Introduction to Cornell Notes

Tuesday September 16th DNW: What do you know about Rome? Write in detail what you know or what you would like to know.

Plan for Today We will be going over how to take Cornell Notes for this class. We will start with how to get a “B” or a proficient grade in Cornell notes Then I will show you how to take it up to an A And finally we will do a section of Cornell Notes together using the textbook

Why is note taking such a big deal? It is the key to academic success because it helps you remember! Our memory fades quickly; especially after reading or listening to a lecture even if we find it interesting or engaging Research shows that we forget 50% of what we hear within an hour and more than 70% within two days Note taking keeps your mind active while you are receiving new information

You are interacting with the information; deciding what is important No note-taking system suits all students equally but many students and business people find that Cornell Notes are the most effective because it is a note taking system AND a studying system

Formatting Your Paper Fold your piece of paper 1/3 of the way from the left hand border Use your pen/pencil to draw your line in the fold to make it clear Leave a space at the bottom for your summary Add your name to top right hand corner and add a title to top left of your paper Draw a line at the bottom for your summary. It should be 3-4 lines

The Left Side The left side of your paper is for headings or key words This is also the place for vocabulary. Words only. The def would go on the right

The Right Side This is where your actual notes go. Feel free to make bulleted lists, outlines, pictures on this side. Whatever makes the most sense to your brain

After you are finished It is time to reread your notes and add questions. You need 2 Questions for each assn. 1 ASQ (Above the surface question) These use traditional question words: Who, What, Where, When You also need 1 BSQ (Below the surface q) These ask How and Why

ASQ & BSQ Your q’s should match the notes you’ve already taken Look at your notes on the right to create your questions on the left “Why did the peasants of France pay so much in taxes?” The answer should be near where you write the question. Question would be on the left and answer would be on the right

The Summary This is the last part of your notes Write 5-7 important things from your notes This will help you find your info later instead of reading through ALL of your notes It also helps you think about your information in a different way This is the best test of how well you understand the information

Study Tools The great thing about Cornell Notes is how they can be used as a study tool Fold your paper so the right hand side is covered. Then you are left with vocabulary words and study questions to see if you’ve learned the material

On to Advanced! The previous information is how you get a proficient or B grade on your Cornell Notes To get an A or advanced grade you will need some other additions These fall into the 3 R’s: Revise, Reorganize and Review

Add more headings if needed Underline vocab words; put a box around the definition Add categories: political, social, economic Color code each category with your highlighters Why categories? It helps your learn; creates more pathways in your brain; using these will help you in essays and critical thinking exercises Plus: it’s how you get an A on your Cornell notes

Political Gov’t Leaders Laws Voting War Military Courts Economic Money Jobs Trade Resources Wealth Raw Materials Economic Systems Taxes

Social People Religion Education Culture Food Media Language Social Class

How to choose categories? There will be a lot of crossover between your categories. You need to decide which one carries more weight. Sometimes you just have to make a judgment call

Tips Try to avoid long sentences. Use abbreviations; just make sure you can remember what they mean when you look over them later! Revise and write questions within 24 hours of taking your notes so the info is still fresh If you are taking notes from a text book or a challenging source, read or skim the material first before you write your notes so you have a better idea of what the important points are

Read your notes out loud. Seriously. It is a powerful tool for anchoring information in your long term memory. You might realize as you’re speaking aloud to your dog or teddy bear that you don’t understand the info enough Studies show that students who recite tend to do better on tests than students who just read their notes silently to themselves. What about typing? Studies show that students that hand write their notes do far better on exams than people that type their notes. Partially because when writing you can’t write everything down so you are making decisions about what is important vs on a laptop you can type verbatim

Ok! Time for your textbook Before we can take notes from your textbook you need to get acquainted with your textbook Time for a text book scavenger hunt! You will now receive the handout that will lead you through the important parts of your book and how to use them This is pg 22A in your binder: Textbook Scavenger Hunt

Now open your textbook to pg 10 This begins the section on Rome. Skim through to the end of the section before you do anything. NO WRITING!!! Why? Because you need to know what the is important before you write your notes. When you are done reading the section get out your binder paper and start setting up your page for notes

Name,Period Date Summary Rome 23A