Elaboration

CORE DEFINITION

Elaboration means expanding key points into sufficient, specific, and well-supported explanations, so that others or yourself genuinely understand rather than merely remember the conclusion. Craik and Lockhart proposed the levels-of-processing theory in 1972, arguing that semantically deep processing of information forms more durable memory than mechanical repetition, and later research grounded this elaborative processing in concrete techniques such as questioning, analogy, and self-explanation. A key limit: it works only when the elaborated content connects to existing knowledge, otherwise it is mere information piling, and length is not the same as depth.