assignment technique notes

The Best Note-Taking Methods for College Students & Serious Note-takers

Which is the best note-taking method for you?

There are hundreds of different ways you can take notes — but not all are created equal.

The most effective note-taking methods will help you not only understand the concepts you’re learning better, but help you easily revisit and revise the material easily when exams roll around.

But the best one for you can depend on your subject/topic, learning style, and even how your lecturer teaches.

So, here’s an overview of the best note-taking methods for college students, how to apply each, and when you should (or shouldn’t) use each one!

Note-taking method #1: The Outline method

The Outline Method is one of the most structured note-taking methods, and visually looks very organized.

Add your main points as bullet points, and elaborate on them underneath. For any piece of supporting information, create a nested bullet point below it. Remember to keep your points brief, preferably around one sentence per point.

The finished note should look similar to an outline.

When to use this note-taking method

The outline method is ideal for when you need to jot down information quickly, like during lectures or meetings.

With its clear structure, you can easily see the hierarchy of information, and what ideas correlate to which point.

• Highlights key points of the topic
• Allows you to group related points together
• Highly structured and visually organized, making it revision friendly
• Not great for subjects that require many diagrams, charts, or visuals

Note-taking method #2: The Cornell Method

The Cornell note-taking method is one of the most popular and renowned note-taking techniques, created by Prof. Walter Pauk of Cornell University in the 1950s. It’s designed to make you actively think about your notes as you go along, rather than mindlessly jotting things down.

• All notes from the class go into the main note-taking column.
• The smaller column on the left side is for comments, questions or hints about the actual notes.
• After the lecture, you should take a moment to summarize the main ideas of the page in the section at the bottom which will speed up your reviewing and studying process immensely. The best part is that many people already remember and digest the information while they write a summary like this.

Cornell notes are especially effective for studying, because of how easy it is to revise from afterwards.

• Helps you extract the main ideas
• Writing the summary gives you a better level of understanding on the topic
• Your notes are already logically organized and easy to skim when it comes time to revise
• Takes a bit more effort when taking notes
• Requires some time to set up the page

(To help you get you started, try this free Cornell notes template .)

Note-taking method #3: The Boxing Method

The Boxing Method is a highly visual note-taking method. It gives you an at-a-glance overview of your topic.

Each section or subtopic of your notes will live in its own labeled box

This method was originally coined by a Goodnotes user, ipadstudying. Note-taking apps like Goodnotes are especially helpful for this method, because you can draw boxes and straight lines without the help of a ruler .

We recommend using this for revision. Each page or set of notes will be for one course or topic. In each of the boxes, summarize the key points from each individual lecture (or subtopic). Label the boxes accordingly.

At the end, you have one summary page of all the key points for that course.

• Helpful to create during revision
• Gives you a summary of each lecture, chapter, or subtopic at a glance
• Not a suitable method for lecture or meeting notes, when you have to be able to jot things down quickly
• Can be a hassle if you’re drawing boxes freehand (as opposed to using a note-taking app)

Note-taking method #4: The Charting Method

The charting method is a great way to organize different items or concepts that all share several properties.

For example, if you were studying up on chemical elements, each row would be a different element, and columns would list out their properties, such as atomic mass, melting point, color, etc.

Here is a summary of this article in a note written with the charting note-taking method:

Charts are useful when comparing items across a certain set of characteristics.

• Great for comparison
• Summarize a series of items in a systematic way
• Not effective for more linear note-taking or notes that follow a story/progression of information

Note-taking method #5: The Mapping Method

Another visual note-taking style is the Mapping Method.

It allows you to organize your notes by dividing them into branches, enabling you to establish relationships between the topics.

Start with writing the main topic at the top of the map. Keep dividing it into subtopics on the left and right as you go down. You can also try a mind map format, where you start in the middle and branch outward.

When to use this note-taking method:

This method is perfect for when individual points require a lot of explanation. It also works for when your notes follow a linear progression or a story.

• Easy to create and follow ideas
• Easily demonstrate relationships between information
• Elaborate on points without cluttering your page
• You may run out of space on the page if you have many branches of information

Goodnotes Tip : If you run out of space while writing in Goodnotes, just switch to a larger paper template, or lasso tool all your writing and shrink it.

Note-taking Method #6: The Zettelkasten Method

Ever wanted to create your own personal wiki? 

The Zettelkasten method is designed to help capture and organize knowledge for long-term reference and development. You write one idea or learning onto one card (a "zettel"), and store it in a box (a "kasten"). You create connections between note cards with tags. In this way, you create a growing encyclopedia of knowledge over a certain topic.

These aren't the type of notes for recording lectures or meetings, but works well for accumulating knowledge on specific topics over time.

While you wouldn’t use the Zettelkasten note-taking method during a biology lecture, you could create a Zettelkasten at the beginning of your degree and continuously add your learnings about biology throughout the four years. 

• Great way to create a homebase for your knowledge
• Easy to review, as notes are concise
• Can take some time to set up if you want to do it digitally

Note-taking Method #7: Mind Mapping

A mind map is a visual way to show information and ideas. It starts with a central topic and uses branches and sub-branches to connect related details or ideas.

Not to be confused with the mapping method discussed earlier, mind maps are amazing for synthesizing new ideas. Without a lot of structure, you can let your ideas flow from one to the next, and see where it takes you.

Mind maps are great to use as a revision method or brainstorming aid. Simply put down everything that comes to mind, and create connections between them.

• Break down large ideas into smaller pieces
• Create and discover new connections between different ideas
• Visually presents ideas and how different elements are related
• Not the best for recording meetings or lectures in the moment

Curious about the app featured in this article?

Goodnotes is one of the most popular note-taking apps for handwritten notes on the iPad — especially amongst students. With Goodnotes you can:

• Take handwritten notes and search them afterwards
• Annotate your PDF or PowerPoint lecture slides or articles
• Easily organize your notes into notebooks, folders, and keep everything synced across your iPad, Mac, and iPhone

Get Goodnotes for free today, and start taking more effective notes !

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The Cornell Note Taking System

Why do you take notes? What do you hope to get from your notes? What are Cornell Notes and how do you use the Cornell note-taking system?

There are many ways to take notes. It’s helpful to try out different methods and determine which work best for you in different situations. Whether you are learning online or in person, the physical act of writing can help you remember better than just listening or reading. Research shows that taking notes by hand is more effective than typing on a laptop. This page and our Canvas module will teach you about different note-taking systems and styles and help you determine what will work best for your situation.

In our Cornell Note Taking System module you will:

• Examine your current note taking system
• Explore different note taking strategies (including the Cornell Notes system)
• Assess which strategies work best for you in different situations

The best way to explore your current note-taking strategies and learn about the Cornell note taking system is to go through our Canvas note taking module. The module will interactively guide you through how to use Cornell Notes –  click on the link here or the button below. This module is publicly available.

Just want to see a bit more about Cornell Notes? You can view the videos below.

Watch: What are Cornell Notes?

Watch: Learn how students use the Cornell Note Taking System

The Cornell Note-Taking System was originally developed by Cornell education professor, Walter Pauk. Prof. Pauk outlined this effective note-taking method in his book, How to Study in College (1).

•   Pauk, Walter; Owens, Ross J. Q. (2010).  How to Study in College  (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.  ISBN   978-1-4390-8446-5 .  Chapter 10: “The Cornell System: Take Effective Notes”, pp. 235-277

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

4.4 Got Notes?

Learning objectives.

• Explain why taking notes is important.
• Use the four primary methods of note taking: lists, outlines, concept maps, and the Cornell method.
• Define which methods support your learning style and the instructor’s teaching style.
• Apply strategies to make note taking more effective.
• Use some effective strategies if you happen to miss a class.
• Organize your notes into effective study guides.
• Use teacher handouts to complement your notes.
• Determine what to do with your notes after the course is complete.

Everybody takes notes, or at least everybody claims to. But if you take a close look, many who are claiming to take notes on their laptops are actually surfing the Web, and paper notebooks are filled with doodles interrupted by a couple of random words with an asterisk next to them reminding you that “This is important!” In college, these approaches will not work. In college, your instructors expect you to make connections between class lectures and reading assignments; they expect you to create an opinion about the material presented; they expect you to make connections between the material and life beyond college. Your notes are your road maps for these thoughts. Do you take good notes? After learning to listen, note taking is the most important skill to ensure your success in a class.

Effective note taking is important because it

• supports your listening efforts,
• allows you to test your understanding of the material,
• helps you remember the material better when you write key ideas down,
• gives you a sense of what the instructor thinks is important,
• creates your “ultimate study guide.”

There are various forms of taking notes, and which one you choose depends on both your personal style and the instructor’s approach to the material. Each can be used in a notebook, index cards, or in a digital form on your laptop. No specific type is good for all students and all situations, so we recommend that you develop your own style, but you should also be ready to modify it to fit the needs of a specific class or instructor. To be effective, all of these methods require you to listen actively and to think; merely jotting down words the instructor is saying will be of little use to you.

Table 4.2 Note-Taking Methods

The List Method

Figure 4.3 The List Method of Note Taking

The list method is usually not the best choice because it is focused exclusively on capturing as much of what the instructor says as possible, not on processing the information. Most students who have not learned effective study skills use this method, because it’s easy to think that this is what note taking is all about. Even if you are skilled in some form of shorthand, you should probably also learn one of the other methods described here, because they are all better at helping you process and remember the material. You may want to take notes in class using the list method, but transcribe your notes to an outline or concept map method after class as a part of your review process. It is always important to review your notes as soon as possible after class and write a summary of the class in your own words.

The Outline Method

Figure 4.4 The Outline Method of Note Taking

The advantage of the outline method is that it allows you to prioritize the material. Key ideas are written to the left of the page, subordinate ideas are then indented, and details of the subordinate ideas can be indented further. To further organize your ideas, you can use the typical outlining numbering scheme (starting with roman numerals for key ideas, moving to capital letters on the first subordinate level, Arabic numbers for the next level, and lowercase letters following.) At first you may have trouble identifying when the instructor moves from one idea to another. This takes practice and experience with each instructor, so don’t give up! In the early stages you should use your syllabus to determine what key ideas the instructor plans to present. Your reading assignments before class can also give you guidance in identifying the key ideas.

If you’re using your laptop computer for taking notes, a basic word processing application (like Microsoft Word or Works) is very effective. Format your document by selecting the outline format from the format bullets menu. Use the increase or decrease indent buttons to navigate the level of importance you want to give each item. The software will take care of the numbering for you!

After class be sure to review your notes and then summarize the class in one or two short paragraphs using your own words. This summary will significantly affect your recall and will help you prepare for the next class.

The Concept Map Method

Figure 4.5 The Concept Map Method of Note Taking

This is a very graphic method of note-taking that is especially good at capturing the relationships among ideas. Concept maps harness your visual sense to understand complex material “at a glance.” They also give you the flexibility to move from one idea to another and back easily (so they are helpful if your instructor moves freely through the material).

To develop a concept map, start by using your syllabus to rank the ideas you will listen to by level of detail (from high-level or abstract ideas to detailed facts). Select an overriding idea (high level or abstract) from the instructor’s lecture and place it in a circle in the middle of the page. Then create branches off that circle to record the more detailed information, creating additional limbs as you need them. Arrange the branches with others that interrelate closely. When a new high-level idea is presented, create a new circle with its own branches. Link together circles or concepts that are related. Use arrows and symbols to capture the relationship between the ideas. For example, an arrow may be used to illustrate cause or effect, a double-pointed arrow to illustrate dependence, or a dotted arrow to illustrate impact or effect.

As with all note-taking methods, you should summarize the chart in one or two paragraphs of your own words after class.

The Cornell Method

Figure 4.6 The Cornell Method of Note Taking

The Cornell method was developed in the 1950s by Professor Walter Pauk at Cornell University. It is recommended by most colleges because of its usefulness and flexibility. This method is simple to use for capturing notes, is helpful for defining priorities, and is a very helpful study tool.

The Cornell method follows a very specific format that consists of four boxes: a header, two columns, and a footer.

The header is a small box across the top of the page. In it you write identification information like the course name and the date of the class. Underneath the header are two columns: a narrow one on the left (no more than one-third of the page) and a wide one on the right. The wide column, called the “notes” column, takes up most of the page and is used to capture your notes using any of the methods outlined earlier. The left column, known as the “cue” or “recall” column, is used to jot down main ideas, keywords, questions, clarifications, and other notes. It should be used both during the class and when reviewing your notes after class. Finally, use the box in the footer to write a summary of the class in your own words. This will help you make sense of your notes in the future and is a valuable tool to aid with recall and studying.

Using Index Cards for the Cornell Method

Some students like to use index cards to take notes. They actually lend themselves quite well to the Cornell method. Use the “back” or lined side of the card to write your notes in class. Use one card per key concept. The “front” unlined side of the card replaces the left hand “cue” column. Use it after class to write keywords, comments, or questions. When you study, the cards become flash cards with questions on one side and answers on the other. Write a summary of the class on a separate card and place it on the top of the deck as an introduction to what was covered in the class.

I used to tape my lecture classes so I could fill in my sketchy notes afterward. Now that I’m using the Cornell system, my notes are complete and organized in much less time. And my regular five-minute reviews make learning almost painless. No more taping and listening twice.

a student at Southern Methodist University

You will have noticed that all methods end with the same step: reviewing your notes as soon as possible after class. Any review of your notes is helpful (reading them, copying them into your computer, or even recasting them using another note-taking method). But THINK! Make your review of notes a thoughtful activity, not a mindless process. When you review your notes, think about questions you still have and determine how you will get the answers. (From the next class? Studying with a friend? Looking up material in your text or on the net?) Examine how the material applies to the course; make connections with notes from other class sessions, with material in your text, and with concepts covered in class discussions. Finally, it’s fun to think about how the material in your notes applies to real life. Consider this both at the very strategic level (as in “What does this material mean to me in relation to what I want to do with my life?”) as well as at a very mundane level (as in “Is there anything cool here I can work into a conversation with my friends?”).

Instructor Handouts

Some instructors hand out or post their notes or their PowerPoint slides from their lectures. These handouts should never be considered a substitute for taking notes in class. They are a very useful complement and will help you confirm the accuracy of your notes, but they do not involve you in the process of learning as well as your own notes do. After class, review your notes with highlighter in hand and mark keywords and ideas in your notes. This will help you write the summary of the class in your own words.

General Tips on Note Taking

Regardless of what note-taking method you choose, there are some note-taking habits you should get into for all circumstances and all courses:

• Be prepared. Make sure you have the tools you need to do the job. If you are using a notebook, be sure you have it with you and that you have enough paper. Also be sure to have your pen (as well as a spare) and perhaps a pen with different colored ink to use for emphasis. If you are taking notes on your laptop, make sure the battery is charged! Select the application that lends itself best to your style of note taking. Microsoft Word works very well for outline notes, but you might find taking notes in Excel to work best if you are working within the Cornell method. (It’s easier to align your thoughts in the cue or recall column to your notes in the right column. Just be sure you keep one idea per row!)
• Write on only one side of the paper. This will allow you to integrate your reading notes with your class notes.
• Label, number, and date all notes at the top of each page. This will help you keep organized.
• When using a laptop, position it such that you can see the instructor and white board right over your screen. This will keep the instructor in your field of vision even if you have to glance at your screen or keyboard from time to time. Make sure your focus remains with the instructor and not on your laptop. A word of caution about laptops for note taking: use them if you are very adept at keyboarding, but remember that not all note-taking methods work well on laptops because they do not easily allow you to draw diagrams and use special notations (scientific and math formulas, for example).
• Don’t try to capture everything that is said. Listen for the big ideas and write them down. Make sure you can recognize the instructor’s emphasis cues and write down all ideas and keywords the instructor emphasizes. Listen for clues like “the four causes were…” or “to sum up.…”
• Copy anything the instructor writes on the board. It’s likely to be important.
• Leave space between ideas. This allows you to add additional notes later (e.g., notes on the answer to a question you or one of your classmates asked).
• Use signals and abbreviations. Which ones you use is up to you, but be consistent so you will know exactly what you mean by “att.” when you review your notes. You may find it useful to keep a key to your abbreviations in all your notebooks.
• Use some method for identifying your own thoughts and questions to keep them separate from what the instructor or textbook author is saying. Some students use different color ink; others box or underline their own thoughts. Do whatever works for you.
• Create a symbol to use when you fall behind or get lost in your note taking. Jot down the symbol, leave some space, and focus on what the instructor is covering now. Later you can ask a classmate or the professor to help you fill in what you missed, or you can find it in your textbook.
• Review your notes as soon after class as possible (the same day is best). This is the secret to making your notes work! Use the recall column to call out the key ideas and organize facts. Fill in any gaps in your notes and clean up or redraw hastily drawn diagrams.
• Write a summary of the main ideas of the class in your own words. This process is a great aid to recall. Be sure to include any conclusions from the lecture or discussion.

Journal Entry

Choose one of your classes where you normally take notes. Make a conscious effort to use the Cornell method with either the outline or concept map method for taking your notes. Follow as many steps listed previously as possible. Now compare these notes with those you took in the previous class. Are your new notes more useful? What did you like about taking notes this way? What are some of the things you need to work on improving? (Remember this will get much easier with more practice.) Write your thoughts here.

________________________________________________________________________________

What If You Miss Class?

Clearly the best way to learn class material is to be at the class and to take your own notes. In college, regular attendance is expected. But life happens. On occasion, you may have to miss a class or lecture. When this happens, here are some strategies you can use to make up for it:

• Check with the instructor to see if there is another section of the class you can attend. Never ask the instructor “Did I miss anything important?” (Think about what that’s saying and you’ll see it’s rather insulting.)
• If the instructor posts his or her lectures as a podcast, listen to the lecture online and take notes. If the instructor uses PowerPoint slides, request a copy (or download them if posted) and review them carefully, jotting down your own notes and questions. Review your notes with a classmate who did attend.
• You may want to borrow class notes from a classmate. If you do, don’t just copy them and insert them in your notebook. They will not be very helpful. When you borrow notes from a classmate, you should photocopy them and then review them carefully and mark your copy with your own notes and questions. Use your textbook to try to fill in the gaps. Finally, schedule a study session with the person who gave you the notes to review the material and confirm your understanding. (See studying with others in Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests” .)
• If none of these options is available for you, use the course syllabus to determine what was covered in the class, then write a short paper (two pages or so) on the material using the class readings and reliable online sources. See your instructor during office hours to review your key findings and to answer any questions you still may have.

Keeping Your Notes

Class is over, and you have a beautiful set of notes in your spiral notebook or saved in your laptop. You have written the summary of the class in your own words. Now what?

Start by organizing your notes. We recommend you use a three-ring binder for each of your subjects. Print your notes if you used a computer. If you used note cards, insert them in plastic photo holders for binders. Group all notes from a class or unit together in a section; this includes class notes, reading notes, and instructor handouts. You might also want to copy the instructor’s syllabus for the unit on the first page of the section.

Next, spend some time linking the information across the various notes. Use the recall column in your notes to link to related information in other notes (e.g., “See class notes date/page”).

If you have had a quiz or test on the unit, add it to your binder, too, but be sure to write out the correct answer for any item you missed. Link those corrections to your notes, too.

Use this opportunity to write “notes on your notes.” Review your summary to see if it still is valid in light of your notes on the reading and any handouts you may have added to your notes package.

You don’t need to become a pack rat with your notes. It is fairly safe to toss them after the end of a course except in the following cases:

• If the course you took is a prerequisite for another course, or when the course is part of a standard progression of courses that build upon each other (this is very common in math and science courses), you should keep them as a reference and review for the follow-up course.
• If the course may pertain to your future major, keep your notes. You may not realize it now that they may have future value when you study similar topics or even the same topics in more depth.
• If you are very interested in the course subject and would like to get into the material through a more advanced course, independent study, or even research, keep your notes as a prep tool for further work.

Key Takeaways

• After effective listening, good note taking is the most important skill for academic success.
• Choose among effective note-taking styles for what works best for you and modify it to meet the needs of a specific class or instructor.
• List notes are generally less effective and not prioritized.
• Outlines work well for taking notes on a laptop when the instructor is well organized.
• Concept map notes are good for showing the relationships among ideas.
• The Cornell method is effective for calling out key concepts and organizing notes for review.
• Instructor handouts and PowerPoint presentations help with—but do not replace the need for—personal note taking.
• If you miss a class, explore your options for replacing your missing notes.
• Keep your notes organized in a way that makes it easy to study for tests and other uses in the future.

Checkpoint Exercises

Name two advantages of the Cornell system over the list method of note taking.

__________________________________________________________________

Describe the benefits of—and potential problems with—taking class notes on a laptop.

List at least three ways to make up for missing notes because you miss a class.

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An overview of the different approaches to note-making. Experiment to find the best way for you.

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Whether you’re taking notes from lectures or from your reading, there are a number of possible approaches to explore.

Choosing your tools

Once you’ve identified why you’re taking notes and what you need to take notes of, think about what tool would best help you achieve your purpose. You might not use the same tool every time: some are better than others depending on the job you want them to do. As you experiment with different ones, think about their pros and cons: what are they really good for and what are they not so good for?

Paper versus digital 

When it comes to tools, you have a decision between paper or digital. Think about your own personal preferences and needs here, as well as how you will store and use your notes. Whatever medium you choose, be wary of perfectionist tendencies. It can be counter-productive to spend ages painstakingly producing a polished set of notes.  

Paper may be better if: 

• You want to prompt your critical and creative thinking by capturing your initial thoughts about your reading either in very rough prose or by doodling or freewriting
• Avoid the distractions of social media etc. when you are reading or listening to a lecture or video
• You sometimes confuse your own notes with someone else’s words or ideas when copying and pasting between the original and your own document

Consider what size paper would serve you best, lined or unlined, which orientation and whether bound in a note-book or looseleaf

Digital may be better if: 

• You feel you need to produce a very neat, ordered set of notes  
• You would like to take advantage of software to aid the note-taking process, like the speech to text function, more flexible organisation or searchability
• You want to have easy access to all of your notes on a portable device wherever you choose to study

There are too many note-taking apps available for us to review and recommend them here, but do explore and ask your peers for suggestions.

It may be that you don’t decide to use either one or the other but a blend of the two. For instance, you might find it useful to use digital tools and software to record, store and re-play key facts and possibly points of action. You may then use paper and pens to jot down your thinking about these initial notes and how you may use them in your assignments. 

Organising your notes

Whether you prefer to use the format of paper and pencil or digital, or both, the strategies below can be adapted to suit your own style and preferences:

• Colour : the use of colour might be helpful to not only categorise, but also draw your attention to different aspects of your notes if/when you revisit them at a later date.  
• Symbols and/or images : the use of symbols or images might be used to represent information, ideas, connections or questions in a different way.   Highlighting aspects of your notes in different ways may provide an aid to more easily recalling or locating this information or may provide a way of creatively engaging with the literature you have read. 
• Space : leaving space in or around your notes might be useful if you revisit them so you amend information and/or thinking.  

Choosing your strategy

The next step is to choose  how  you will take notes. There are several strategies to explore. As always, think about what would best help you achieve your purpose and what you will be using your notes for. Again, you may switch between different strategies depending on your purpose. 

Standard Linear Notes 

Linear notes are written in a list-like format down the page and organised according to numbered points or headings and subheadings.

Useful for:

• Analytical tasks : arguments and processes can be broken down into subsections with further definitions and explanations.
• Processing your learning : your memory finds it easier to recall structures, which can then act as a prompt to recall further detail (especially if you use punchy words for key headings or ideas).
• Keeping track : this strategy can help you follow the order of the lecture or text you’re reading so you can see how arguments are built and developed, or note the key points from each section of a paper. This may be useful if you are summarising a text or lecture. 

Diagram / non-linear notes

These notes typically start from a main idea to which you can add related information or concepts, using lines to show relationships between them. Turning your page to landscape may help to maximise space although page orientation may depend on the style of notes and/or personal preferences.

There are several versions of these note-taking techniques: 

• Mind maps  (also called spider diagrams) contain key words or phrases in bubbles at the end of lines or on a line itself which can then lead to further lines or sub-branches.
• Pattern notes  look like mind maps, but build in mnemonic (memory) triggers, such as doodles, cartoons and symbols, around key points.
• Nuclear notes  combine the structured aspect of linear note-taking with the visual representation of mind maps by connecting several lists to the central idea. Sketchnoting uses a much freer layout more like a graphic novel and greater use of doodles, graphics and hand drawn images and scenes to capture ideas and structures.
• Concept maps  appear like a hierarchical family tree, showing ideas branching down from a central idea at the top of the page. The lines between the ideas might have a phrase explaining the connection.   

Useful for: 

• Getting analytical : this strategy can help you move beyond the original structure  towards creating your own order and connections between ideas. Additionally, because of the way these notes are spatially organised, they can help you think through or explain the causal connections between ideas. 
• Processing your learning : good for getting an overview of lots of information and how it all links together. Visualising notes and how ideas are connected can act as an aide memoire for what you have learnt. The process of rearranging linear notes into non-linear helps commit the ideas you are dealing with into the long-term memory. Rather than passively rewriting notes, you are reformulating them meaning that you are actively engaging with the information. 

SQ3R (or SQRRR)

SQ3R stands for: survey, question, read, retrieve, review. It is a technique for note-making when reading, but could also work well for videoed lectures. It involves the following steps:

• Survey:  skim the text (or watch the video) to get an outline/overview and develop a sense of which parts or sections might be useful. Note any headings and subheadings, along with things like figures, tables and summaries.
• Question:  now that you have a sense of what content the text covers, what questions do you have to help lead you to do a deeper understanding? Your question could be “what does that particular term mean?” or “how might I use that information?”
• Read : now you have specific questions in mind, you will be able to read (or watch the video) actively in order to find the answers.
• Retrieve:  begin processing and understanding the material by recalling the main points as if you were explaining them to someone else. You could do this verbally or in writing
• Review:  review the material by repeating the key points back to yourself in your own words.
• Keeping on track : by prompting you to formulate specific questions you’d like your reading to address or to engage with in the lecture, this strategy encourages you to read strategically and actively, and can help you stay focused. 
• Processing your learning : putting what you’ve read into your own words is a good way of developing and checking your understanding. This can help you move away from mere recall towards a deeper conceptual understanding.

Cornell method / pplit page format

This method involves splitting the page into two columns, with the right column roughly twice the width of the left (this can also be done digitally). Detailed notes are written in the right column, and afterwards, key points, reflections, cues or questions can be noted in the left column. Space at the bottom of the page can be used to add a final summary.

• Developing your own thinking:  having a response column alongside a column for detail and quotes allows your thoughts and reflections to be clearly separated from the reading or lecture. 
• Processing your learning : using paper to cover the right (notetaking) column, you can use the information in the left column as prompts to help you remember the detail or answers to the questions. Or cover both right and left column and use the summary as a prompt to jog your memory. 

Critical notetaking: talking back to the text

Building an argument of your own means reading not just for information, but for your own response to that information. That means that successful notetaking has an element of critical thinking.

When you’re making notes from reading, try to record not just what the text says, but your own reaction to it.

• Is it relevant for your purpose? How and where might you use it in your own essay?
• What do you think of it? Is the point convincingly argued and well evidenced?
• Do you agree or disagree with it?
• How does it relate to other things you’ve read? Does it support, add to, contradict or show a different perspective to other texts?
• Is there anything you don’t understand or need to know more about?

Critical note-making means talking back to the text, having a dialogue with it. You could annotate it with your own questions and comments in the margin or in your own notes as you go, to record your response to it.

• Getting analytical:  this method encourages you to think critically about a text, instead of merely mining it for information
• Processing your learning:  talking back to the text encourages you to read actively rather than passively, thus helping you process and apply your learning as well as develop your critical thinking skills. 

Other strategies

You may also come across other strategies, which are useful for particular purposes rather than an overall approach:

Matrix Notes  This is a tabular notetaking method where columns and rows are organised according to ideas or themes. Information is added in the cells where the rows and columns intersect. This is a handy method of recording different approaches to an issue and encouraging analysis of similarity and difference.  

Herringbone Maps  These notes are structured like a fish skeleton and are a useful way for noting two sides of an argument. The main idea can be written on the ‘spine’ with different points written on either side on the bones which connect to the spine.  

Flowcharts and Timeline Notes  These techniques are an effective way to indicate processes or sequence of events.

Reflecting on your chosen approach

Whichever tool or strategy you use, you could do a SWOT analysis of its “affordances” (what functions it has and what they enable you to do) to see how well it serves your needs:

Whatever format of making and taking notes you use, consider the reasons and purposes for your approach.  Is your current approach enabling you to effectively record what you need to help you construct your assignment or revise for exams, for instance?  Are there aspects of your current approach which you think could be further developed?  Are there other approaches you might like to try? 

Download this guide as a PDF

Note-taking strategies.

An overview of the different approaches to note-making. Experiment to find the best way for you. **PDF Download**

Academic Skills Team

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Note making

Note making explained.

This guide is about why we make notes, how to make effective notes from lectures and reading, and describes a variety of note-making techniques.

Note making is not just about writing down everything you hear or read. It is a process of reviewing, connecting and synthesising ideas from your lectures or reading.

Making notes helps you to:

• stay active and engaged during your lectures, reading and revision
• understand what you are learning and clarify your thinking
• be selective and identify key ideas
• remember the material
• organise your ideas and make connections
• plan and structure written assignments
• review and revise before exams.

You can also see our note making techniques tutorial , which explores the different approaches you can take to note making. You will learn the various options for note making in different contexts and explore the advantages and features of each approach.

What your notes should contain

All good notes should contain:

• source information (title, author, date etc)
• headings to help you identify the key topics
• key points, examples, names, new ideas
• triggers to make your notes more memorable – such as mnemonics, colour or drawings
• further reading and ideas to follow up later.

Consider developing a system of symbols and abbreviations to help you speed up your note taking. Common abbreviations in notes include “poss.” for possibly, “esp.” for “especially”, and “govt.” for government, but you can create a list that works for you.

Sometimes poor note taking can lead to unintentional plagiarism. To help avoid this you should make quotes, paraphrases and summaries look different from your own ideas in your notes. You could use quotation marks or square brackets, or highlight other people’s ideas in a different colour.

Set up a system to record complete bibliographic details, including:

• name of the author, editor, lecturer or organisation
• date of lecture, publication, or access (for websites)
• title of lecture or source
• page numbers where applicable
• other bibliographic details you might need for a reference .

Three stages of note making

Note making doesn’t only happen when you are reading or attending lectures. There are three stages to making effective notes: before, during, and after.

• Before : Prepare by finding out what you need to know and what the purpose of the reading or lecture is.
• During : Note down main ideas and keywords. Find techniques that work for you.
• After: Reflect and review and then organise your notes.

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Beyond Access

Seven tips for taking effective notes.

This strategy highlights seven different note-taking techniques conducive to several different areas of student learning. This document could be useful in cases where students are unsure of what note-taking strategy is best for them. Walk through each strategy with your student to determine which techniques could be useful in maximizing their success.

• Write notes out longhand: There is evidence that suggests handwriting notes leads to better retention, as the process of writing longhand engages different parts of the brain than typing. If you don’t feel confident in your ability to keep up with your professor by writing down notes, taking notes on a computer is better than not taking notes at all. However, handwritten (and digital) note-taking assistance can be explored with CSD Tech as well. This can be helpful in case you miss a key piece of information, or want to clarify statements after class has ended.
• Be prepared for class: Go to class prepared with everything you’ll need to take notes. Have a dedicated notebook and folder or binder for each class. This will help you keep your notes, handouts and homework organized. Remember to bring pens, pencils, and highlighters. Take a binder or folder where you can organize your notes or any handouts you receive during class.

Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to take notes when:

• The instructor specifically says that a piece of information will be on a test or relevant to a project
• The instructor writes a piece of information on the whiteboard or chalkboard, or includes it in a slideshow
• Another student asks a question, or the instructor asks students questions about a particular topic
• The instructor stresses a key concept
• The instructor introduces an unfamiliar term or idea
• You are unsure about a piece of information that’s being presented
• Cornell method: Developed by Cornell University, this method helps you organize notes into three sections – general notes, summaries, and cues/question – making it easier to reflect and study after class. (Cornell method in note-taking strategy folder)
• Outline method: This method is most useful for lectures and discussions that follow a logical structure covering one or two main ideas at a time. It allows you to start with a key concept, and add in details and definitions relevant to that concept as sub-headings. (#1 – followed by subheadings a, b, c, etc.)
• Mapping method: If your instructor’s lectures don’t always follow a logical, organized framework, then the mapping method might be a better fit for your note-taking. This allows you to jot down ideas and definitions in a non-structured way as they come up, and then connect and organize them later.
• Using different colored pens and highlighters to make certain words or ideas stand out
• Using abbreviations and symbols to make writing faster, and paraphrasing the material to make sure you understand core concepts.
• Compare notes with other students: Comparing notes with other students is an effective yet underutilized strategy. Many students only ask to see other students’ notes when they’ve missed a class. By comparing notes with others, you gain perspective and see what other students in the class found to be salient information. Collaborating and discussing topics covered in class not only helps you to better understand content for an upcoming test, but it also gives you valuable insight about how other students have learned to succeed in classes taught by even the most demanding professors. Get to know some of the best note takers and schedule a time after class each week to compare notes. This is also an opportunity for you to test your command of the material by attempting to explain it to others.

Taking Notes While Reading

Do you ever copy down pages of notes while reading but still struggle to remember what you read? Alternatively, do you read through texts without taking notes and while only half paying attention? Perhaps you highlight or underline your texts but feel like maybe you’re not getting the most from your reading. If you fall into one of these categories, chances are good that you’re not getting the most out of your reading. This handout discusses the importance of taking good notes while reading and provides several different strategies and formats you can try.

The importance of good notes

Taking good notes while reading is an important part of academic success in college. Most courses require significant reading, and it can be difficult to understand and master the material and do well in class without solid note taking and reading skills.

Good notes from your reading can help you:

• organize your ideas and information from the text
• keep focused and stay engaged while reading
• keep a record of what you read so you can more easily locate it in the future
• think critically about what you read while you read
• draw conclusions and identify main ideas of the text
• be prepared for class and build a foundation for lecture
• have solid materials to use to study for exams or prepare for assignments

How to take good notes while reading

Good notes can take different forms and may vary from person to person—or even from text to text. One of the key ideas of good note taking is that it is not necessary to copy down loads of information from the text. Copying down information does not engage your brain and is not a strong strategy for learning and remembering content. It also takes a lot of time and energy. In contrast, simply highlighting loads of information is simpler but does not do much to actively engage the brain. Instead of copying down tons of notes or over-highlighting, try some of the active and effective strategies and formats listed below. These will help you decrease the amount of time and energy you spend on notes and increase your comprehension and retention from reading.

Different formats/strategies for notes

There is no one right way to take notes while reading. The important thing is that you experiment with a few effective strategies, find some that work for you, and use them. You may find that different formats or strategies work better for different types of texts, too, and you may want to use different ones for different classes. Below are some examples to try:

• Students often miss the opportunity to digest the information from their texts because they’re too busy worrying about taking good notes—instead of actually comprehending the content, they’re thinking more about what they should write down.
• Try reading short sections of your reading (likely a paragraph or two or up to a page) and pausing to think about what you just read—then take notes from your memory of what you just read. This will help you focus on the main points instead of getting caught up in details.
• It’s okay to not remember 100% of what you just read; focus on the main points, and then refer back to the text to fill in details as needed.
• This method may take slightly longer, but many students say it’s worth it due to the increase in reading comprehension.
• Check out our Taking Notes While Reading video for more tips on how to make your notes more efficient and effective.

Mark directly on the text

• If you have a print version that allows it, simply use a pen or pencil. For online texts, some digital programs also allow annotating, highlighting, and commenting.
• Underline, circle, or highlight key words and phrases—this can be helpful for students who need to do something with their hands to help them stay focused.
• Annotate margins with symbols, abbreviations, or summaries of the text in your own words. See our annotating handout for more explanation.
• If you have an online text, you can still record your thoughts, key words, and summaries in this way. Just grab a plain sheet of paper, label it with the text and chapter/page number, and jot them down on the paper instead of in the book.

Cornell style notes

• Divide a piece of paper into three sections—approximately two inches blank at the bottom, and the top portion divided into a one-third section on the left and a two-third section on the right.
• Take notes on the right two-thirds of the page.
• List key words or questions in the left column.
• Summarize the entire page in the space at the bottom.
• Learn more by reading a more detailed explanation of Cornell style notes, or try out of these MS Word templates .

App-based notes (EverNote and OneNote)

• EverNote is a popular notetaking app that can sync notes on all your devices. You can organize notes into individual “notebooks” relevant to different classes or topics. Its fans find it useful for general note-taking and class notes as well as for daily tasks and organization.
• OneNote is an app that comes with Microsoft Office, which is free for UNC students! If you have not downloaded it yet, you can download OneNote here . Much like EverNote, OneNote allows you to sync your notes and access them on any device. You can annotate notes, clip and save multimedia content, and record audio notes.

Create a graphic organizer or concept map

• This method is good for texts that have a lot of higher level concepts that require explanations or texts that have remember-level facts, dates, terms, etc.
• Organize information visually.
• Differentiate main ideas from support in an appropriate format: concept map, table, flow chart, hierarchy, timeline, or Venn diagram.
• Good for texts that have a lot of visuals, timelines, etc. like science or history.
• Generate Your Own Q&A or Study Guide.
• Formulate questions from headings and keywords before you begin. Then seek answers as you read
• Are you studying for test a that will require a lot of visual identification? Consider creating your own Pinterest board to organize image-based notes.

Helpful tips

• Write notes in your own words instead of copying down information from the book.
• Avoid over-highlighting. Highlighting doesn’t do much to actively engage the brain, so it’s not the most useful strategy. Also, highlighting too much can keep you from focusing on the main ideas. For tips on highlighting more thoughtfully, see the strategies on our highlighting handout .
• Wait until the end of a page to take notes so that you can better focus on what you are reading and so that you can try to summarize in your own words rather than copy.
• You don’t need to write pages of notes—keep them brief and focused.
• Preview the chapter before you start reading by looking at the text features to gain clues about the main ideas of the chapter.
• Focus on the main ideas and concepts.

Other resources

While taking good notes when reading is important and will go a long way, it’s also helpful to utilize other UNC resources—not just for note taking and reading, but also for any academic area. Check out some of these resources to provide supplemental support:

Academic Coaching : Make an appointment with an academic coach to talk one-on-one about note-taking—and any other academic concern. Office Hours : Make an appointment with your professor or TA to talk about note-taking for his/her specific class/text. Related Learning Center handouts : Many of our handouts go into further detail about reading. Check out some of these for additional strategies:

• Annotating Texts
• Increasing Reading Comprehension
• Reading Textbooks

Works consulted

“Concept Mapping.” Cornell University. Retrieved from http://lsc.cornell.edu/concept-maps/ .

“The Cornell Note-taking System.” Cornell University. Retrieved from http://lsc.cornell.edu/notes.html .

“Effective Reading and Note Taking.” MIT. Retrieved from http://uaap.mit.edu/tutoring-support/study-tips/tooling-and-studying/tooling-and-studying-effective-reading-and-note-taking.

“Reading a Textbook for True Understanding.” Cornell College. Retrieved from https://www.cornellcollege.edu/student-success-center/academic-support/study-tips/reading-textbooks.shtml

“Reading Note Taking Strategies.” UNSW Sydney. Retrieved from https://student.unsw.edu.au/notemaking-written-text

If you enjoy using our handouts, we appreciate contributions of acknowledgement.

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7 Most Efficient Note Taking Methods

Whether you are going back to college or have decided to take learning into your own hands, note-taking is a skill that is truly unique.

On the surface, it can seem like jotting down the important points or stating everything word for word. But delving into the world of note-taking begins a realization that there is more to it than that.

So if you feel like your note skills are rusty, or if you didn’t care much about note-taking, here are some note taking methods to help you prepare and succeed in this area.

Table of Contents

What to do before note taking, 1. the outline method, 2. the cornell method, 3. mind mapping method, 4. flow notes method, 5. the sentence method, 6. charting method, 7. writing on slides, what note taking techniques are the best.

There are all kinds of strategies and systems in place to be taking notes. Some are more formal methods for taking notes while others are strategies that have helped others in the past. But before jumping into note-taking techniques, there are some things to consider prior to learning:

Adopt a Note Taking Mindset

Even our attitude and behavior plays a factor in our ability to take notes. For example, snacks with high sugar or high salt will impact our ability to pay attention to. This also applies to coffee which – if not consumed in moderation – can impact sleep and your ability to pay attention and focus as well.

In this regard, we can see already how mood can impact our ability to take notes. If we’re not focused or easily distracted, we will have a tougher time putting together accurate notes. But that is a more extreme case.

If you’re someone who doesn’t drink coffee or has a snack before class, attitude can still play a significant role. Think back to classes that you weren’t that excited for or that you were bad at. The only reason those topics are not your strong suit can be chalked up to your attitude.

Think about it:

The topics you excelled at made you feel good and you had a vested interest in. This is no different from other pursuits in your life. Compared to things you lack interest in, it’s clear that you would make no effort to learn about something that you don’t want.

So attitude makes a difference and this logic can be applied to even topics you’re not big on. All you need to do is have a positive attitude, pay attention, and study with a classmate or two.

Preparing Before Class

First, if you are taking a formal course, it pays to be prepared. One study by Spies and Wilkin [1] found that law students who read a legal case before getting to class displayed deeper understanding of the material compared to others.

This doesn’t apply to courses where you are assigned reading but in all manner of courses. With plenty of information made available at our fingertips, there is a lot of opportunities for us to learn about the subject before a course or a training session.

This will pay off for you as you’ll spend more time focusing on understanding the tougher aspects of a topic rather than absorbing the information as is.

7 Efficient Note Taking Methods

In Miami University’s public database, there is a course outlining note-taking and active listening [2] . These particular methods are some of the more popular methods for taking notes.

This method is used for simplicity and is one of the easiest methods of taking notes. Anyone can pick up this method and use it with no issues.

When using this method, the idea is to select four or five key points that are going to be covered in a specific lesson . Under those key points, you write more in-depth sub-points based on what is being discussed on those topics.

The idea with this form of note taking is so it doesn’t overwhelm you. But you’ll pay attention in a different manner. In the case of this approach, if you know what’s being discussed, you’ll focus on the important aspects of that topic rather than wonder what’s coming up next.

Use this method in cases where:

• You want your notes to be organized from the start.
• To see the relationships between both topics and subtopics.
• You want to convert the points into questions to quiz yourself on later.

Developed in the 1950s by Cornell University, this is the most common note taking method around. In fact, the outline method is likely inspired by this method as there are similarities to it.

In this method, you are still using key points, but this method goes deeper into the organizing method. For one, the page is broken into three sections:

• a narrow column called the “cue”
• a wider column for your actual notes
• a summary at the bottom

The cue section is the section where you fill out main points, people, potential test questions and more. This section is devoted to helping you recall larger topics and ideas.

The note section is devoted to expanding and explaining those cue points. You still want to summarize them to an extent using headings. When getting into specifics, you want to indent them and use a numbering system, either roman numerals, numbers, or letters.

The summary section is the section you write up at the end summarizing all of the information in a clear sentence or two. You want both the summary and the cue to be simple seeing as your notes are where you want all of the details.

Here’s an example illustrated by Comprehension Hart: [3]

This method is great if you:

• Want notes to be organized even further and easier to review.
• Want to pull out major ideas and concepts quickly.

Mind mapping is a method that works for subjects that have interlocking topics or complex and abstract ideas. Chemistry, history, and philosophy are examples where this method shines.

The use of the map is to serve as a visual aid for how every topic is related to one another. It also allows you to go into detail on particular ideas or topics. An example of this at work is looking at the French Revolution.

First, you’d start with that concept at the center and then begin branching off that led to events, and people that sparked the French Revolution.

You can start off with broad general ideas and during the course or when you are reviewing, you can add in sub-concepts to those branches . Things like dates, support facts, concepts that you see between people and events.

That being said, this method doesn’t apply to  only those kinds of topics. Any kind of topic that you can break into various points can also help as well. Another example can be talking about different forms of learning and using the nodes to discuss each method and what each one is like.

Learn more about this method here: How to Mind Map: Visualize Your Cluttered Thoughts in 3 Simple Steps

This type of method for note taking is great for:

• Visual learners who struggle with studying via notes.
• For people who need to remember and connect relationships, and events with topics.

Discussed in a post in College Info Geek, [4] this method is for those who want to maximize active learning in the classroom and save time in reviewing.

The idea of flow notes is to treat yourself as a student rather than transcribing word for word. In this method, you’ll jot down topics, then start drawing arrows, make doodles, diagrams and graphs to get a general idea out there .

This method also helps in drawing other bridges and form connections in various fields or within the subject. If some information reminds you of another piece of information or technique, make a note and jot it down.

Take a look at this video to learn a bit more about this method:

The only catch with this method is that while it’s great for learning at that moment, you may have a tough time reviewing them later. You may want to pair this method with another method mentioned above.

Another simple method and is a lesser version of flow notes. The idea with this is a simple note-taking. You’re jotting down everything that’s being said to the best of your ability . It’s genuine transcription at it’s finest.

The problem with this method is that it can be tough to keep up with everything else that’s happening. If you’re writing notes by hand, you will definitely be missing key points and ideas. On a computer, you may be able to keep up, however, you may face challenges still.

Despite those problems, there are still advantages to this method. Compared to every other method, this provides the most details and information for review:

• You can still be brief by covering the main points.
• Your notes are already simplified for you to study and review them immediately.

Charting notes take the Cornell method and divide a sheet into three columns. Similar to the mind mapping method, this helps you in connecting relationships and facts together between topics.

This method is a lazier method than the other ones mentioned above but works for the people who want to highlight key pieces of information on various topics and want to organize facts for easy review.

The final method is another strategy for people who can’t be bothered to take extensive notes. This method works well particularly in classes where the instructor provides slides that they’re using for their lectures.

Whether it’s a handout or you can download them online, all you need to do is print them off and start writing away on them .

This method is great because it removes a lot of the worry of taking general notes. Since ideas and concepts are already discussed, it’s a matter of expanding those notes already.

As you may have noticed, each method is good in its own situation. Depending on what you’re learning – and your own preferences – each method has advantages.

It’s also worth noting that every person learns and studies in a different manner. With this in mind, consider how you study and figure out the method that best compliments it.

Featured photo credit: Kaleidico via unsplash.com

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Chapter 5 Study Skills

5.6 Note-Taking

You’ve got the PowerPoint slides for your lecture, and the information in your textbook. Do you need to take notes as well?

Despite the vast amount of information available in electronic formats, taking notes is an important learning strategy. In addition, the way that you take notes matters, and not all note-taking strategies lead to equal results.  By considering your note-taking strategies carefully, you will be able to create a set of notes that will help retain the most important concepts from lectures and tests, and that will assist you in your exam preparation.

Two Purposes for Taking Notes

People take notes for two main reasons:

• To keep a record of the information they heard. This is also called the external storage function of note-taking.
• To facilitate learning material they are currently studying.

The availability of information on the internet may reduce the importance of the external storage function of note-taking. When the information is available online, it may seem logical to stop taking notes.  However, by neglecting to take notes, you lose the benefits of note-taking as a learning tool.

How Note-Taking Supports Learning

Taking notes during class supports your learning in several important ways:

• Taking notes helps you to focus your attention and avoid distractions.
• As you take notes in class, you will be engaging your mind in identifying and organizing the main ideas. Rather than passively listening, you will be doing the work of active learning while in class, making the most of your time.
• Creating good notes means that you will have a record for later review. Reviewing a set of condensed and well-organized notes is more efficient than re-reading longer texts and articles.

Everybody takes notes, or at least everybody claims to. But if you take a close look, many who are claiming to take notes on their laptops are actually surfing the Web, and paper notebooks are filled with doodles interrupted by a couple of random words with an asterisk next to them reminding you that “This is important!” In college and university, these approaches will not work. Your instructors expect you to make connections between class lectures and reading assignments; they expect you to create an opinion about the material presented; they expect you to make connections between the material and life beyond school. Your notes are your road maps for these thoughts. Do you take good notes? Actively listening and note-taking are key strategies to ensure your student success.

Effective note-taking is important because it

• supports your listening efforts.
• allows you to test your understanding of the material.
• helps you remember the material better when you write key ideas down.
• gives you a sense of what the instructor thinks is important.
• creates your “ultimate study guide.”

There are various forms of taking notes, and which one you choose depends on both your personal style and the instructor’s approach to the material. Each can be used in a notebook, index cards, or in a digital form on your laptop. No specific type is good for all students and all situations, so we recommend that you develop your own style, but you should also be ready to modify it to fit the needs of a specific class or instructor. To be effective, all of these methods require you to listen actively and to think; merely jotting down words the instructor is saying will be of little use to you.

The List Method

Example: The List Method of Note-taking

Learning Cycle

September 3

Prof. Jones

The learning cycle is an approach to gathering and retaining info that can help students be successful in Col. The cycle consists of 4 steps which should all be app’d. They are preparing, which sets the foundation for learning, absorbing, which exposes us to new knowledge, capturing, which sets the information into our knowledge base and finally reviewing and applying which lets us set the know. into our memory and use it.

Preparing for learning can involve mental preparation, physical prep, and oper. prep. Mental prep includes setting learning goals for self based on what we know the class w/ cover (see syllabus)/ Also it is very important to do any assignments for the class to be able to learn w/ confidence and…. ______________

Physical Prep means having enough rest and eating well. Its hard to study when you are hungry and you won’t listen well in class if you doze off.

Operation Prep means bringing all supplies to class, or having them at  hand when studying… this includes pens, paper, computer, textbook, etc. Also means setting to school on time and getting a good seat (near the front).

Absorbing new knowledge is a combination of listening and reading. These are two of the most important learning skills you can have.

The list method is usually not the best choice because it is focused exclusively on capturing as much of what the instructor says as possible, not on processing the information. Most students who have not learned effective study skills use this method, because it’s easy to think that this is what note-taking is all about. Even if you are skilled in some form of shorthand, you should probably also learn one of the other methods described here, because they are all better at helping you process and remember the material. You may want to take notes in class using the list method, but transcribe your notes to an outline or concept map method after class as a part of your review process. It is always important to review your notes as soon as possible after class and write a summary of the class in your own words.

The Outline Method

Example: The Outline Method of Note-taking

Learning is a cycle made up of 4 steps:

• Preparing: Setting the foundation for learning.
• Absorbing: (Data input) Exposure to new knowledge.
• Capturing: Taking ownership of the knowledge.
• Review & Apply: Putting new knowledge to work.
• assignments from prior classes.
• Readings! (May not have been assigned in class – see Syllabus!)
• Know what instructor expects to cover
• Know what assignments you need to do
• Set your own objective
• Get right about of rest. Don’t zzz in class.
• Eat right. Hard to focus when you are hungry.
• Arrive on time.
• Bring right supplies – (Notebooks, Texts, Pens, etc.)
• Get organized and ready to listen
• Don’t unterupt the focus of others
• Get a good seat
• Sit in the front of the class.

The advantage of the outline method is that it allows you to prioritize the material. Key ideas are written to the left of the page, subordinate ideas are then indented, and details of the subordinate ideas can be indented further. To further organize your ideas, you can use the typical outlining numbering scheme (starting with roman numerals for key ideas, moving to capital letters on the first subordinate level, Arabic numbers for the next level, and lowercase letters following.) At first you may have trouble identifying when the instructor moves from one idea to another. This takes practice and experience with each instructor, so don’t give up! In the early stages you should use your syllabus to determine what key ideas the instructor plans to present. Your reading assignments before class can also give you guidance in identifying the key ideas.

If you’re using your laptop computer for taking notes, a basic word processing application (like Microsoft Word or Works) is very effective. Format your document by selecting the outline format from the format bullets menu. Use the increase or decrease indent buttons to navigate the level of importance you want to give each item. The software will take care of the numbering for you!

After class be sure to review your notes and then summarize the class in one or two short paragraphs using your own words. This summary will significantly affect your recall and will help you prepare for the next class.

The Concept Map Method

Example: The Concept Map Method of Note-taking

This is a very graphic method of note-taking that is especially good at capturing the relationships among ideas. Concept maps harness your visual sense to understand complex material “at a glance.” They also give you the flexibility to move from one idea to another and back easily (so they are helpful if your instructor moves freely through the material).

To develop a concept map, start by using your syllabus to rank the ideas you will listen to by level of detail (from high-level or abstract ideas to detailed facts). Select an overriding idea (high level or abstract) from the instructor’s lecture and place it in a circle in the middle of the page. Then create branches off that circle to record the more detailed information, creating additional limbs as you need them. Arrange the branches with others that interrelate closely. When a new high-level idea is presented, create a new circle with its own branches. Link together circles or concepts that are related. Use arrows and symbols to capture the relationship between the ideas. For example, an arrow may be used to illustrate cause or effect, a double-pointed arrow to illustrate dependence, or a dotted arrow to illustrate impact or effect.

As with all note-taking methods, you should summarize the chart in one or two paragraphs of your own words after class.

The Cornell Method

Example: The Cornell Method of Note-taking

The Cornell method was developed in the 1950s by Professor Walter Pauk at Cornell University [1] . It is recommended by many universities because of its usefulness and flexibility. This method is simple to use for capturing notes, is helpful for defining priorities, and is a very helpful study tool.

The Cornell method follows a very specific format that consists of four boxes: a header, two columns, and a footer.

The header is a small box across the top of the page. In it you write identification information like the course name and the date of the class. Underneath the header are two columns: a narrow one on the left (no more than one-third of the page) and a wide one on the right. The wide column, called the “notes” column, takes up most of the page and is used to capture your notes using any of the methods outlined earlier. The left column, known as the “cue” or “recall” column, is used to jot down main ideas, keywords, questions, clarifications, and other notes. It should be used both during the class and when reviewing your notes after class. Finally, use the box in the footer to write a summary of the class in your own words. This will help you make sense of your notes in the future and is a valuable tool to aid with recall and studying.

Using Index Cards for the Cornell Method

Some students like to use index cards to take notes. They actually lend themselves quite well to the Cornell method. Use the “back” or lined side of the card to write your notes in class. Use one card per key concept. The “front” unlined side of the card replaces the left hand “cue” column. Use it after class to write keywords, comments, or questions. When you study, the cards become flash cards with questions on one side and answers on the other. Write a summary of the class on a separate card and place it on the top of the deck as an introduction to what was covered in the class.

“I used to tape my lecture classes so I could fill in my sketchy notes afterwards. Now that I’m using the Cornell system, my notes are complete and organized in much less time. And my regular five-minute reviews make learning almost painless. No more taping and listening twice.” — A student at Southern Methodist University

You will have noticed that all methods end with the same step: reviewing your notes as soon as possible after class. Any review of your notes is helpful (reading them, copying them into your computer, or even recasting them using another note-taking method). But THINK! Make your review of notes a thoughtful activity, not a mindless process. When you review your notes, think about questions you still have and determine how you will get the answers. (From the next class? Studying with a friend? Looking up material in your text or on the net?) Examine how the material applies to the course; make connections with notes from other class sessions, with material in your text, and with concepts covered in class discussions. Finally, it’s fun to think about how the material in your notes applies to real life. Consider this both at the very strategic level (as in “What does this material mean to me in relation to what I want to do with my life?”) as well as at a very mundane level (as in, “Is there anything cool here I can work into a conversation with my friends?”).

Instructor Handouts

Some instructors hand out or post their notes or their PowerPoint slides from their lectures. These handouts should never be considered a substitute for taking notes in class. They are a very useful complement and will help you confirm the accuracy of your notes, but they do not involve you in the process of learning as well as your own notes do. After class, review your notes with highlighter in hand and mark keywords and ideas in your notes. This will help you write a summary of the class in your own words.

General Tips on Note-Taking

Regardless of what note-taking method you choose, there are some note-taking habits you should get into for all circumstances and all courses:

• Be prepared. Make sure you have the tools you need to do the job. If you are using a notebook, be sure you have it with you and that you have enough paper. Also be sure to have your pen (as well as a spare) and perhaps a pen with different-coloured ink to use for emphasis. If you are taking notes on your laptop, make sure the battery is charged! Select the application that lends itself best to your style of note-taking. Microsoft Word works very well for outline notes, but you might find taking notes in Excel to work best if you are working within the Cornell method. (It’s easier to align your thoughts in the cue or recall column to your notes in the right column. Just be sure you keep one idea per row!)
• Write on only one side of the paper. This will allow you to integrate your reading notes with your class notes.
• Label, number, and date all notes at the top of each page. This will help you keep organized.
• When using a laptop, position it such that you can see the instructor and white board right over your screen. This will keep the instructor in your field of vision even if you have to glance at your screen or keyboard from time to time. Make sure your focus remains with the instructor and not on your laptop. A word of caution about laptops for note-taking: use them if you are very adept at keyboarding, but remember that not all note-taking methods work well on laptops because they do not easily allow you to draw diagrams and use special notations (scientific and math formulas, for example).
• Don’t try to capture everything that is said. Listen for the big ideas and write them down. Make sure you can recognize the instructor’s emphasis cues and write down all ideas and keywords the instructor emphasizes. Listen for clues like “the four causes were…” or “to sum up.…”
• Copy anything the instructor writes on the board. It’s likely to be important.
• Leave space between ideas. This allows you to add additional notes later (e.g. notes on the answer to a question you or one of your classmates asked).
• Use signals and abbreviations. The ones you use are up to you, but be consistent so you will know exactly what you mean by “att.” when you review your notes. You may find it useful to keep a key to your abbreviations in all your notebooks.
• Use some method for identifying your own thoughts and questions to keep them separate from what the instructor or textbook author is saying. Some students use different colour ink; others box or underline their own thoughts. Do whatever works for you.
• Create a symbol to use when you fall behind or get lost in your note-taking. Jot down the symbol, leave some space, and focus on what the instructor is covering now. Later you can ask a classmate or the professor to help you fill in what you missed, or you can find it in your textbook.
• Review your notes as soon after class as possible (the same day is best). This is the secret to making your notes work! Use the recall column to call out the key ideas and organize facts. Fill in any gaps in your notes and clean up or redraw hastily drawn diagrams.
• Write a summary of the main ideas of the class in your own words. This process is a great aid to recall. Be sure to include any conclusions from the lecture or discussion.
• Use notes when preparing for a test or doing an assignment. Your notes usually have a summary of the most important points and are useful for making sure you incorporate important concepts in your assignments and for focusing on the main concepts when studying for tests and exams.

This video provides some great tips for note-taking as well.

Video: “How to Take Great Notes” (length 5:08)

Exercise: Journal Entry

Choose one of your classes where you normally take notes. Make a conscious effort to use the Cornell method with either the outline or concept map method for taking your notes. Follow as many steps listed previously as possible. Now compare these notes with those you took in the previous class. Are your new notes more useful? What did you like about taking notes this way? What are some of the things you need to work on improving? (Remember this will get much easier with more practice.) Write your thoughts down.

What If You Miss Class?

Clearly the best way to learn class material is to be at the class and to take your own notes. In university, regular attendance is expected. But life happens. On occasion, you may have to miss a class or lecture. When this happens, here are some strategies you can use to make up for it:

• Check with the instructor to see if there is another section of the class you can attend. Never ask the instructor “Did I miss anything important?” (Think about what that’s saying and you’ll see it’s rather insulting.)
• If the instructor posts his or her lectures as a podcast, listen to the lecture online and take notes. If the instructor uses PowerPoint slides, request a copy (or download them if posted) and review them carefully, jotting down your own notes and questions. Review your notes with a classmate who did attend.
• You may want to borrow class notes from a classmate. If you do, don’t just copy them and insert them in your notebook. They will not be very helpful. When you borrow notes from a classmate, you should photocopy them and then review them carefully and mark your copy with your own notes and questions. Use your textbook to try to fill in the gaps. Finally, schedule a study session with the person who gave you the notes to review the material and confirm your understanding.
• If none of these options is available for you, use the course syllabus to determine what was covered in the class, then write a short paper (two pages or so) on the material using the class readings and reliable online sources. See your instructor during office hours to review your key findings and to answer any questions you still may have.

Group Notes: A Collaborative Approach

Groups within a class can take notes together using file-sharing software on the Cloud such as Google Docs. The individuals in the group can add to the document in real time as different individuals are adding themselves. This creates a collaborative document that all can use, download, (or adapt). This won’t work for all situations but can be very useful especially in a fast-moving classroom.

Keeping Your Notes

Class is over, and you have a beautiful set of notes in your spiral notebook or saved in your laptop. You have written the summary of the class in your own words. Now what?

Start by organizing your notes. We recommend you use a three-ring binder for each of your subjects. Print your notes if you used a computer. If you used note cards, insert them in plastic photo holders for binders. Group all notes from a class or unit together in a section; this includes class notes, reading notes, and instructor handouts. You might also want to copy the instructor’s syllabus for the unit on the first page of the section.

Next, spend some time linking the information across the various notes. Use the recall column in your notes to link to related information in other notes (e.g. “See class notes date/page”).

If you have had a quiz or test on the unit, add it to your binder, too, but be sure to write out the correct answer for any item you missed. Link those corrections to your notes, too.

Use this opportunity to write “notes on your notes.” Review your summary to see if it still is valid in light of your notes on the reading and any handouts you may have added to your notes package.

You don’t need to become a pack rat with your notes. It is fairly safe to toss them after the end of a course except in the following cases:

• If the course you took is a prerequisite for another course, or when the course is part of a standard progression of courses that build upon each other (this is very common in math and science courses), you should keep them as a reference and review for the follow-up course.
• If the course may pertain to your future major, keep your notes. You may not realize it now that they may have future value when you study similar topics or even the same topics in more depth.
• If you are very interested in the course subject and would like to get into the material through a more advanced course, independent study, or even research, keep your notes as a prep tool for further work.

Key Takeaways

• Good note-taking is a key strategy for academic success.
• Choose among effective note-taking styles for what works best for you and modify it to meet the needs of a specific class or instructor.
• List notes are generally less effective and not prioritized.
• Outlines work well for taking notes on a laptop when the instructor is well organized.
• Concept map notes are good for showing the relationships among ideas.
• The Cornell method is effective for calling out key concepts and organizing notes for review.
• Instructor handouts and PowerPoint presentations help with—but do not replace the need for—personal note-taking.
• If you miss a class, explore your options for replacing your missing notes.
• Keep your notes organized in a way that makes it easy to study for tests and other uses in the future.

Exercise: Note-taking

• Name two advantages of the Cornell system over the list method of note-taking.
• Describe the benefits of—and potential problems with—taking class notes on a laptop.
• List at least three ways to make up for missing notes because you miss a class.

Text Attributions

• This chapter was adapted from “ Got Notes? ” in University Success by N. Mahoney, B. Klassen, and M. D’Eon. Adapted by Mary Shier. CC BY-NC-SA .
•  The first two paragraphs and text under the “Two Purposes for Taking Notes” heading are from “ Take Notes from Lectures – That You’ll Actually Use ” in University 101: Study, Strategize and Succeed by Kwantlen Polytechnic University. CC BY-SA .

Video Attributions

• “ How to Take Great Notes ” by watchwellclass . Standard YouTube Licence.
• Pauk, W. & Owens, R.J.Q. (2013). How to Study in College . Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. ↵

5.6 Note-Taking Copyright © 2020 by Mary Shier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The 13 Most Effective Note-Taking Methods

These are efficient note-taking methods that anyone can pick up and use to take better notes.

• By Sander Tamm
• Mar 19, 2024

E-student.org is supported by our community of learners. When you visit links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

“Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work.” Albert Einstein

When you’re first learning a new concept, you’re taking in further information that has to go through the process of memorization.

The human brain, however, is inefficient at remembering things. 

Within  24 hours  of leaving class, your brain will have forgotten more than half of what it remembered at the end of the class.

This phenomenon is described by the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve , which perfectly illustrates the need for note-taking .

Compare the right-side green line with the left-side red line. 

Someone who takes notes and reviews them three times (green line) remembers nearly everything after a week. On the other hand, a person who doesn’t review their notes at all (red line) forgets everything within a week.

Don’t be the red line – make sure you’re one of the green lines instead! To do so, you’ll need to learn how to take  effective , visually interesting , and/or aesthetical notes .

To help you do so, these are the best note-taking methods:

Best Note-Taking Methods

Outline note-taking method.

Best for:  Most subjects except science classes such as physics or math

Difficulty level:  Medium

The  outline method of note-taking  uses indentation to store information in a clear hierarchy. When applicable, the outline method is one of the most efficient note-taking formats as it creates meticulously well-organized notes. The method can also be used in both  deductive and inductive  order.

Outlined notes are some of the easiest to review, as it’s one of the few systems that allow you to see space relationships between topics. However, the method is not always suitable for taking notes during a live lecture, and outlining requires a clear lesson structure. 

Advantages:

• Space relationships between topics are visible,
• Information is recorded in a logical, hierarchical manner,
• Outlined notes are quick and easy to review pre-exam,
• Special notepaper & preparation not required,
• Research on the outline method  has been positive,
• Usable during class (slow to medium-paced lectures).

Disadvantages:

• Unsuitable for some STEM subjects,
• Learning materials/lectures require a clear structure,
• Outlining notes requires intense concentration and thought.

Cornell Note-Taking Method

Best for:  Recording main concepts & forming study questions

Difficulty level:  Easy

The  Cornell note-taking method , developed over half a century ago, is a tried-and-true strategy for taking effective notes. It uses two top columns (the “cue” and “note” columns), together with a single bottom row (the summary section), to record notes. 

The method is versatile, usable for most subjects, and one of the simplest yet most effective note-taking methods. By mastering the Cornell system, you’ll always have at least one solid note-taking skill under your belt. The Cornell system is one of the most popular note-taking strategies in the world for a good reason.

• Organized and systematic for both recording and reviewing notes
• Time-efficient and requires little effort,
• Taking Cornell notes is very easy to learn,
• Suitable for most subjects (except equation-based subjects),
• Fulfills a  natural learning cycle  within one single page,
• Ideal for extracting major concepts and ideas.
• Requires creating or purchasing Cornell-style pages,
• Large quantities of Cornell notes can be challenging to organize,
• Not great at reducing the size of notes,
• Research on the Cornell method  is mixed.

The Cornell method is a variant of the split-page note-taking method  (also known as the two-column method). Try the split-page method if you are finding the Cornell method a bit too restrictive but you like the basic approach of cues or keywords combined with more detailed notes.

Boxing Note-Taking Method

Best for:  Digital note-taking with a stylus pen

The  boxing method of note-taking uses boxes to visually separate topics within a page. While the boxing method was designed for digital devices, it’s a technique that can be easily adapted to handwritten notes. 

Using the boxing strategy results in notes that are visually pleasing and easy to review. The method also takes full advantage of digital-only features such as lassoing, resizing, and moving notes after writing. Together with mind mapping, it’s one of the most effective note-taking strategies for visual learners.

• Takes advantage of digital note-taking tools,
• Great for learners with a visual learning style,
• Aesthetically pleasing notes,
• Notes reduce well.
• Slightly time-intensive,
• Not always practical for note-taking during lectures.

Charting Note-Taking Method

Best for:  Recording facts and statistics

Difficulty level:  Hard

The  charting method of note-taking , also known as “matrix note-taking,” uses charts to classify information within rows and columns. While the method is not usable for many subjects, it is a remarkable tool under the right circumstances. This method is best used with subjects with factual or statistical information that can be categorized into tables.

On the other hand, it’s not suitable for note-taking during live lectures, very detailed topics, and subjects where the space relationships between content are essential. It’s also not well-suited for subjects that have many equation-based problems.

• A compelling method for subjects with lots of facts and statistics,
• Easy comparisons between different topics,
• Reduces note sizes better than any other method,
• Charted notes are straightforward and efficient to review,
• Very efficient for studying comparisons.
• Unsuitable for most subjects,
• Requires a basic understanding of the topic,
• Very time-intensive.

Mapping Note-Taking Method

Best for:  Analyzing visual connections between key ideas and concepts

The mapping method of note-taking , also known as “concept mapping,” connects different thoughts, ideas, concepts, and facts through visualization. Both Leonardo Da Vinci’s and Albert Einstein’s notebooks reportedly contained mapping-style notes that connected drawings to words and notes.

The mapping method starts with a central topic in the middle of the page before branching into smaller subtopics, supporting topics, and more minor details. The method provides a one-of-a-kind graphical overview of lecture content that is irreplaceable for visual learners. 

Mapping is best used in content-rich college classes where the information is structured. However, taking notes in a live class with this method is very rarely possible due to its time-consuming nature.

 Advantages:

• An excellent method for visual learning styles,
• It gives a comprehensive overview of a large subject,
• It helps you understand the connections between small elements within a major topic,
• Maximizes active participation,
• Reviewing mapped notes is very efficient.

 Disadvantages:

• Requires a good understanding of the topic,
• Requires strong concentration,
• It cannot be used effectively during class,
• It can be difficult to correctly include all relationships ,
• Mapping is very time-consuming.

Sentence Note-Taking Method

Best for:  Quick, unstructured note-taking

Difficulty level:  Very easy

The  sentence method of note-taking uses sentences separated by lines to quickly transcribe as much information as possible from the information source. It requires quick handwriting or typing skills to be used effectively, and it’s likely the most commonly used note-taking method due to its simplicity. 

Using the sentence method results in oversized notes that are notoriously difficult to review afterward. However, the sentence method can sometimes be the only viable choice for fast-paced, unstructured lessons you’re unprepared for. It’s often a good idea to rewrite notes taken with the sentence method after class.

Try not to rely on this method when you have a choice, but keep it as a backup plan when you can’t use an alternative note-taking strategy.

• It can be used for any subject and type of class,
• Very easy to implement,
• Suitable for quick note-taking during class.
• Reviewing sentence method notes after class is difficult and time-consuming,
• No inter- and intra- relationships between notes are visible,
• The main points are indistinguishable from more minor details,
• Quick handwriting or typing speed required,
• No element of metacognitive note analysis during note-taking.

Blurting Note-Taking Method

Best for:  Studying and memorizing complex topics

Difficulty level: Medium

Unlike passively highlighting text or rereading notes, the Blurting Method is truly one of the most efficient ways to understand where you are at in your knowledge and do something about it at the same time.

The blurting method of note-taking is an  active recall  technique that can be used to help you learn and remember information. Active recall is basically a learning technique that involves testing yourself on the material that you’re trying to learn and has been shown to be a very effective way to make.

The blurting method, at its simplest, is reading a section of text or notes, then closing them and writing down as much of the information as you can remember. This makes your brain work harder to retain the information, making it really hammer the info down into your long-term memory.

• It can help you identify the areas where you need to focus in your study time, thus making sure that the gaps in your knowledge are covered.
• It gives you a better understanding of the material, as you are forced to put the information into your own words.
• Recall ensures information is retained longer.
• It’s a flexible method that can be modified to suit your needs.
• The method can be used on any type of written learning material – but also after listening to lectures and online course videos.
• This method is time-consuming, and some might find it tedious.
• It does not replace note-taking during on-going lectures.
• It is mentally taxing.
• It is not the most efficient method for memorizing a lot of facts – use flashcards or a similar method in this case

Q/E/C Note-Taking Method

Best for: Argumentative subjects (such as history, philosophy, and literature)

The Question/Evidence/Conclusion (Q/E/C) method of note-taking is a simple but powerful method for organizing and recording information from lectures. Focused on capturing the big ideas and how they relate to each other, the method is structured around concepts that require arguing and evidence to create a clear and concise summary. Each concept is divided up into three parts: question, evidence, and conclusion.

The Q/E/C is ideally suited for most subjects in the humanities, especially ones that tend to present in an argumentative form, such as history, philosophy, and literature. It is also a very useful method to include in your toolbox for other subjects, including technical ones, where it can be suited for certain classes.

The method is also an excellent way to outline or plan for your essays, as it helps you develop a clear structure and will likely help you identify additional questions and counterarguments along the way that you may need to consider.

• Helps you focus on the bigger picture
• Helps you keep track of the relationship between the overall topic and the arguments/evidence
• An excellent way to clearly record more argumentative presentations
• Clear way of presenting arguments and counterarguments
• Forces you to synthesize arguments and write a conclusion
• A good fit for the humanities and non-technical subjects
• Matches the way many lecturers present (and view the world)
• Useful method for outlining argumentative essays
• Less suitable for technical subjects or for concepts with more complex relationships
• Challenging to use during fast-paced or poorly structured lectures
• Requires concentration and reflection
• Can be difficult to use if you don’t yet have an overall grasp of a new subject

Morse Code Note-Taking Method

Best for: Quickly absorb large volumes of course material in argumentative subjects.

Difficulty level: Hard

A fairly recent addition to the realm of note-taking methods – but one that many academics swear by – is the Morse Code note-taking method , a variant of the Q/E/C method . Not to be confused with Morse Code itself, this note-taking method uses dots and dashes to mark up course literature while you are reading it . Importantly, it enables you to keep reading while taking notes rather than pausing to jot down your notes.

Dots are used to denote the main ideas, and dashes for supporting facts, arguments, and examples. After you have finished reading the entire text, you use your notes in the margin to type up notes and then condense them into a format that is useful for further review.

• As you do not stop reading, it is among the most efficient methods for covering larger quantities of text.
• It helps extract the main and supporting points from a text.
• It promotes active reading through the note-taking
• It facilitates reading comprehension and critical thinking through the decoding and condensing stages.
• It is not applicable to all types of reading material (in particular, material that is not structured in an argumentative academic style).
• Very little information is captured in your notes – if you wait too long to decode your notes, you may have forgotten the context.
• Less suitable for readers who tend to lose their focus when engaging in continuous reading (who may benefit from pausing and processing their notes paragraph by paragraph or page by page.

Flow Note-Taking Method

Best for: Understanding interrelationships between concepts at a higher level

While linear note-taking methods (such as the sentence and outline methods) have their place in your toolkit, you will want to complement these with non-linear methods that force you to actively engage with the topic at hand as a whole. Using such methods translate into a better understanding of an area and how its different component parts relate to each other. One of the main non-linear approaches that you should become familiar with is the flow method of note-taking .

It can look similar to the mapping method, but the focus of this method is on the higher-level concepts and ideas and how they relate to each other. Detailed descriptions and paraphernalia have to take a step back. The relationships are indicated using arrows and lines, in whichever way you find useful.

• The flow method aims to have you learn during class by having you engage actively with the content.
• Even though you are actively learning during class, you also get useful notes for revision – while the notes are not in the most useful format for revision, they tend not to be terrible
• It’s a flexible method that suits most subjects.
• It is a good choice for note-taking after having followed a class or after having read all material to solidify your understanding.
• The method can be personalized to suit individuals’ needs and preferences.
• The flow method is not well suited for topics of which you have no prior understanding, as it can be difficult to pick out what is more or less important and figure out how they relate to each other during the class.
• While engaging mainly with the bigger picture, you risk missing important details during lectures.
• Flow notes can easily turn out quite messy and are not ideal for revision (you can try to mitigate this by adding cue words to your notes to prompt you to describe relationships during revisions).
• It can be difficult to find the time to actively engage with a topic during fast-paced lectures, forcing you to take detailed notes and apply the flow method after class instead.
• Practice with the method is needed as you need to figure out how to best use it to suit your learning style.

REAP Method

Best for: Active reading to build deeper understanding of texts

The REAP method (Read, Encode, Annotate, Ponder) was developed by Marilyn Eanet and Anthony Manzo at the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1976 as a response to what they saw as inadequate teaching methods for developing active reading. The method is designed to help students be able to understand the meaning of texts through reflecting and communicating on their content.

REAP consists of four stages:

• Reading:  Reading the text provided to identify the ideas expressed by the author.
• Encoding:  “Encoding” the main ideas identified in the text in your own words.
• Annotating:  Writing “annotations” of the ideas, quotes, etc., in the text.
• Pondering:  Reflecting on the content and writing comments or criticisms of the text, and discussing with others.

This will make you return to a text multiple times, each time from a different vantage point, and let you gradually analyze the text at a higher and higher level.

• A scientifically proven effective method for improving reading comprehension and recall
• Helps build capacity to engage critically with texts
• Provides a framework for re-engaging with a text from multiple vantage points
• Method that takes a lot of time, focus, and mental energy
• Not suitable for note-taking during lectures
• Less suitable for all texts (such as some college textbooks) or learning purposes (such as more detailed memorization)

Focused Question Clusters Method

Best for: Preparing for multiple-choice or other fact-based tests

Focused Question Clusters is a method, proposed by Cal Newport, to help students use their textbooks and existing lecture notes to prepare for MCQ-style exams by writing questions and then quizzing themselves. 

Focused Question Clusters involve the following main steps:

• Identify your main topic and the relevant subtopics.
• For each subtopic, write a series (or a “cluster”) of questions that relate to it, covering the main points. The questions should be clear and possible to answer with a few words.
• Write a few background topics to the topic as a whole.
• Use these questions to review (you might want to employ one of the relevant study methods for how you quiz yourself, such as active recall )

Although this kind of rapid-fire questions will help most with preparing for multiple-choice style exams, the engagement with the material will also help your brain to make the connections to get a deeper understanding of the topic.

• An effective way to gain and retain knowledge about a topic
• Particularly effective for MCQ-style exams
• A useful tool for studying in groups
• Question drafting can be divided up and the results shared as a resource between students studying together
• Drafting the questions takes a considerable amount of time and effort
• Not the best way to engage with more argumentative topics

Highlighting Method

Best for: Quickly marking up a text that you plan to review later on.

Difficulty level: Easy

Highlighting is a popular study technique that involves marking important passages in a text. The overall idea is to highlight important points in a text – common ones are key numbers, dates, names, and other key points – that can then be easily spotted when reviewing the whole material. In its pure form, it does not involve writing any notes, but in practice, it is often combined with   other note-taking methods .

This a useful method for students, researchers, and anyone else who needs to go through a lot of material as it allows them to quickly find the information they need later on. Note, however, that while this method is very commonly used, it has been the topic of scientific studies that have found it of questionable value for studying.

• Easy to get started with.
• Does not require writing.
• Provides you with a marked-up text that can help you revise more efficiently.
• It’s easy to go on autopilot with the method and become a passive reader rather than actively engaging with the text.
• Studies have found it to be of questionable value.

Sander Tamm

Downsides of E-Learning: Self-Motivation and Time Management

It can be challenging to stay motivated when studying online – and with greater flexibility, finding the time can strangely enough often feel more difficult. In this article, we’ll look at some of the factors at play and how you can stay focused on your desired e-learning results.

An Honest Review of Coursera in 2023: Pros, Cons & Alternatives

In this Coursera review, I’ll go through all of the MOOC provider’s key features and determine if it’s worth paying for.

The Flow Method of Note-Taking: Notes for Active Learning

In our article on the flow note-taking method, we’ll look at how this approach can help you take a more active role in your learning and better understand how concepts relate to each other.

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by Anonymous

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by Amisha Das

Week 1-3 Notes

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by Gagneet Kaur

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by Padmaja Sharma

Programming in Python

Python for Everybody Book (Python 3) (Reference) (Data Science Focused)

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by Shashwat

Python Basics Blog

Basic principles on clean coding.

by Pv Shabarish

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thinkstats2 Allen B. Downey

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5.3 Taking Notes

Questions to Consider:

• How can you prepare to take notes to maximize the effectiveness of the experience?
• What are some specific strategies you can employ for better note-taking?
• Why is annotating your notes after the note-taking session a critical step to follow?

Beyond providing a record of the information you are reading or hearing, notes help you organize the ideas and help you make meaning out of something about which you may not be familiar, so note-taking and reading are two compatible skill sets. Taking notes also helps you stay focused on the question at hand. Nanami often takes notes during presentations or class lectures so she can follow the speaker’s main points and condense the material into a more readily usable format. Strong notes build on your prior knowledge of a subject, help you discuss trends or patterns present in the information, and direct you toward areas needing further research or reading.

It is not a good habit to transcribe every single word a speaker utters—even if you have an amazing ability to do that. Most of us don’t have that court-reporter-esque skill level anyway, and if we try, we would end up missing valuable information. Learn to listen for main ideas and distinguish between these main ideas and details that typically support the ideas. Include examples that explain the main ideas, but do so using understandable abbreviations.

Think of all notes as potential study guides. In fact, if you only take notes without actively working on them after the initial note-taking session, the likelihood of the notes helping you is slim. Research on this topic concludes that without active engagement after taking notes, most students forget 60–75 percent of material over which they took the notes—within two days! That sort of defeats the purpose, don’t you think? This information about memory loss was first brought to light by 19th-century German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. Fortunately, you do have the power to thwart what is sometimes called the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve by reinforcing what you learned through review at intervals shortly after you take in the material and frequently thereafter.

If you are a musician, you’ll understand this phenomenon well. When you first attempt a difficult piece of music, you may not remember the chords and notes well at all, but after frequent practice and review, you generate a certain muscle memory and cognitive recall that allows you to play the music more easily.

Note-taking may not be the most glamorous aspect of your higher-education journey, but it is a study practice you will carry throughout college and into your professional life. Setting yourself up for successful note-taking is almost as important as the actual taking of notes, and what you do after your note-taking session is equally significant. Well-written notes help you organize your thoughts, enhance your memory, and participate in class discussion, and they prepare you to respond successfully on exams. With all that riding on your notes, it would behoove you to learn how to take notes properly and continue to improve your note-taking skills.

Analysis Question

Do you currently have a preferred way to take notes? When did you start using it? Has it been effective? What other strategy might work for you?

Preparing to Take Notes

Preparing to take notes means more than just getting out your laptop or making sure you bring pen and paper to class. You’ll do a much better job with your notes if you understand why we take notes, have a strong grasp on your preferred note-taking system, determine your specific priorities depending on your situation, and engage in some version of efficient shorthand.

Like handwriting and fingerprints, we all have unique and fiercely independent note-taking habits. These understandably and reasonably vary from one situation to the next, but you can only improve your skills by learning more about ways to take effective notes and trying different methods to find a good fit.

The very best notes are the ones you take in an organized manner that encourages frequent review and use as you progress through a topic or course of study. For this reason, you need to develop a way to organize all your notes for each class so they remain together and organized. As old-fashioned as it sounds, a clunky three-ring binder is an excellent organizational container for class notes. You can easily add to previous notes, insert handouts you may receive in class, and maintain a running collection of materials for each separate course. If the idea of carrying around a heavy binder has you rolling your eyes, then transfer that same structure into your computer files. If you don’t organize your many documents into some semblance of order on your computer, you will waste significant time searching for improperly named or saved files.

You may be interested in relatively new research on what is the more effective note-taking strategy: handwriting versus typing directly into a computer. While individuals have strong personal opinions on this subject, most researchers agree that the format of student notes is less important than what students do with the notes they take afterwards. Both handwriting notes and using a computer for note-taking have pros and cons.

Managing Note-Taking Systems (Computer, Paper/Pen, Note Cards, Textbook)

Whichever of the many note-taking systems you choose (and new ones seem to come out almost daily), the very best one is the one that you will use consistently. The skill and art of note-taking is not automatic for anyone; it takes a great deal of practice, patience, and continuous attention to detail. Add to that the fact that you may need to master multiple note-taking techniques for different classes, and you have some work to do. Unless you are specifically directed by your instructor, you are free to combine the best parts of different systems if you are most comfortable with that hybrid system.

Just to keep yourself organized, all your notes should start off with an identifier, including at the very least the date, the course name, the topic of the lecture/presentation, and any other information you think will help you when you return to use the notes for further study, test preparation, or assignment completion. Additional, optional information may be the number of note-taking sessions about this topic or reminders to cross-reference class handouts, textbook pages, or other course materials. It’s also always a good idea to leave some blank space in your notes so you can insert additions and questions you may have as you review the material later.

Note-Taking Strategies

You may have a standard way you take all your notes for all your classes. When you were in high school, this one-size-fits-all approach may have worked. Now that you’re in college, reading and studying more advanced topics, your general method may still work some of the time, but you should have some different strategies in place if you find that your method isn’t working as well with college content. You probably will need to adopt different note-taking strategies for different subjects. The strategies in this section represent various ways to take notes in such a way that you are able to study after the initial note-taking session.

Cornell Method

One of the most recognizable note-taking systems is called the Cornell Method , a relatively simple way to take effective notes devised by Cornell University education professor Dr. Walter Pauk in the 1940s. In this system, you take a standard piece of note paper and divide it into three sections by drawing a horizontal line across your paper about one to two inches from the bottom of the page (the summary area) and then drawing a vertical line to separate the rest of the page above this bottom area, making the left side about two inches (the recall column) and leaving the biggest area to the right of your vertical line (the notes column). You may want to make one page and then copy as many pages as you think you’ll need for any particular class, but one advantage of this system is that you can generate the sections quickly. Because you have divided up your page, you may end up using more paper than you would if you were writing on the entire page, but the point is not to keep your notes to as few pages as possible. The Cornell Method provides you with a well-organized set of notes that will help you study and review your notes as you move through the course. If you are taking notes on your computer, you can still use the Cornell Method in Word or Excel on your own or by using a template someone else created.

Now that you have the note-taking format generated, the beauty of the Cornell Method is its organized simplicity. Just write on one side of the page (the right-hand notes column)—this will help later when you are reviewing and revising your notes. During your note-taking session, use the notes column to record information over the main points and concepts of the lecture; try to put the ideas into your own words, which will help you not transcribe the speaker’s words verbatim. Skip lines between each idea in this column. Practice the shortcut abbreviations covered in the next section and avoid writing in complete sentences. Don’t make your notes too cryptic, but you can use bullet points or phrases equally well to convey meaning—we do it all the time in conversation. If you know you will need to expand the notes you are taking in class but don’t have time, you can put reminders directly in the notes by adding and underlining the word expand by the ideas you need to develop more fully.

As soon as possible after your note-taking session, preferably within eight hours but no more than twenty-four hours, read over your notes column and fill in any details you missed in class, including the places where you indicated you wanted to expand your notes. Then in the recall column, write any key ideas from the corresponding notes column—you can’t stuff this smaller recall column as if you’re explaining or defining key ideas. Just add the one- or two-word main ideas; these words in the recall column serve as cues to help you remember the detailed information you recorded in the notes column.

Once you are satisfied with your notes and recall columns, summarize this page of notes in two or three sentences using the summary area at the bottom of the sheet. This is an excellent time to get with another classmate or a group of students who all heard the same lecture to make sure you all understood the key points. Now, before you move onto something else, cover the large notes column, and quiz yourself over the key ideas you recorded in the recall column. Repeat this step often as you go along, not just immediately before an exam, and you will help your memory make the connections between your notes, your textbook reading, your in-class work, and assignments that you need to succeed on any quizzes and exams.

The main advantage of the Cornell Method is that you are setting yourself up to have organized, workable notes. The neat format helps you move into study-mode without needing to re-copy less organized notes or making sense of a large mass of information you aren’t sure how to process because you can’t remember key ideas or what you meant. If you write notes in your classes without any sort of system and later come across something like “Napoleon—short” in the middle of a glob of notes, what can you do at this point? Is that important? Did it connect with something relevant from the lecture? How would you possibly know? You are your best advocate for setting yourself up for success in college.

Other note organizing systems may help you in different disciplines. You can take notes in a formal outline if you prefer, using Roman numerals for each new topic, moving down a line to capital letters indented a few spaces to the right for concepts related to the previous topic, then adding details to support the concepts indented a few more spaces over and denoted by an Arabic numeral. You can continue to add to a formal outline by following these rules.

You don’t absolutely have to use the formal numerals and letter, but you have to then be careful to indent so you can tell when you move from a higher level topic to the related concepts and then to the supporting information. The main benefit of an outline is how organized it is. You have to be on your toes when you are taking notes in class to ensure you keep up the organizational format of the outline, which can be tricky if the lecture or presentation is moving quickly or covering many diverse topics.

The following formal outline example shows the basic pattern:

• Protection (supporting info about the concept)
• Family-friendly (supporting info about the concept)

You would just continue on with this sort of numbering and indenting format to show the connections between main ideas, concepts, and supporting details. Whatever details you do not capture in your note-taking session, you can add after the lecture as you review your outline.

Chart or table

Similar to creating an outline, you can develop a chart to compare and contrast main ideas in a note-taking session. Divide your paper into four or five columns with headings that include either the main topics covered in the lecture or categories such as How?, What?, When used?, Advantages/Pros, Disadvantages/Cons, or other divisions of the information. You write your notes into the appropriate columns as that information comes to light in the presentation.

This format helps you pull out the salient ideas and establishes an organized set of notes to study later. (If you haven’t noticed that this reviewing later idea is a constant across all note-taking systems, you should…take note of that.) Notes by themselves that you never reference again are little more than scribblings. That would be a bit like compiling an extensive grocery list so you stay on budget when you shop, work all week on it, and then just throw it away before you get to the store. You may be able to recall a few items, but likely won’t be as efficient as you could be if you had the notes to reference. Just as you cannot read all the many books, articles, and documents you need to peruse for your college classes, you cannot remember the most important ideas of all the notes you will take as part of your courses, so you must review.

Concept Mapping and Visual Note-Taking

One final note-taking method that appeals to learners who prefer a visual representation of notes is called mapping or sometimes mind mapping or concept mapping, although each of these names can have slightly different uses. Variations of this method abound, so you may want to look for more versions online, but the basic principles are that you are making connections between main ideas through a graphic depiction; some can get rather elaborate with colors and shapes, but a simple version may be more useful at least to begin. Main ideas can be circled or placed in a box with supporting concepts radiating off these ideas shown with a connecting line and possibly details of the support further radiating off the concepts. You can present your main ideas vertically or horizontally, but turning your paper long-ways, or in landscape mode, may prove helpful as you add more main ideas.

You may be interested in trying visual note-taking or adding pictures to your notes for clarity. Sometimes when you can’t come up with the exact wording to explain something or you’re trying to add information for complex ideas in your notes, sketching a rough image of the idea can help you remember. According to educator Sherrill Knezel in an article entitled “The Power of Visual Note-taking,” this strategy is effective because “When students use images and text in note-taking, it gives them two different ways to pull up the information, doubling their chances of recall.” Don’t shy away from this creative approach to note-taking just because you believe you aren’t an artist; the images don’t need to be perfect. You may want to watch Rachel Smith’s TEDx Talk called “Drawing in Class” to learn more about visual note-taking.

You can play with different types of note-taking suggestions and find the method(s) you like best, but once you find what works for you, stick with it. You will become more efficient with the method the more you use it, and your note-taking, review, and test prep will become, if not easier, certainly more organized, which can decrease your anxiety.

Practicing Decipherable Shorthand

Most college students don’t take a class in shorthand, once the domain of secretaries and executive assistants, but maybe they should. That almost-lost art in the age of computers could come in very handy during intense note-taking sessions. Elaborate shorthand systems do exist, but you would be better served in your college note-taking adventures to hone a more familiar, personalized form of shorthand to help you write more in a shorter amount of time. Seemingly insignificant shortcuts can add up to ease the stress note-taking can induce—especially if you ever encounter an “I’m not going to repeat this” kind of presenter! Become familiar with these useful abbreviations:

Do you have any other shortcuts or symbols that you use in your notes? Ask your parents if they remember any that you may be able to learn.

Annotating Notes After Initial Note-Taking Session

Annotating notes after the initial note-taking session may be one of the most valuable study skills you can master. Whether you are highlighting, underlining, or adding additional notes, you are reinforcing the material in your mind and memory.

Admit it—who can resist highlighting markers? Gone are the days when yellow was the star of the show, and you had to be very careful not to press too firmly for fear of obliterating the words you were attempting to emphasize. Students now have a veritable rainbow of highlighting options and can color-code notes and text passages to their hearts’ content. Technological advances may be important, but highlighter color choice is monumental! Maybe.

The only reason to highlight anything is to draw attention to it, so you can easily pick out that ever-so-important information later for further study or reflection. One problem many students have is not knowing when to stop. If what you need to recall from the passage is a particularly apt and succinct definition of the term important to your discipline, highlighting the entire paragraph is less effective than highlighting just the actual term. And if you don’t rein in this tendency to color long passages (possibly in multiple colors) you can end up with a whole page of highlighted text. Ironically, that is no different from a page that is not highlighted at all, so you have wasted your time. Your mantra for highlighting text should be  less is more . Always read your text selection first before you start highlighting anything. You need to know what the overall message is before you start placing emphasis in the text with highlighting.

Another way to annotate notes after initial note-taking is underlying significant words or passages. Albeit not quite as much fun as its colorful cousin highlighting, underlining provides precision to your emphasis.

Some people think of annotations as only using a colored highlighter to mark certain words or phrases for emphasis. Actually, annotations can refer to anything you do with a text to enhance it for your particular use (either a printed text, handwritten notes, or other sort of document you are using to learn concepts). The annotations may include highlighting passages or vocabulary, defining those unfamiliar terms once you look them up, writing questions in the margin of a book, underlining or circling key terms, or otherwise marking a text for future reference. You can also annotate some electronic texts.

Realistically, you may end up doing all of these types of annotations at different times. We know that repetition in studying and reviewing is critical to learning, so you may come back to the same passage and annotate it separately. These various markings can be invaluable to you as a study guide and as a way to see the evolution of your learning about a topic. If you regularly begin a reading session writing down any questions you may have about the topic of that chapter or section and also write out answers to those questions at the end of the reading selection, you will have a good start to what that chapter covered when you eventually need to study for an exam. At that point, you likely will not have time to reread the entire selection especially if it is a long reading selection, but with strong annotations in conjunction with your class notes, you won’t need to do that. With experience in reading discipline-specific texts and writing essays or taking exams in that field, you will know better what sort of questions to ask in your annotations.

What you have to keep in the front of your mind while you are annotating, especially if you are going to conduct multiple annotation sessions, is to not overdo whatever method you use. Be judicious about what you annotate and how you do it on the page, which means you must be neat about it. Otherwise, you end up with a mess of either color or symbols combined with some cryptic notes that probably took you quite a long time to create, but won’t be worth as much to you as a study aid as they could be. This is simply a waste of time and effort.

You cannot eat up every smidgen of white space on the page writing out questions or summaries and still have a way to read the original text. If you are lucky enough to have a blank page next to the beginning of the chapter or section you are annotating, use this, but keep in mind that when you start writing notes, you aren’t exactly sure how much space you’ll need. Use a decipherable shorthand and write only what you need to convey the meaning in very small print. If you are annotating your own notes, you can make a habit of using only one side of the paper in class, so that if you need to add more notes later, you could use the other side. You can also add a blank page to your notes before beginning the next class date in your notebook so you’ll end up with extra paper for annotations when you study.

Professional resources may come with annotations that can be helpful to you as you work through the various documentation requirements you’ll encounter in college as well. Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab ( OWL ) provides an annotated sample for how to format a college paper according to guidelines in the Modern Language Association (MLA) manual that you can see, along with other annotations.

Adding Needed Additional Explanations to Notes

Marlon was totally organized and ready to take notes in a designated course notebook at the beginning of every philosophy class session. He always dated his page and indicated what the topic of discussion was. He had various colored highlighters ready to denote the different note purposes he had defined: vocabulary in pink, confusing concepts in green, and note sections that would need additional explanations later in yellow. He also used his own shorthand and an impressive array of symbols to indicate questions (red question mark), highly probable test material (he used a tiny bomb exploding here), additional reading suggestions, and specific topics he would ask his instructor before the next class. Doing everything so precisely, Marlon’s methods seemed like a perfect example of how to take notes for success. Inevitably though, by the end of the hour-and-a-half class session, Marlon was frantically switching between writing tools, near to tears, and scouring his notes as waves of yellow teased him with uncertainty. What went wrong?

As with many of us who try diligently to do everything we know how to do for success or what we think we know because we read books and articles on success in between our course work, Marlon is suffering from trying to do too much simultaneously. It’s an honest mistake we can make when we are trying to save a little time or think we can multitask and kill two birds with one stone.

Unfortunately, this particular error in judgement can add to your stress level exponentially if you don’t step back and see it for what it is. Marlon attempted to take notes in class as well as annotate his notes to get them ready for his test preparation. It was too much to do at one time, but even if he could have done all those things during class, he’s missing one critical point about note-taking.

As much as we may want to hurry and get it over with, note-taking in class is just the beginning. Your instructor likely gave you a pre-class assignment to read or complete before coming to that session. The intention of that preparatory lesson is for you to come in with some level of familiarity for the topic under consideration and questions of your own. Once you’re in class, you may also need to participate in a group discussion, work with your classmates, or perform some other sort of lesson-directed activity that would necessarily take you away from taking notes. Does that mean you should ignore taking notes for that day? Most likely not. You may just need to indicate in your notes that you worked on a project or whatever other in-class event you experienced that date.

Very rarely in a college classroom will you engage in an activity that is not directly related to what you are studying in that course. Even if you enjoyed every minute of the class session and it was an unusual format for that course, you still need to take some notes. Maybe your first note could be to ask yourself why you think the instructor used that unique teaching strategy for the class that day. Was it effective? Was it worth using the whole class time? How will that experience enhance what you are learning in that course?

If you use an ereader or ebooks to read texts for class or read articles from the Internet on your laptop or tablet, you can still take effective notes. Depending on the features of your device, you have many choices. Almost all electronic reading platforms allow readers to highlight and underline text. Some devices allow you to add a written text in addition to marking a word or passage that you can collect at the end of your note-taking session. Look into the specific tools for your device and learn how to use the features that allow you to take notes electronically. You can also find apps on devices to help with taking notes, some of which you may automatically have installed when you buy the product. Microsoft’s OneNote, Google Keep, and the Notes feature on phones are relatively easy to use, and you may already have free access to those.

Taking Notes on Non-Text Items (i.e., Tables, Maps, Figures, etc.)

You may also encounter situations as you study and read textbooks, primary sources, and other resources for your classes that are not actually texts. You can still take notes on maps, charts, graphs, images, and tables, and your approach to these non-text features is similar to when you prepare to take notes over a passage of text. For example, if you are looking at the following map, you may immediately come up with several questions. Or it may initially appear overwhelming. Start by asking yourself these questions:

• Who is the intended audience?
• Where is it?
• What time period does it depict?
• What does the map’s legend (the explanation of symbols) include?
• What other information do I need to make sense of this map?

You may want to make an extra copy of a graphic or table before you add annotations if you are dealing with a lot of information. Making sense of all the elements will take time, and you don’t want to add to the confusion.

Returning to Your Notes

Later, as soon as possible after the class, you can go back to your notes and add in missing parts. Just as you may generate questions as you’re reading new material, you may leave a class session or lecture or activities with many questions. Write those down in a place where they won’t get lost in all your other notes.

The exact timing of when you get back to the notes you take in class or while you are reading an assignment will vary depending on how many other classes you have or what other obligations you have in your daily schedule. A good starting place that is also easy to remember is to make every effort to review your notes within 24 hours of first taking them. Longer than that and you are likely to have forgotten some key features you need to include; must less time than that, and you may not think you need to review the information you so recently wrote down, and you may postpone the task too long.

Use your phone or computer to set reminders for all your note review sessions so that it becomes a habit and you keep on top of the schedule.

Your personal notes play a significant role in your test preparation. They should enhance how you understand the lessons, textbooks, lab sessions, and assignments. All the time and effort you put into first taking the notes and then annotating and organizing the notes will be for naught if you do not formulate an effective and efficient way to use them before sectional exams or comprehensive tests.

The whole cycle of reading, note-taking in class, reviewing and enhancing your notes, and preparing for exams is part of a continuum you ideally will carry into your professional life. Don’t try to take short cuts; recognize each step in the cycle as a building block. Learning doesn’t end, which shouldn’t fill you with dread; it should help you recognize that all this work you’re doing in the classroom and during your own study and review sessions is ongoing and cumulative. Practicing effective strategies now will help you be a stronger professional.

What resources can you find about reading and note-taking that will actually help you with these crucial skills? How do you go about deciding what resources are valuable for improving your reading and note-taking skills?

The selection and relative value of study guides and books about note-taking vary dramatically. Ask your instructors for recommendations and see what the library has available on this topic. The following list is not comprehensive, but will give you a starting point for books and articles on note-taking in college.

• College Rules!: How to Study, Survive, and Succeed in College, by Sherri Nist-Olejnik and Jodi Patrick Holschuh. More than just note-taking, this book covers many aspects of transitioning into the rigors of college life and studying.
• Effective Note-taking, by Fiona McPherson. This small volume has suggestions for using your limited time wisely before, during, and after note-taking sessions.
• How to Study in College, by Walter Pauk. This is the book that introduced Pauk’s note-taking suggestions we now call the Cornell Method. It is a bit dated (from the 1940s), but still contains some valuable information.
• Learn to Listen, Listen to Learn 2: Academic Listening and Note-taking, by Roni S. Lebauer. The main point of this book is to help students get the most from college lectures by watching for clues to lecture organization and adapting this information into strong notes.
• Study Skills: Do I Really Need this Stuff?, by Steve Piscitelli. Written in a consistently down-to-earth manner, this book will help you with the foundations of strong study skills, including time management, effective note-taking, and seeing the big picture.
• “What Reading Does for the Mind,” by Anne Cunningham and Keith Stanovich, 1998, https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/cunningham.pdf
• Adler, Mortimer J. and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1940 .
• Berns, Gregory S., Kristina Blaine, Michael J. Prietula, and Brandon E. Pye. Brain Connectivity. Dec 2013.ahead of print http://doi.org/10.1089/brain.2013.0166

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Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/1-introduction

• Authors: Amy Baldwin
• Publisher/website: OpenStax
• Book title: College Success
• Publication date: Mar 27, 2020
• Location: Houston, Texas
• Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/1-introduction
• Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/5-3-taking-notes

© Sep 20, 2023 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.

2-1 Assignment Footnotes & FASB Codification

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Angels Notes: Moving on From Veterans, Welcoming the New Guys, Rod Carew Update

J.p. hoornstra | aug 16, 2024.

• Los Angeles Angels

The Angels didn't play Thursday, but they had busy day off the field.

Catch up on a busy day for transactions, and learn about the Angels' newest roster additions, among all the stories you might have missed Thursday:

Angels Cut Two Underperforming Veterans

The Los Angeles Angels made a significant decision by releasing two left-handed relievers, Amir Garrett and Adam Kolarek, aiming to streamline their bullpen depth. The move suggests their veteran auditions are over, and the Angels are looking at younger arms with an eye toward 2025.

Former Angels Pitcher on Brink of Major League History

Kirby Yates, previously with the Angels and now serving as the Texas Rangers' closer, is on the verge of making major league history with his stellar performance this season. Yates' career since leaving Anaheim offers another example of a good pitcher the Angels let get away.

Angels Designate Veteran For Assignment, Call Up Ex-Red Sox Infielder

In another roster refresh, the Angels plan to designate Willie Calhoun for assignment while calling up a former Red Sox infielder. Jack Lopez has a chance to show he deserves to return in 2025, while Calhoun appears to have reached the end of his audition .

Angels Activate Newly Acquired Reliever, Send Left-Hander to AAA

In recent strategic adjustments, the Angels have activated a newly acquired reliever and opted to send another left-handed pitcher down to Triple-A. Brock Burke gives the Angels a new veteran option out of the bullpen, while Kenny Rosenberg will have to bide his time at Salt Lake.

Angels Legend Adds New Title To His Resume: U.S. Citizen

An Angels alumnus in the Baseball Hall of Fame has added an exciting new title to his impressive resume: U.S. citizen. This milestone marks a personal achievement for the baseball legend.

J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content for Halos Today, and is the author of 'The 50 Greatest Dodger Games Of All Time.' He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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