Technologies of Text
Writing Tools

Highlighter

Sara E
November 8, 2023

Highlighter

An advertisement for Stabilo Boss highlighter pens by BDD Group Germany showcasing the usage of their pens by using a group picture of people that contributed to the discovery of nuclear fission by highlighting Lise Meitner in yellow, whilst the rest of the faces are black and white which portrays the effectiveness of her overlooked work, hence, is highlighted and brought emphasis upon by their highlighter pens.
An advertisement made by BDD Group Germany for Stabilo Boss highlighter pens that honor remarkable but overlooked women who had an impact on history. https://digitalsynopsis.com/advertising/stabilo-boss-highlight-remarkable-women/

The history of highlighters

The development of the contemporary highlighter has undergone significant evolution since its inception. Initially, the very first felt-tip marking pen was created by Lee Newman in 1910, marking a departure from the use of quills. Followed by many trials and errors, the next major advancement occurred with the introduction of Sidney Rosenthal’s “Magic Marker” in 1953, a marker composed of a glass tube filled with ink as its body and a felt wick, earning its name for its capacity to write on various surfaces. However, the pivotal innovation that laid the foundation for today’s highlighters occurred in 1962 when Yukio Horie developed a modern fiber-tipped pen utilizing water-based ink. Subsequently, Francis J. Honn, working under Carter’s Ink Company in 1963, created the highlighter under the name “Hi-Liter” and initiated its mass production (History of Highlighters – Who Invented Highlighter?, n.d.). 

A black and white picture of an advertisement post for the Carter Ink Company where they label themselves as the "largest American manufacturers of writing inks and adhesives" with its location and a contact number.
The Carter Ink Company’s advertisement

Furthermore, for a deeper comprehension of how highlighter pens function, we can compare them to a ballpoint pen. A blue ballpoint pen’s ink reflects blue light and absorbs other colors, highlighter pens contain chemicals that can absorb both visible and ultraviolet (UV) light. When UV light interacts with the highlighter ink, it activates the ink’s molecules, causing electrons to move to a higher energy state. These electrons then release energy as visible light, making the ink appear exceptionally bright and vibrant as explained by Doris Wai in a recent article (Wai, 2022). This is visually explained in the video below.

Highlighters and modern technology

online file formats such as PDFs allow users to highlight any form of texts.

Moreover, in the context of contemporary technological advancements, computer word processors and e-book readers have incorporated the option to highlight text, a feature inspired by traditional highlighter markers. This underscores the significance of text marking in our current practices and showcases how highlighters have evolved to streamline and enhance the process of processing text. Personally, I find it essential to incorporate the practice of highlighting when studying. For instance, in the context of the shift towards digital education, I have adapted my study approach by transforming all my necessary reading materials into a PDF format. This format grants me the ability to highlight specific text segments in yellow using either my laptop’s touchpad or my finger on its touch-screen interface. This approach aids in enhancing my comprehension of key concepts, as the highlighted sections serve to direct my attention to critical content and facilitate the distinction between sections of varying importance within the text. Consequently, I can create customized notes by translating my understanding of the highlighted text into “Google Docs,” which also offers the functionality of highlighting text. This proves to be particularly beneficial, as I can use this feature to identify sections of information that I may not fully grasp and may need assistance on to gain further insights and clarification.

Are highlighters effective or is it just a myth?

Highlighting whilst studying has been shown to be an ineffective study technique, especially when students tend to highlight the entire text.

Prior to the existence of highlighters, students relied on techniques like underlining and bookmarking to emphasize important sections in their study materials. However, the subsequent availability of highlighters in various colors notably improved the visibility and ease of identifying these marked portions (Wai, 2022). As a result, the efficacy of highlighters has become widely recognized for an extended period, substantiated by empirical research investigations in which they exhibited that highlighting keywords or important points could have learning effects and contribute to the necessary memory ability, attentional capacity, and cognitive capacity of learners (Nishimura & Kuwahara, 2015). Nonetheless, I discovered that the act of highlighting text, surprisingly, may not be as effective and could even impede the learning process. Empirical research by  Dunlosky et al. (2013) has revealed that commonly utilized learning strategies, such as rereading and highlighting, rank among the least efficient methods. it was determined that highlighting and underlining occupied the top positions on the list of ineffective learning strategies. Despite their prevalence as study practices, research indicates that these methods do not confer any notable advantages beyond merely reading the text. Some studies even suggest that the act of highlighting may hinder the learning process by drawing attention to isolated facts, potentially obstructing the ability to establish connections and draw inferences.

References:

Wai, D. (2022). Young Post. https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/lifestyle/article/3198756/all-glows-what-makes-highlighter-ink-so-bright-and-what-else-shines-under-uv-light

Dunlosky, J.,et al. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266

History of highlighters – Who invented highlighter? (n.d.). http://www.historyofpencils.com/writing-instruments-history/history-of-highlighters/

Nishimura, H., & Kuwahara, N. (2015). A Study on Learning Effects of Marking with Highlighter Pen. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21073-5_36