Note Taking Basics

ASC
Tamara Taylor
Fall 2 2002
Intensive English Language Institute
University of North Texas
Denton, Texas USA

Note taking is an
important part of
academic life.
To be successful at note taking, you
need to
Improve your listening skills.
Develop your note taking skills.
Be able to use your notes to study.

Like All Skills

Listening and note taking improve
ONLY
with practice.
Practice every day for 5-10 minutes.

Note taking = Dictation

Note taking is writing complete ideas;
dictation is writing complete
sentences.

Examples
Dictation:

History 1002 meets 2 days a

week, from 10:00 am to
10:50.
Notes:
Hist 1002

2 d/wk

10 10:50 am

Successful Note taking:

Listen for KEY WORDS
cau

ses

FACT
ORS

ent
m
p
o
l
e
dev
f
o
s
Stage

techno

logy

First - costs
s
e
c
n
e
r
e
f
dif

Successful Note
taking:

Use space. Move your hand

Three keys to
green
environment
educate public,
improve
techno., and
help increase
demand for
recycling.

3 keys to green environ

1- educate public
2- improve tech.
3-help incr. demand for
recy.ing

Use space to show

relationships.
Use vertical space.
3 keys to green environ
1- educate public
2- improve tech.
3-help incr. demand
for recy.ing

Use horizontal space.

Gas Use -Factors
Europe

U.S

Less
More $$
More trains
+pub transp.

good hwys
cheap gas
auto ind.
oil comp.

Use headings to
organize ideas.
Gas Use -Factors
Europe

U.S

Less
More $$
More trains
+pub transp.

good hwys
cheap gas
auto ind.
oil comp.

To create headings,
use CAPITAL LETTERS

BOXES

underline
- - indent below the
heading

Use symbols and

abbreviations.
Mr
Mrs
w/
pop
&
x

=
%

w/o

Note complete ideas,

not just random
words.
Pop of UNT

pop of TWU

1990 intl st < 2% of UNT st

BUT now > 9+%

Get the BIG

PICTURE!
Whats the speakers
main point?
What does he want
you to learn?

In the university-Develop your own style.

After the lecture,
rewrite your notes ASAP
(as soon as possible).

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One More Point

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Quantity is important!

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or

Now lets change

sentences to ideas . . .

Change dictation
into notes:
Studies on worldwide literacy* rates show that almost 80
percent of the worlds population over the age of 15 is
now literate. This includes more women than ever before.

*Literacy = ability to read

One way to write

this info
Studies ww literacy rt = almost 80 % world pop over 15
yrs now literate
+ grtr # of women than bef

Change dictation
into notes:
UNESCOs study shows a drop in illiteracy from twentytwo and four-tenths percent of the world population in
1995 to twenty and three tenths in 2000.

One way to write

this info
UNESCOs st shows
2000

fr 22.4% ww pop in 95 to 20.3% in

What important information is missing? What is the decrease in?

The LITERACY rate INCREASED the drop was in the number of

people who CANNOT read the ILLITERACY rate dropped.

Another way to
write it.
WW literacy rates
- almost 80% of ww pop 15+ yrs - literate
- more women than bef
- illiteracy

1995
22.4% (ww pop)

2000
20.3%

Remember
Use
Key words
Space
Headings
Abbreviations
and
symbols
Complete ideas
Quantity!

Remember
Get the big
picture!
Rewrite your
notes.
Develop your own
style practice,
and
Practice,
practice.