When doing readings, I usually highlight all key sentences and important aspects that seem to jump out at me. This is very helpful for when I am going back to study, I can see the real "meat" of the chapter, and not have to really get overwhelmed with all the small side notes that aren't of major importance. Though I do tend to over-highlight, since I get nervous that I might miss out on something important. Another thing I do is learn all the key words and things in bold. It helps if I understand the books "language" and then I can incorporate it into my own words. This way, it isn't random big words, but something that I can understand and mold my own definition of it and I am more likely to remember it for a test. I use mnemonics all the time. They don't even have to make sense and can be completely ridiculous, but it is so helpful for having to memorize a lot of information. This all helps me encode the information and is more likely to be in my long term memory.
All of your ways of analyzing the text are helpful ways, and that I include when trying to learn things on my own. I learn best when I use all of these tools. They are all part of metacognition and critical thinking. Over highlighting could be a problem because you tend to highlight unnecessary information and you don't get useage out of it. Secondly, looking up definitions or making information that is unclear for you, make sense is a great way to learn. You are decoding information from the text and learning it your own way. Also, mnemonis are helpful when I try to memorize information because I associate each meaning or letter with a word or something that is more familiar to yourself. All of these tricks are what I use and without them I don't know how well I would fully understand everything I read.
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