Sara Steinke Introduction to reading and note-taking STUDENT ORIENTATION 2012

Aims of the session Recognise the common pitfalls associated with reading and note-taking at university Look at key reading skills to help you read more efficiently and effectively for your studies Introduce key note-taking skills to help you take notes more efficiently and effectively for your studies

Which of these pitfalls apply to you? I try to take down everything that is said/on the PowerPoint presentation in lectures. I am uncertain about how many notes to take, and what to make notes on. I do not take time to organise my notes so that I can retrieve them later on. I only know one way for note-taking. I read the words on the page but am not taking them in. I spend too much or too little time on the reading. I have difficulty expressing what I have read in my own words. I simply do not understand the material. I find the language used too complicated.

Academic Vs Non-academic Reading In academic reading the reader is: Active Selective and interacts with the reading material Has a particular question in his/her mind Re-reads with a purpose In non-academic reading the reader tends to : Be passive Read from page one till the end Be guided by the author through his/her narrative

How to take linear notes Make headings and subheadings List key words Number the points Underline, colour, use capital letters for emphasis Use abbreviations Add your own personal thoughts later Only use one side of a page in case you want to add more Note name of authors you want/need to read in margin

How to mind map Turn the paper sideways, A3 landscape is best Write the topic in the centre of the page Write related ideas around this centre Add secondary ideas to the main ideas Link up these ideas to show relationships Use colours, different line thickness, symbols, pictures etc. Add details to points as you go along

Mind mapping Advantages It is quicker to write/read It gives you an excellent overview It forces you to be brief The relationship between ideas becomes obvious You can add more details around the map at a later stage It is visual, much more easily remembered than linear notes Disadvantages This type of notes is more difficult to make when you are new to the subject You may need to make a map of a map soon after reading or the lecture to do some tidying up Making radial or concept notes takes some practice before you can do them easily and efficiency Linear notes Advantages If an article or lecture is well structured, your notes will be well structured too It is the easiest method when you don’t know anything, or very little, about the subject Disadvantages Your notes are probably too wordy and messy Linear notes do not give you a good overview.

Think about the following 1. Write down the three most important aspects of reading and note-taking for learning that you have learnt/thought about in this session? Why were they important to you? 2. Are there any areas for improvement in your reading and note-taking skills that you need to take action on? If so, what are you doing to do to improve this aspect of your learning?

Recap of the session Identified key common pitfalls associated with reading and note-taking at university – which apply to you? Outlined key reading skills to help you read more efficiently and effectively – SQ3R Considered key note-taking skills to help you take notes more efficiently and effectively – linear notes and mind mapping

services/facilitiessupport/reading online resources available on the Birkbeck Library website head-stay-ahead/skills/notetaking ahead-stay ahead/skills/reading interactive tutorials supporting this Student Orientation programme studyskills/learning/reading.asp Studyskills/reading/notes.asp helpful information on reading and note-taking skills on the Skills4Study website Cottrell, S. (2008) The Study Skills Handbook, 3 rd Edition, Macmillan, London Chapter 6 ‘Research skills’ pp Northedge, A. (2005) The Good Study Guide (Milton Keynes, Open University Press) chapter 5 ‘Reading’ pp and chapter 6 ‘Making notes’ pp