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23 Jun 16
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22 Jul 15
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problem is, most students haven’t given much thought to the way they think, leaving them scattered and at loose ends — and their notes reflect this. What advice do you have for the folks out there trying to get it all together this semester?
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20 Jul 15
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Anything you know you know you can leave out of your notes.
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For lectures, however, outlining has limitations. The relationship between ideas isn’t always hierarchical, and the instructor might jump around a lot. A point later in the lecture might relate better to information earlier in the lecture, leaving you to either a) flip back and forth to find where the information goes best (and hope there’s still room to write it in) or b) risk losing the relationship between what the professor just said and what she said before.
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Mind-mapping: For lectures, a mind-map might be a more appropriate way of keeping track of the relationships between ideas.
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The Cornell System: The Cornell System is a simple but powerful system for increasing your recall and the usefulness of your notes.
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After the lecture, write a series of “cues” into the skinny column on the right, questions about the material you’ve just taken notes on.
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This will help you process the information from the lecture or reading, as well as providing a handy study tool when exams come along: simply cover the main section and try to answer the questions. In the bottom section, you write a short, 2-3 line summary in your own words of the material you’ve covered.
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04 May 15
drjones518Note-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone el
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14 Feb 15
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30 Nov 14
halierojoNote-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone el
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18 Jul 14
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05 May 14
Madison HunterNote-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else must have already taught students how to take notes. Then we sit around and complain that our students don’t know how to take notes.
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20 Jan 14
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11 Oct 13
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Your focus while taking notes should be two-fold. First, what’s new to you? There’s no point in writing down facts you already know. If you already know the Declaration of Independence was written and signed in 1776, there’s no reason to write that down. Anything you know you know you can leave out of your notes.
Second, what’s relevant? What information is most likely to be of use later, whether on a test, in an essay, or in completing a project? Focus on points that directly relate to or illustrate your reading (which means you’ll have to have actually done the reading…). The kinds of information to pay special attention to are:
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Your own questions: Make sure to record your own questions about the material as they occur to you. This will help you remember to ask the professor or look something up later, as well as prompt you to think through the gaps in your understanding.
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For lectures, however, outlining has limitations. The relationship between ideas isn’t always hierarchical, and the instructor might jump around a lot. A point later in the lecture might relate better to information earlier in the lecture, leaving you to either a) flip back and forth to find where the information goes best (and hope there’s still room to write it in) or b) risk losing the relationship between what the professor just said and what she said before.
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Mind-mapping: For lectures, a mind-map might be a more appropriate way of keeping track of the relationships between ideas. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of mind-mapping, but it might just fit the bill. Here’s the idea: in the center of a blank sheet of paper, you write the lecture’s main topic. As new sub-topics are introduced (the kind of thing you’d create a new heading for in an outline), you draw a branch outward from the center and write the sub-topic along the branch. Then each point under that heading gets its own, smaller branch off the main one. When another new sub-topic is mentioned, you draw a new main branch from the center. And so on. The thing is, if a point should go under the first heading but you’re on the fourth heading, you can easily just draw it in on the first branch. Likewise, if a point connects to two different ideas, you can connect it to two different branches. If you want to neaten things up later, you can re-draw the map or type it up using a program like FreeMind, a free mind-mapping program (some wikis even have plug-ins for FreeMind mind-maps, in case you’re using a wiki to keep track of your notes).
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The Cornell System: The Cornell System is a simple but powerful system for increasing your recall and the usefulness of your notes. About a quarter of the way from the bottom of a sheet of paper, draw a line across the width of the page. Draw another line from that line to the top, about 2 inches (5 cm) from the right-hand edge of the sheet. You’ve divided your page into three sections. In the largest section, you take notes normally — you can outline or mind-map or whatever. After the lecture, write a series of “cues” into the skinny column on the right, questions about the material you’ve just taken notes on. This will help you process the information from the lecture or reading, as well as providing a handy study tool when exams come along: simply cover the main section and try to answer the questions. In the bottom section, you write a short, 2-3 line summary in your own words of the material you’ve covered. Again, this helps you process the information by forcing you to use it in a new way; it also provides a useful reference when you’re trying to find something in your notes later. You can download instructions and templates from American Digest, though the beauty of the system is you can dash off a template “on the fly”.
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the bottom line is that your system has to reflect the way you think. The problem is, most students haven’t given much thought to the way they think, leaving them scattered and at loose ends — and their notes reflect this. What advice do you have for the folks out there trying to get it all together this semester?
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28 Aug 13
Lezley JohansenNote taking
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23 Oct 12
Brendan JohnsonStudents can learn the proper and effective ways to take notes during a lecture
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08 Sep 12
Brian BareschAdvice for Students: Taking Notes that Work http://t.co/YXCyvfPi via @lifehackorg #SaturdaySchool
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04 Sep 12
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28 Aug 12
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18 Aug 12
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your notes don’t have to contain everything, they have to contain the most important things.
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what’s new to you?
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Anything you know you know you can leave out of your notes.
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what’s relevant?
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12 Aug 12
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And if you’re focused on capturing everything, you won’t have the spare mental “cycles” to recognize what’s truly important.
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There’s no point in writing down facts you already know
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hat’s relevant?
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our own questions
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For lectures, however, outlining has limitations. The relationship between ideas isn’t always hierarchical
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11 Aug 12
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22 May 12
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25 Jan 12
Christina SesokSomething your students might find useful when figuring out what type of note taking will be most beneficial for them.
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28 Oct 11
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05 Oct 11
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27 Aug 11
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09 Aug 11
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what’s new to you?
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what’s relevant
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Focus on points that directly relate to or illustrate your reading
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Dates of events
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Names of people:
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Theories
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Definitions
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Arguments and debates
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Images and exercises
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Other stuff:
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Your own questions
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Outlining:
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Mind-mapping:
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new sub-topics
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draw a branch outward from the center
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write the sub-topic along the branch
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each point under that heading gets its own, smaller branch off the main one
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new sub-topic
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he thing is, if a point should go under the first heading but you’re on the fourth heading, you can easily just draw it in on the first branch. Likewise, if a point connects to two different ideas, you can connect it to two different branches
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raw a new main branch from the center.
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The Cornell System
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In the largest section, you take notes normally — you can outline or mind-map or whatever. After the lecture, write a series of “cues” into the skinny column on the right, questions about the material you’ve just taken notes on. This will help you process the information from the lecture or reading, as well as providing a handy study tool when exams come along: simply cover the main section and try to answer the questions. In the bottom section, you write a short, 2-3 line summary in your own words of the material you’ve covered. Again, this helps you process the information by forcing you to use it in a new way; it also provides a useful reference when you’re trying to find something in your notes later.
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16 May 11
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27 Apr 11
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17 Apr 11
The purpose of note-taking is simple: to help you study better and more quickly. This means your notes don’t have to contain everything, they have to contain the most important things. And if you’re focused on capturing everything, you won’t have the spare mental “cycles” to recognize what’s truly important. Which means that later, when you’re studying for a big test or preparing a term paper, you’ll have to wade through all that extra garbage to uncover the few nuggets of important information?
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30 Jan 11
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28 Jan 11
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27 Dec 10
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13 Oct 10
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11 Oct 10
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29 Sep 10
Gale HamiltonNote-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else must have already taught students how to take notes. Then we sit around and complain that our stu
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21 Jun 10
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10 Jun 10
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’m sure I’m only scratching the surface of the variety of techniques and strategies people have come up with to take good notes. Some people use highlighters or colored pens; others a baroque system of post-it notes. I’ve tried to keep it simple and general, but the bottom line is that your system has to reflect the way you think. The problem is, most students haven’t given much thought to the way they think, leaving them scattered and at loose ends — and their notes reflect this. What advice do you have for the folks out there trying to get it all together this semester?
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17 May 10
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14 May 10
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11 Apr 10
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28 Mar 10
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27 Mar 10
Raistlin MajereOne of the reasons people have trouble taking effective notes is that they’re not really sure what notes are for. I think a lot of people, students and professionals alike, attempt to capture a complete record of a lecture, book, or meeting in their notes
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20 Feb 10
MLTThe Cornell System: The Cornell System is a simple but powerful system for increasing your recall and the usefulness of your notes. About a quarter of the way from the bottom of a sheet of paper, draw a line across the width of the page. Draw another line
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11 Jan 10
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10 Jan 10
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08 Jan 10
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07 Jan 10
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06 Jan 10
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Advice for Students: Taking Notes that Work
<script type="text/javascript">google_ad_client = "pub-9079061040234685"; /* Content - Body - 468x60 */ google_ad_slot = "2333262247"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;</script> <script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/expansion_embed.js"></script><script src="http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/test_domain.js"></script><script>google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);</script>Note-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else must have already taught students how to take notes. Then we sit around and complain that our students don’t know how to take notes.
I figure it’s about time to do something about that. Whether you’re a high school junior or a college senior or a grad student or a mid-level professional or the Attorney General of the United States, the ability to take effective, meaningful notes is a crucial skill. Not only do good notes help us recall facts and ideas we may have forgotten, the act of writing
things down helps many of us to remember them better in the first place.
What Do Notes Do?
One of the reasons people have trouble taking effective notes is that they’re not really sure what notes are for. I think a lot of people, students and professionals alike, attempt to capture a complete record of a lecture, book, or meeting in their notes — to create, in effect, minutes. This is a recipe for failure. Trying to get every last fact and figure down like that leaves no room for thinking about what you’re writing and how it fits together. If you have a personal assistant, by all means, ask him or her to write minutes; if you’re on your own, though, your notes have a different purpose to fulfill.
The purpose of note-taking is simple: to help you study better and more quickly. This means your notes don’t have to contain everything, they have to contain the most important things. And if you’re focused on capturing everything, you won’t have the spare mental “cycles” to recognize what’s truly important. Which means that later, when you’re studying for a big test or preparing a term paper, you’ll have to wade through all that extra garbage to uncover the few nuggets of important information?
What to Write Down
Your focus while taking notes should be two-fold. First, what’s new to you? There’s no point in writing down facts you already know. If you already know the Declaration of Independence was written and signed in 1776, there’s no reason to write that down. Anything you know you know you can leave out of your notes.
Second, what’s relevan
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21 Apr 09
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29 Mar 09
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The purpose of note-taking is simple: to help you study better and more quickly. This means your notes don’t have to contain everything, they have to contain the most important things.
-
our focus while taking notes should be two-fold. First, what’s new to you?
-
Anything you know you know you can leave out of your note
-
what’s relevant? What information is most likely to be of use later, whether on a test, in an essay, or in completing a project? Focus on points that directly relate to or illustrate your reading (which means you’ll have to have actually done the reading…)
-
- Theories: Any statement of a theory should be recorded — theories are the main points of most classes.
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- Definitions: Like theories, these are the main points and, unless you are positive you already know the definition of a term, should be written down. Keep in mind that many fields use everyday words in ways that are unfamiliar to us.
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- Images and exercises: Whenever an image is used to illustrate a point, or when an in-class exercise is performed, a few words are in order to record the experience. Obviously it’s overkill to describe every tiny detail, but a short description of a painting or a short statement about what the class did should be enough to remind you and help reconstruct the experience.
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Pay attention to other student’s comments, too — try to capture at least the gist of comments that add to your understanding.
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ut the bottom line is that your system has to reflect the way you think. The problem is, most students haven’t given much thought to the way they think
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22 Feb 09
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09 Feb 09
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05 Feb 09
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27 Jan 09
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02 Jan 09
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The purpose of note-taking is simple: to help you study better and more quickly. This means your notes don’t have to contain everything, they have to contain the most important things
-
what’s new to you
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what’s relevant
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Dates of events: Dates allow you to a) create a chronology, putting things in order according to when they happened, and b) understand the context of an event. For instance,
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Names of people
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Theories
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Definitions:
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Arguments and debates:
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02 Dec 08
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10 Nov 08
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11 Oct 08
John LeMasneyNote-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else
writing tutorial tools tips reference productivity organization lifehacks
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19 Sep 08
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01 Aug 08
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12 May 08
Rei G.Trying to get every last fact and figure down like that leaves no room for thinking about what you’re writing and how it fits together.
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16 Apr 08
cwdanielsNote-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else must have already taught students how to take notes. Then we sit around and complain that our stu
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26 Mar 08
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25 Mar 08
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24 Mar 08
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23 Mar 08
Jennifer DormanNote-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else must have already taught students how to take notes. Then we sit around and complain that our students don’t know how to take notes.
Notetaking education howto learning productivity school teaching notetaking notes
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03 Feb 08
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21 Jan 08
teruteru tarouNote-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else
productivity notetaking education howto learning lifehacks school notes
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06 Jan 08
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20 Dec 07
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29 Nov 07
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