Writing and Study Skills Seminar

Writing Centre Seminar

Rosie Gronthos

How to Take Great Notes

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Welcome

I hope this talk will develop your note-taking

skills by providing you with useful strategies

to take efficient and accurate notes from

your readings and during lectures.

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Outline

• Why is note-taking an important skill?• Taking notes during lectures• Note-taking strategies for reading • Note taking abbreviations• Five Rs of Note-Taking• How to structure and maintain notes?• Mind Mapping• Useful Learning Guides

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Why is note-taking an important skill?

• Requires critical thinking and active listening • Interactive activity

The purpose of your note-taking will determine how you make notes.

NOTETAKING INVOLVES ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION

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Taking notes during lectures

• Make your notes brief • Use abbreviations and symbols but be

consistent• Put most notes in your own words• Use outline form and/or a numbering system • If you miss a statement, write keywords,

skip a few spaces and get the information later

• Don't try to use every space on the page• Date your notes and number the pages

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Ways to organise information in notes

• Give each lecture a title. Ask yourself, “What is this all about?”

• Highlight headings and subheadings• Indent information under the related heading• Under headings and subheadings, list

important details with bullets, numbers/letters

• Use different note structuring techniques for different kinds of material

• Make graphs and diagrams large enough to read easily and label them

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Effective note-taking

The more you think about the lecture

(listen actively and take good notes)

the more you will understand.

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Note-taking strategies for reading

• Start with a thesis statement and only note the main points

• Add your own comments in brackets to make links with other readings

What is the text actually saying?What is being assumed?• Ask questions to prompt further thinking

about the topic• Put direct quotes in quotation marks with

the page number

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Note-taking abbreviations

• Leave out most articles and conjunctions (the, a, and, but)

• Shorten words by leaving out vowels/other letters (word truncation)

• Use abbreviations/symbols for commonly used words and phrases

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Examples of word truncations

• Ppl: people• res: research• natl: national• eqn: equation• ed: education• gov: government• dep: department• esp: especially• ustand: understand

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Common symbols and abbreviations

∵ because∴ therefore OR consequently+& and OR plus? question OR doubt OR possibility> greater than< less than

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Note-taking tips

• Don't write down everything that you read/hear• Use keywords/short sentences • Take accurate notes • Think a minute about your material before you start

making notes • Use a punctuation & abbreviation system that

makes sense to you • Don't worry about missing a point• Keep orderly and clear notes • Shortly after making your notes go back and rework

(not redo) your notes• Review your notes regularly

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Save time on note-taking

DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!

As you make notes, you will develop skill in selecting important material and in

discarding unimportant material.

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Importance of active listening

Use active listening skills when note-

taking

The aim is to recall more information

from your lectures through active listening

and purposeful note-taking.

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Five Rs of Note-Taking

• Record• Reduce Summarising as you study helps to:

Clarify meanings & relationships of ideasReinforce continuityStrengthen memory retentionPrepare for exams

• Recite• Reflect• ReviewPauk, W 1989 How to Study in College 4th edn Houghton

Mifflin, Boston, MA.

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How to structure and maintain notes?

• Make your notes brief • Abbreviate whenever possible• Put notes into your own words• Formulas, definitions & specific facts (use exact

wording)• Number/indent items to distinguish between

major & minor points• Highlight unfamiliar terminology & unclear areas• Develop questions for your classmates /tutor to

help clarify concepts• If you miss something completely leave a blank

space & locate information later• Develop a coding system to mark your notes

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Mind Mapping

• Begin in the middle of the page • Add ideas on branches that radiate

from the central idea or from previous branches

• Arrows and words can be used to show links between parts of the concept map

• Colour and symbols help illustrate ideas and trigger your own thoughts

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How to mind map?

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Useful Learning Guides

• Making Notes• Note-taking Abbreviations• Active Listening• Mind Mapping• Reading Effectively

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To sum up

• Note-taking is an interactive activity that requires critical thinking

• Using abbreviations, keywords and symbols will enable you to take notes more quickly

• Find your own method of taking notes by developing your active listening and purposeful note-taking skills

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For further thoughts

• Thank you. Are there any questions?

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