Note Taking - Best Practices

 

Taking notes during class, and as you read related sources will factor significantly in your overall grade for the class. Consider these six steps when taking notes:

 

(1) Organize the blank page

• draw a line down each sheet of paper you’ll use, making two columns. One column should be one-third of the width of the paper, and the other should be two-thirds. You should take notes in the wider column, leaving the narrow column blank.
• After class is over, or you have finished reading, you should use the blank column to create questions or summaries about the material and use the questions and summaries to quiz themselves on the lecture notes.
• Questions should be at higher levels on Bloom’s taxonomy. Ask questions that are not merely factual—you need questions that apply the material that you're learning (e.g., How will this court case impact the future of elections?; Why would this particular demographic group vote this way?)

 

(2) Putting in time is important

• I can’t make you do this, BUT I strongly encourage you to set aside dedicated study time to review notes, reread summaries, and answer the questions that you created about your notes.

 

(3) Pen beats computer

• research has proven that the act of taking notes in longhand involves deeper processing than doing so on a laptop or tablet. Typing on a device tends to be mere transcription, while longhand involves summarizing and interpreting.
  

 

(4) Make use of the margins

• write comments or questions about the material on the edges of the paper & revisit later. This will allow you to focus on the content more fully.
  

 

(5) Rereading is essential

• When students reread their notes and the textbook, they should add additional comments about how those two sources can be integrated. For example, when the textbook discusses a term, they can write a few words in the margin about the example you used during class. When the notes provide a description of a concept, they can write a new note about a point in the textbook that illustrates that concept. This practice requires them to think about course concepts at a deeper level, which should lead to easier recall and better understanding.
  

 

(6) Use abbreviations for speed

• brainstorm or find abbreviations that you can use for recurring words so that you won’t need as much time to write them down when taking notes—for example, “b/c” instead of “because”
  
• you will save a lot of time this way, allowing you to capture more of the content as it is delivered.

 

 

My first semester in college, I learned real quick that I was deficient in taking notes. I soon discovered a method that drastically changed my approach to taking notes and improved my grades dramatically. The method is called the Cornell Method. By clicking on the link, you can see a visual of what this method looks like:   Cornell_Notes_Sample.pdf