Note Taking & Critical Reading

Note Taking - Making notes from printed sources - Taking notes in lectures Critical Reading -Deciding if sources are relevant -Deciding if sources are reliable

Why take notes? Notes make you concentrate on what you are learning Notes make you put ideas into your own words and so aid understanding Notes help you remember things better

Note Taking What does it involve? Extracting relevant information Being concise Understanding Understanding what you are writing at the time Understand notes when referring back in future

Note Taking WHAT TO WRITE DOWN Key words Summarising Paraphrasing Diagrams/bullet points Quotes in full

Note Taking - Lectures Make a note of the speaker/date How will you lay out your notes? Preparation Rewrite/review your notes

Note Taking - Lectures Use own words Don’t panic! - Pause to listen Make a note of things you don’t understand Leave space to return to a section Abbreviate/use shorthand Record facts and statistics accurately and mark quotes clearly Colour coding

Note Taking - Lectures NOTE TAKING METHODS Cornell Method Record Reduce Recite Reflect Review Walter Pauk

Mind Maps……… A graphical representation of what is in your brain Start with the key term and create connections

Creative Allows you to make links and connections between subjects Room to add more information to each topic More important points nearer the middle One keyword per line Don’t think about it too much!

Critical Reading WHAT TO READ Check publication details Check contents page/index Check foreword/preface Read first/last paragraphs in chapters Check summaries/abstracts

Reading methods HOW TO READ Skimming reading for the general gist of passage Scanningreading quickly to locate specific information Reading in-depth reading the text fully and taking notes

Reading methods READING AND NOTE TAKING METHODS SQ3R SURVEY QUESTION READ RECITE/WRITE RECALLFrancis Pleasant Robinson 1941

Note Taking – Written Sources TOP TIPS!! Paraphrase or summarise what you are reading Note down publication details Make sure you understand what you are writing!

School of Education & Lifelong Learning, University of Exeter Step One: For future reference, record the bibliographic details of your reading in the boxes below. TitleAuthorYear and place of publication Journal details (if any)Pages readOther bibliographic details Step Two: Surface read the reading and complete the following tasks. In your own words, briefly describe the main point or argument the author/s of the reading is trying to make. List three minor arguments that the author uses to support his or her main point or argument Step Three: Read the reading more comprehensively and find quotes or ideas from the text that supports each argument and point that you’ve listed in step two.

Critical Reading QUESTIONS TO ASK

Relevance Does the source give specific information about the topic I am researching? Up-to-date? Right level? Reliability Fact or opinion? Sufficient evidence to support statements? Produced by a reliable and author/organisation; is the author an expert in this field? Is the source trying to convince me of something? Does it give a balanced view?

Critical Reading What am I asked to think or believe? What evidence is produced to convince me and is it sufficient? Are there any hidden assumptions?