How to Take Notes That Will Help you Later

How to Take Notes That Will Actually Help you Later Taking notes may seem like a simple task, but taking notes that will actually be beneficial to you at a later date is an excellent skill to develop as early on in your studies as possible. Effective note taking can save you huge amounts of time when revisiting a topic later, particularly for things such as revision. We have put together a simple guide to improve these skills and to get the most benefit out of note taking in your lectures and beyond. Preparation Before you attend your lectures, ensure you have everything you need to take the best notes. Remember, there are many different ways of taking notes (and everyone will have their own preference that works best for them) so it is important to make sure you have the tools required, whether that is a notepad and coloured pens, a book and a highlighter, or your laptop, or iPad. Another way to best prepare for note taking in lectures is to ensure you have already completed the required readings for that lecture. This will ensure that you have already retained some of the necessary information, and will make it much easier to make your notes when you cover it a second time in the lecture. Carrying out the required readings will also encourage you to think about any clarification that you want to get from your tutor when it is being discussed with your class. Note taking: Physical or Digital? With technology making rapid advances, there are now hundreds of different ways that you can use technology for your benefits, including in your lectures. Remember though, digital note taking may not work for everyone, and both digital and physical note taking methods have their pros and cons. Some people will prefer the old-fashioned method of pen and paper, and that’s fine. Reading and then writing things down can increase the likelihood of the information being stored in your brain, since it is a repetitive exercise. However, you can also use technology to these benefits too. Since digital note taking can be quicker, you may find that writing notes on your laptop or tablet means that you are able to make more notes than if you were writing with pen and paper. There are also a huge range of note taking apps, that can help you tailor your note taking to exactly how you want it, and by what works best for you. Apps like evernote can be life changing for a student who has lots of note taking to do. Different note taking methods The Outlining Method This method is probably the most common form of note taking, and many students find that it is the method that works best for them. This method involves the following: Listing key points Organising these points further, with more detail and in an organised pattern based on indentation The information that is most general begins at the left, and then the more specific each point gets, the more indented to the right it becomes. Example: The benefits of this method include the fact that it is a well-organised system if done correctly, and therefore reduces any editing that may be required in other note taking methods. It is also easy to review later, since everything is organised underneath relevant topics. The Cornell Method This method combines both visual and written aspects, and involved dividing your paper into sections to help organise your note taking: Divide your paper into 3 sections: the â€Å"Cue† column (vertical line down the left-hand side of the page), the â€Å"Note taking† column and the â€Å"Summary† column (horizontal line across the page near the bottom) The cue column will contain key points and key questions The note-taking section is where you will write all of your general notes – this is the largest section of the page The summary section will contain the summary – which is a good section to refer to when you are reviewing your notes after a couple of weeks or months. Example The mapping method This method is particularly effective for visual learners, as it involves recording all your notes as necessary, but in a more visual way, which you can make more appealing to suit your preference. This is a very popular method among students, particularly for revision. Notes will be organised into a map Visual elements such as colours, shapes, lines can be used to identify different topic areas, to separate points and to make the notes appealing to look at and easy to read You can organise the notes as you please, and completely tailor the map to suit your preference Example The benefits of the mapping method is that they encourage you to take fewer, but more meaningful notes, and their presentation means that information can be seen and retrieved quickly. Whilst there are many methods of note taking, these are some of the most popular and most effective means to do so. Every student who is serious about studying and achieving a top grade should aim to work on their note taking skills, to save time in the future, to develop writing skills and to retrieve and store information effectively when it comes to things like writing essays, or revision later in the academic year.