Taking Notes Part 1 Synthesizing Information from a Source

Plato & Note-Taking “The act of writing something down is basically the decision to forget it.” Pictured: Aristotle & Homer

Four Purposes For Note Taking  Provides a written record for review  Forces the listener to pay attention  Requires organization, which involves active effort on the part of the listener  Listener must condense and rephrase, which aids understanding

List of Possible Strategies:  Skimming and scanning  Looking for keywords  Noticing bold, italic, and underlined words  Being aware of headlines  Using the table of contents, index, glossary, and title page  Paying attention to picture captions  Knowing that, sometimes, reading every word is necessary  Make a mind map or table or line diagram

Physical Factors  Seating  Near the front and center  Vision is better  Hearing is better  Avoid distractions  Doorways, window glare, etc.  Peers

Physical Factors  Materials  Two pens  Ink easier to read  You have a reserve  Wide-lined paper  Conference/Meeting date, and topic clearly labeled  May use dividers  Plenty of blank paper in back

What are some ways to be a good reader of information?

ABC - LOU Note-taking Strategies  A bbreviations  B ullets  C aveman language  L ists  O ne word for several  U se your own words Taken from: School Library Media Activities Monthly Vol. 12, No. 1, Sept. 2006

A bbreviations  Abbreviations are shortened forms of a word or phrase  Use them when you take notes  Examples:  Dr. = doctor  Mrs. = missus  Mr. = mister  U.S.A. = United States of America  CN = China List of Abbreviations

B ullets Example of a Bulleted List: Foods Romans Ate  Pizza  Spaghetti  Olives  Tomatoes  Wine

C aveman Language

L ists We all make lists from time to time:  Grocery lists  List of things to bring on vacation  “To Do” Lists When doing research you can also make lists:  List of countries the Romans conquered  List of weapons used by the Romans

O ne Word for Several (Paraphrase) How to:  Reread the original passage until you understand it.  Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase.  Check your version with the original to make sure that it accurately expresses all the essential information, but in a new form.  Record the source (including the page) in your notes so that you can credit it easily Taken from:

U se Your Own Words Similar to Paraphrasing  Read the information through  Without looking at the original material, write your version  Change words that are difficult to words you understand Note: You still need to cite the information

Try it Yourself! Fact Fragment Frenzy

Try to Paraphrase this: Roman men and women originally seem to have worn a large piece of wool, wrapped around themselves. After they met people from Greece and Egypt, around 200 BC, they began to wear linen tunics (like T-shirts) under their wool robes, which was more comfortable.woolGreeceEgypt BClinen On their feet, both men and women wore leather sandals, or leather boots in cold weather.leather In their hair, women wore wooden hairsticks or wooden combs, which they could also use to comb their hair. "Roman Clothing - History for Kids!" Kidipede - History and Science for Kids - Homework Help for Middle School. 13 Mar

More ideas for note-taking

Highlighting  Many students find that highlighting helps them to concentrate and helps them to understand the text.  Just deciding what to highlight or underline encourages you to think critically, make judgments and formulate your own response to the text.

Highlighting 1. Read quickly through the text to get an overview of what it’s about. 2. Read it more closely, pausing at the end of each paragraph to identify the main points. You may highlight: 1. Sentence or word that sums up an important idea 2. Quotations 3. Statistics 4. Specialized terms 5. Important or useful data 6. Examples or links to other ideas. 3. You could use different colored pens to mark different kinds of information, but be careful not to highlight so much that it becomes distracting.