The way I used to study, if I had definitions, terms, etc, is I would write what I needed to know on a index card.

For example(if I needed to know about George Smith(made up character)

On the front would be George Smith, and on the back would be the facts I needed to know.

I would write out all the people, places, terms,etc and then take the top five/ten(I would start on the hour, so lets say 2:00). I would memorize these(t.v/music off), which would take about 20 min. I would make sure I knew all these 5-10 terms. I would then put them down. When the next hour came(3:00) I would pick up the original 5-10 and go over them again, which would take about 5 min, b/c I had already memorized them. I would then take 5-10 more card and repeat. When I memorized those cards I would mix them with the original 5-10 and review. I would then repeat reviewing, adding more, reviewing all until I had memorized the entire pile.

Make notes from the reading. It might be more work but it is a lot easier to study notes then an article.