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Taking Effective Notes

Let’s be honest: Note taking isn’t the most exciting topic to study. In fact, you probably groaned at the thought of reading a whole chapter about taking notes. Now that we’ve got this out in the open, how can you approach this chapter with a positive attitude? Try to change your thinking about note taking.

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At its heart, note taking is much more than writing or typing words: It’s a way to record, organize, and manage information so that you can learn from and use it. To be a good note-taker, you need to recognize which information is most important, figure out how to record the information so it’s clear, and use your notes to study. When you build these skills — as you’ll do by using the strategies in this chapter — you’ll better understand what you’re learning and, as a result, perform better on exams and homework assignments. In short, note taking is a survival skill for college.

Note taking can also help you learn and manage information at work. For example, suppose you’re meeting with team members to kick off a new project. During the meeting you take notes about your role in moving the project forward and how you’ll interact with others on the team once the project is launched. Or let’s say you work for an advertising agency. You’re in charge of designing an ad campaign for a new client, so you call the client to talk about that company’s product and its goals for the campaign. You take notes during the phone conversation. Later, when you start thinking in more depth about how to tackle the project, you use your notes to generate ideas.

In this chapter we present a four-step strategy for taking notes: (1) prepare to take notes; (2) actively listen, watch, read, and participate when you read or attend a lecture; (3) record information; and (4) review your notes. We then examine four note-taking methods: outlining, the Cornell system, mapping, and charting. Next, we explore specific strategies for taking notes in math, science, and online courses. Finally, we show how note taking can help you excel at your job.

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