Note-Taking Techniques

Whatever note-taking system you choose, follow these important steps:

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  1. Identify the main ideas. Well-organized lectures always contain key points. The first principle of effective note taking is to identify and write down the most important ideas around which the lecture is built. Although supporting details are also important, focus your note taking on the main ideas. Such ideas can be buried in details, statistics, anecdotes, or problems, but you will need to identify and record them for further study.

    Some instructors announce the purpose of a lecture or offer an outline, thus providing you with the skeleton of main ideas followed by the details. Other instructors develop PowerPoint presentations. If they make these materials available on a class Web site before the lecture, you can print them and take notes on the teacher’s outline or next to the PowerPoint slides.

    Some lecturers change their tone of voice or repeat themselves for each key idea. Some ask questions or promote discussion. If a lecturer says something more than once, chances are that it is important. Ask yourself: What does my instructor want me to know at the end of today’s class?

  2. Don’t try to write down everything. Some first-year students try to do just that. They stop being thinkers and become stenographers. As you take notes, leave spaces so that you can fill in additional details that you might have missed during class but remember later. Take the time to review and complete your notes as soon after class as possible.
  3. Don’t be thrown by a disorganized lecturer. When a lecture is disorganized, it’s your job to try to organize what is said into general and specific frameworks. When the order is not apparent, you will need to indicate in your notes where the gaps are. After the lecture, consult the reading material or classmates to fill in these gaps or ask your instructor. Most instructors have regular office hours for student appointments, yet it is amazing how few students use these opportunities for one-on-one instruction. Asking questions can help your instructor find out which parts of the lecture need more attention and clarification.
  4. Keep your notes and supplementary materials for each course in a separate three-ring binder. Label the binder with the course number and name. If the binders are too bulky to carry in your backpack, create a separate folder for each class stocked with loose-leaf notebook paper. Before class, label and date the paper you will be using for taking notes. Then, as soon after class as possible, move your notes from the folder to the binder.
  5. Download any notes, outlines, or diagrams, charts, graphs, and other visuals from the instructor’s Web site before class and bring them with you. You might be able to save yourself considerable time during the lecture if you do not have to try to copy complicated graphs and diagrams while the instructor is talking. Instead, you can focus on the ideas being presented while adding your own labels and notes to the visual images.
  6. Organize your notes chronologically in your binder. Then create separate tabbed sections for homework, lab assignments, returned tests, and other materials.
  7. If handouts are distributed in class, label them and place them in your binder near the notes for that day. Buy a portable three-ring-hole punch that can be kept in your binder. Do not let handouts accumulate in your folders; add any handouts to your binders as you review your notes each day.
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Taking Notes in Nonlecture Courses. Always be ready to adapt your note-taking methods to match the situation. Group discussion is becoming a popular way to teach in college because it engages students in active participation. On your campus you might also have Supplemental Instruction (SI) classes that provide further opportunity to discuss the information presented in lectures. How do you keep a record of what’s happening in nonlecture classes? Assume that you are taking notes in a problem-solving group assignment. You would begin your notes by asking yourself: What is the problem? Then you would write down the answer. As the discussion progresses, you would list the solutions that are offered. These solutions would be your main ideas. The important details might include the positive and negative aspects of each view or solution. The important things to remember when taking notes in nonlecture courses are that you need to record the information presented by your classmates as well as by the instructor and that you need to consider all reasonable ideas, even though they might differ from your own.

Supplemental Instruction (SI) Classes that provide further opportunity to discuss the information presented in lectures.

When a course has separate lecture and discussion sessions, you will need to understand how the discussion sessions or SI classes relate to and augment the lectures. If different material is covered in lecture or discussion, you might need to ask for guidance in organizing your notes. When similar topics are covered, you can combine your notes so that you have comprehensive, unified coverage of each topic.

How to organize the notes you take in a class discussion depends on the purpose or form of the discussion. It usually makes good sense to begin with the list of issues or topics that the discussion leader announces. Another approach is to list the questions that participants raise for discussion. If the discussion explores reasons for and against a particular argument, divide your notes into columns or sections for pros and cons. When conflicting views are presented in discussion, record different perspectives and the rationales behind them. Your teacher might ask you to defend your own opinions in comparison to those of other students.

Taking Notes in Science and Mathematics Courses. Many mathematics and science courses build on each other from term to term and from year to year. When you take notes in these courses, you will likely need to refer to them in the future. For example, when taking organic chemistry, you might need to refer to notes taken in earlier chemistry courses. This practice can be particularly important when time has passed since your last related course, such as after a summer break. Taking notes in math and science courses can be different from taking notes in other types of classes. The Tips for Note Taking in Math and Science Classes box below offers tips to keep in mind specifically when taking notes in math and science classes.

Using Technology to Take Notes. Although some students use laptops for note taking, others prefer taking notes by hand so that they can easily circle important items or copy complex equations or diagrams while they are being presented. If you handwrite your notes, entering them on a computer after class for review purposes might be helpful, especially if you are a kinesthetic learner. After class you can also cut and paste diagrams and other visual representations into your notes and print a copy that might be easier to read than notes you wrote by hand.

Some students, especially aural learners, find it advantageous to record lectures, but if you do so, resist the temptation to become passive in class instead of actively listening. Students with specific types of disabilities might be urged to record lectures or use the services of note takers who type on a laptop while the student views the notes on a separate screen.

TIPS FOR NOTE TAKING IN MATH AND SCIENCE CLASSES

  • Write down any equations, formulas, diagrams, charts, graphs, and definitions that the instructor puts on the board or screen.
  • Quote the instructor’s words as precisely as possible. Technical terms often have exact meanings and cannot be paraphrased.
  • Use standard symbols, abbreviations, and scientific notation.
  • Write down all worked problems and examples, step by step. They often provide the template for exam questions. Actively engage in solving the problem yourself as it is being solved at the front of the class. Be sure that you can follow the logic and understand the sequence of steps. If you have questions that you cannot ask during the lecture, write them down in your notes so that you can ask them in discussion, in the lab, or during the instructor’s office hours.
  • Consider taking your notes in pencil or erasable pen. You might need to make changes if you are copying long equations while also trying to pay attention to the instructor. You want to keep your notes as neat as possible. Later, you can use colored ink to add other details.
  • Listen carefully to other students’ questions and the instructor’s answers. Take notes on the discussion and during question-and-answer periods.
  • Use asterisks, exclamation points, question marks, or symbols of your own to highlight important points in your notes or questions that you need to come back to when you review.
  • Refer back to the textbook after class; the text might contain more accurate diagrams and other visual representations than you can draw while taking notes in class. If they are not provided in handouts or on the instructor’s Web site, you might even want to scan or photocopy diagrams from the text and include them with your notes in your binder.
  • Keep your binders for math and science courses until you graduate (or even longer if there is any chance that you will attend graduate school at some point in the future). They will serve as beneficial review materials for later classes in math and science and for preparing for standardized tests such as the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) or the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). In some cases, these notes can also prove helpful in the workplace.