that is presented to you. To do this, ask questions during learning and connect current information to other concepts you've studied. Annotate readings with short summaries and questions. 3. Explaining the information in your own words. To do this, explain the process you are taking to solve a problem to yourself. Write a summary of the information you have read, walk a peer through a process or concept, and 4, impose structure and organization on information. To do this, create structures for the information. Hierarchies that demonstrate multiple levels of relations between concepts. Outlines that cover main concepts and sub-points. Timelines highlighting main events across relevant periods. Workflow charts that demonstrate decision points for processes. Concept maps that demonstrate relations between concepts. Compare and contrast charts that differentiate concepts on a series of features. Some of the strategies you do not see here include highlighting, re-reading and reviewing. These are often quite passive learning strategies. Although highlighting is a very common strategy, learners often highlight too much or not enough information. Further, because highlighting does not actively help learners rearrange or translate information, it is less likely to be effective for encoding.