Chapter 10 Taking Effective Notes

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 2 Successful note taking requires Preparation A system Quick, efficient information gathering Tying things together

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 3 Don’t just start taking notes. Get ready to take notes by Preparing for readings Preparing for lectures

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 4 How to be in the right reading mind set Get to know your textbook Look over the specific assignment

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 5 Getting acquainted with your textbook and its authors Buy or acquire the book as early as possible Survey the book from cover to cover

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 6 Why you should survey each assignment Surveying creates a background Surveying limbers the mind Surveying overcomes inertia

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 7 Steps in surveying an individual assignment Think about the title Read the introduction and summary Look over headings and subheadings Note any information set apart from the text Glance at the visuals

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 8 How to prepare for an upcoming lecture Look over the syllabus: You’ll get a big picture sense of where the lecture and the course is going. Review your notes from the previous lecture: The latest lecture often rests on the ideas of the previous one. Do the assigned reading: Readings can often provide advance organizers that make the lectures more meaningful and memorable

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 9 Taking notes systematically The Cornell System for lectures or separate textbook notes A system for marking your textbook directly

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 10 The Cornell System Trusted for almost fifty years Used throughout the U.S. and the world Based on a simple principle: wide margins

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 11 The cue column is the 2 ½ left- hand margin. The summary area is the 2-inch row at the bottom.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 12 Both areas should remain blank until after you’ve finished taking notes The cue column will be home for clarifying questions The summary area will be used to distill a full page down to a sentence or two The largest area is where your note-taking occurs. And it is flexible enough to accommodate most note-taking formats

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 13 Some possible note-taking formats Sentences: Express important ideas in your own words, telegraphically. Paragraphs: Group related ideas into a block of text Definitions: Follow the term/explanation format. Lists: A heading or label followed by a group of items beneath it Drawings: Use illustrations or diagrams to more readily convey relationships Combination: Most notes will use a mixture of note- taking formats

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 14 Marking your textbooks With textbook assignments, notes can be taken directly on the textbook page The textbook’s outside margin becomes the cue column. The bottom of the page, the summary area.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 15 But what about the note-taking area? You can’t really take notes in your textbook… But you can mark it

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 16 The advantages of textbook marking You can mark important words, phrases, or sentences instead of writing them out. Your markings and your textbook travel together as a unit The source of your markings and jottings is right there in case you need clarification

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 17 The disadvantages of textbook marking Overmarking can be difficult to undo and can make your markings less valuable. Any code or abbreviations you use may be difficult to decipher later. Textbook marking doesn’t require the same level of concentration as taking notes.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 18 Using reciting to encourage active textbook marking Don’t just mark as you read Read a paragraph at a time Recite the main idea of the paragraph in your own words

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 19 Marking electronic texts Webpages: Change your Page Setup margins and print the pages out. PDF files: Set your paper size to B5(JIS) and print out on regular paper Presentation slides: Choose the software’s notation setting and print out or annotate the slides onscreen Word processor documents: Reset the margins and print out or place text in a table and then add a new column for your jottings

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 20 How to gather information for your notes or markings Be inquisitive Follow the signs Record efficiently Deal with exceptions and special cases

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 21 Being inquisitive means asking questions Ask questions to unlock meanings: Asking questions promotes concentration Ask questions silently and out loud in a lecture: Ask yourself; ask the instructor Ask questions as you read: Turn headings into questions.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 22 Following the signs leads to comprehension Pay attention to intonation: Spoken or written, intonation provides clues. Recognize organizational patterns: Knowing the pattern makes things easier to follow

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 23 Intonation can have a dramatic effect on meaning

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 24 Intonation in lectures Volume: Change in volume often signals important ideas. Pauses: Pauses serve to set certain ideas apart Cadence: A speaker’s cadence can tip you off to things like lists

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 25 Intonation in textbooks Boldface: Often signals a heading, subheading, or other important word or term Italics: Places emphasis on a word or phrase Underlining: Works like boldface or italics Bullets: Set off items in lists

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 26 Organizational patterns aid you in navigating through a lecture or reading Movement patterns Importance patterns Causal patterns Comparison patterns Logical patterns

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 27 How to record your notes efficiently Use the modified printing style: More legible than cursive, faster than printing Take notes telegraphically: Leave off unessential words Take notes selectively: Only jot down or mark the most important information.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 28 How to deal with special cases When you can’t attend a lecture: Have a friend record it for you. When the lecture speaks too quickly: Use the two-page system When an assigned book is supplemental: Survey it efficiently

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.10 | 29 How to pull everything together Overview your reading assignment after you’ve finished it, rereading some of its key elements Pay extra close attention to the last few minutes of a lecture. And when you leave, take a moment to visualize the lecture and replay its main ideas.