HOW TO TAKE EFFECTIVE NOTES IN LESSONS NOTE-TAKING

Identify main points and sources of information Can you spot what’s really important here?

Notetaking You may even think that you have to copy down everything you hear or read Effective note taking should: have a purpose should be well organised be a time saving skill

Aims understand why notes are an important part of studying. learn how to take, organise and store notes.

When you have finished this study skills module, you should be able to: List the reasons why you should take notes Evaluate which information is useful and important, and which is not Organise notes using a mind-mapping tool Demonstrate good note taking practice in the your subject area Understand how to effectively store and review your notes

Note-taking helps you learn Note-taking means that you are taking in information and then writing it back out again as a learning process Taking notes will: help you to improve your attention span Help you to recall the information

Notetaking helps you concentrate When reading or listening, your mind may tend to wander off.  You might be inclined to think about work, money, or relationships.  Other aspects of your life pop into your head while you are listening to a lecturer or while you are reading.  Taking notes helps keep you focussed on your subject area and to the task at hand.

Notetaking helps you to remember Taking notes will help you to remember what you have heard or read We learn more effectively when we use multiple senses and multiple activities.  When note-taking we are using listening and writing skills and we are using our brain and muscles.     

Notetaking helps you to remember By writing notes you are summarising what you have heard or read into your own words and into a format that you are more likely to understand when you review the notes.  You are more likely to remember what you have heard or read if you take an active part in your learning.  Rather than being a passive listener or reader, note taking makes you an active learner.  The notes you produce are your own work and are a visible reminder of the effort you have put into the course.  This in itself can be a motivational factor for your study!

Notetaking helps you to organise your assignments Note taking helps you to organise the ideas you are learning about Good notes should arrange topics into easy-to-review chunks of information that are clear and well referenced.  Good notes help you to revise for an exam or use as a starting point for an assignment

Is notetaking important? You need to Decide which pieces of information are important and which pieces are not.  You need to be critical when you read or listen.  Ask yourself if the information you’re hearing is IMPORTANT, RELEVANT and TRUSTWORTHY Does the information make a major point? Does it relate to the subject matter? Is it believable or supported?  Is it a fact, opinion or example?

Notes Should be a summary of the main ideas Should be used to help jog your memory.  Use shortcuts that you will understand and that will make the writing process quicker.  Abbreviations (‘eg’ instead of ‘for example’), symbols (= instead of ‘equals’), and drawings can sometimes help you take notes more quickly.

Abbreviations What abbreviations or shortcuts do you know? Write down the ones you know now you can/should also invent and use your own abbreviations, especially for words or phrases that occur frequently in your subject area. If you have a glossary of words in your subject area try writing an abbreviation for them

Abbreviations – minus, without = equals, is the same as, results in ≠ does not equal, is not the same as, does not result in + and, plus ≈ is approximately equal to, is similar to < is less than, is smaller than > is greater than, is larger than

Abbreviations ↑ increase, rise, growth ↑↑ rapid increase ↓ decrease, fall, shrinkage ↓↓ rapid decrease ⇒ or ∴ therefore → leads on to, produces, causes x no, not, incorrect xx definitely not, disproved ? uncertain, possibly, unproven ✓ yes, correct ✓✓ definitely, certain, proven ✳ special, important, notable (when added to a word or phras / per – for example, £50/day instead of ‘fifty pounds per day’

Some common general abbreviations c. approximately, roughly, about (abbreviation for the Latin ‘circa’) e.g. for example i.e. in other words (usually used when adding more detail or an explanation) cf. compared to, by comparison with w/ with w/o without v. very vv. extremely C century (e.g. C19 for ‘nineteenth century’) etc. and so on K or k a thousand (e.g. 500K for ‘five hundred thousand’) m a million (e.g. $6m for ‘six million dollars’) vs. against

Two abbreviations techniques Use the first few letters of the word – just enough to remember what the abbreviation stands for imp for ‘important’ info for ‘information’ eval for ‘evaluation’ Remove all (or most of) the vowels from the word and use just the key consonants bunched together mngmt for ‘management’ mkt for ‘market’ (and mkting for ‘marketing’) dvpt for ‘development’

Activity - abbreviations The United Kingdom’s population, at around sixty million, is similar to that of Italy, but Italy’s population is now shrinking because its birth rate has fallen below its death rate. The UK’s population is still growing, albeit very slowly – at a rate of 0.09% between 1995 and 2000. Now write this down using your own abbreviations

Summary