How to Take Notes

Modified from: http://www.newtonhomestead.com/notesincollege.html

General Approach

Unless you are a shorthand expert, it is not possible to write down every word that a lecturer
speaks. Even if you were a shorthand expert, however, this approach would not be desirable.
Consider note-taking both an art and a science. With experience, it is possible to improve your
"eye" for discerning which of the ideas that a lecturer discusses are most important (an "art").
You can also learn to record these ideas most efficiently and meaningfully (a "science").

Before the Lecture

 Complete the assigned reading before you go to lecture. Some students argue that they
cannot understand the material until after they hear someone explaining it, while others
will argue that it is difficult to gain much from lecture unless they have completed the
readings. However, until you gain some experience in taking notes in college lectures,
you should do the readings before lecture. If you don’t have a lot of time, then at least
skim the assignment for key points, vocabulary words, and/or fundamental equations.
You will probably find that exposure to the material before lecture will enhance your
ability to focus on what the lecturer is trying to explain, reducing your feelings of
confusion or being overwhelmed by the subject material.

 Right before the lecture begins, label your note paper with the date and title of the lecture.
Be sure to number your pages.

 Consider writing in pencil, so that you can erase mistakes and avoid messy scribbles or
"cross-outs" that are inevitable when taking notes with a pen.

 Use the same type of paper for each lecture. Having a uniform set of notes at the end of
the quarter will help you maintain a feeling of organization and control over the material.

During the Lecture

 Become an "amateur psychologist." This means that you should try to "get into the
lecturer’s head" to understand what s/he is try to communicate, instead of just what s/he
is actually saying. Use the following questions to help you decide what you need to
understand and remember from lecture:
-- What is the main point of this idea?
-- How does this idea fit into the rest of the lecture?
-- How can I best summarize this idea?
  Learn to balance your time in lecture between listening closely to the speaker and writing
things down. Because most of what the lecturer says will be committed to your short-
term memory only, you should place an emphasis on writing down what is said and
waiting until later to understand the difficult or unclear concepts. Again, determining a
good balance between listening closely and taking notes rapidly will become easier with
practice.

 Use lots of space on your paper. Use headings, boxes, underlining, indentations, and
skipped lines to help you organize the main points of the lecture. Avoid cramming
information into a small space on your paper -- this only wastes time later when you’re
trying to decipher what you wrote down. Again, be an "amateur psychologist," and try to
imagine how the lecturer’s own notes have been organized for this class session.

 If you are allowed to ask questions during the lecture, do so. Be aggressive in asking the
lecturer to explain concepts that remain unclear to you.

 Leave blank spaces on your notes if an idea is unclear, so that you can go back later to fill
in the information.

After the Lecture

 If you have any questions, catch the lecturer for a few seconds right after class, before
s/he leaves the room. It is far easier to ask a question while the ideas are still fresh in
both your and the lecturer’s memories.

 Skim through your notes. Make any changes, correct any errors, and fill in blanks where
you didn’t have time to write things down during the lecture.

 Write the date on any handouts you receive. File your notes and these handouts in a 3-
ring binder in chronological order.

Analysis

Students sometimes have a hard time making the transition from high school to college. Students
who did extremely well in high school may find themselves struggling in college. Part of this can
be due to increased freedom and now having to structure their own time, rather than having it
done for them. Also, many students don't do as well because the style of teaching is so different.
High school instructors rely more on textbook learning, whereas college professors rely more on
lecture. Students find themselves inadequately prepared for this new style of teaching and have
to rethink their study habits and skills in order to succeed.
A relatively easy way for students to improve their retention and comprehension is by learning
how to effectively take notes. Several studies have been done on the importance of taking lecture
notes in college and how doing so improves a student's grades. First, it is important to understand
why taking notes is so crucial. A person's ability to remember material presented to them fades
very quickly.

According to Walter Pauk (1974), people lose their retention at the following rates:
20 minutes 47% forgotten
1 day 62% forgotten
2 days 69% forgotten
75 days 75% forgotten
78 days 78% forgotten

Cornell Note Taking Method

Modified from: http://ccc.byu.edu//learning/note-tak.php

Six steps in the Cornell note taking system:

Record
Reduce (or question)
Recite
Reflect
Review
Recapitulate

Record - Simply record as many facts and ideas as you can in the six-inch column. Do not be
concerned with getting every word down that the lecturer says or with writing your notes
grammatically correctly. Learn to write telegraphic sentences or a streamlined version of the
main points of the lecture by leaving out unnecessary words and using only key words. To ensure
that your notes make sense weeks later, after the lecture is over, fill in blanks or make incomplete
sentences complete.

Reduce or question - After you read through your notes, your next step is to reduce important
facts and ideas to key words or phrases, or to formulate questions based on the facts and ideas.
Key words, phrases, and questions are written in the narrow column left of the six-inch column.
The words and phrases act as memory cues so that when you review them, you will recall the
ideas or facts. The questions help to clarify the meanings of the facts and ideas.

Recite -Recitation is a very powerful process in the retention of information. Reciting is different
from rereading in that you state out loud and in your own words the facts and ideas you are trying
to learn. It is an effective way to learn because hearing your thoughts helps you to sharpen your
thinking process; and stating ideas and facts in your own words challenges you to think about the
meaning of the information. When reciting, cover up your notes in the six-inch column, while
leaving the cue words and questions uncovered and readily accessible. Next, read each key word
or question, then recite and state aloud, in your own words, the information. If your answer is
correct, continue on through the lecture by reciting aloud.

Reflect - Reflection is pondering or thinking about the information you have learned. Reflecting
is a step beyond learning note content. It reinforces deeper learning by the relating of facts and
ideas to other learning and knowledge. Questions like the following enhance reflecting: How do
these facts and ideas fit into what I already know? How can I apply them? How is knowing this
important? What is the significance of these facts and ideas?

Review - The way to prevent forgetting is to review and recite your notes frequently. A good
guideline to follow is to review your notes nightly or several times during the week by reciting,
not rereading. Brief review sessions planned throughout the semester, perhaps weekly, will aid
more complete comprehension and retention of information than will cramming the day before a
test. It will cut on stress too!

Recapitulate -The recapitulation or summary of your notes goes at the bottom of the note page
in the two-inch block column. Taking a few minutes after you have reduced, recited, and
reflected to summarize the facts and ideas in your notes will help you integrate your information.
The summary should not be a word-for-word rewriting of your notes. It should be in your own
words and reflect the main points you want to remember from your notes. Reading through your
summary(ies) in preparation for an exam is a good way to review.

There are three ways to go about summarizing:

1. Summarize each page of notes at the bottom of each page.
2. Summarize the whole lecture on the last page.
3. Do both 1 and 2, in combination.

The Sentence Method- Modified from:

http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/notetaking.systems.html#cornell

Method

Write every new thought, fact or topic on a separate line, numbering as you progress.

Advantages

Slightly more organized than the paragraph. Gets more or all of the information. Thinking to
tract content is still limited.

When to Use

Use when the lecture is somewhat organized, but heavy with content which comes fast. You can
hear the different points, but you don't know how they fit together. The instructor tends to present
in point fashion, but not in grouping such as "three related points."
Three Examples:

Example 1:
A revolution is any occurrence that affects other aspects of life, such as economic life, social life,
and so forth. Therefore revolutions cause change. (See page 29 to 30 in your text about this.)

Sample Notes:
Revolution - occurrence that affects other aspects of life: e.g., econ., socl., etc. C.f. text, pp. 29-
30

Example 2:
Melville did not try to represent life as it really was. The language of Ahab, Starbuck, and
Ishmael, for instance, was not that of real life.

Sample Notes:
Mel didn't repr. life as was; e.g., lang. of Ahab, etc. not of real life.

Example 3:
At first, Freud tried conventional, physical methods of treatment such as giving baths, massages,
rest cures, and similar aids. But when these failed, he tried techniques of hypnosis that he had
seen used by Jean-Martin Charcot. Finally, he borrowed an idea from Jean Breuer and used
direct verbal communication to get an unhypnotized patient to reveal unconscious thoughts.

Sample Notes:
Freud 1st -- used phys. trtment; e.g., baths, etc. This fld. 2nd -- used hypnosis (fr. Charcot)
Finally -- used dirct vrb. commun. (fr. Breuer) - got unhynop, patnt to reveal uncons. thoughts.

Bibliography

Deese, James and Ellin K. Deese. How To Study (3rd ed). New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1979.

Johnson, Sue. The 4 T's: Teacher/You, Text, Talk, Test - A Systematic Approach To Learning
Success. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Pauk, Walter. How To Study In College (2nd Ed). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.

Raygor, Alton L. and David Wark. Systems For Study. New York: McGraw- Hill, Inc, 1970.