NOTE-TAKING

STRATEGIES

Why Notes?
CONCENTRATION ON LECTURE/READING
• Helps you stay focused whether it’s a lecture or a reading assignment
• Helps you kinesthetically process information
• Make it a point to learn while you are in lecture, not just writing notes. Make the most out of
your time learning the information as you receive it. The more you learn now, the less you’ll
have to “relearn” later.
RESOURCE FOR YOU
• Notes will help you study for tests and often contain information that can’t be found in your
readings or textbooks; provides insight into what your instructor finds important.
• Compare your notes with a classmate to see if you missed anything or see how they
connected the dots in their notes. Don’t just copy! That’s a big mistake!
ENCHANCE LEARNING
• Taking notes ensures you are filtering the information and encoding it.
• Writing in your own words is important and making connections between ideas strengthen
your learning.
• Use comparison and contrast to find relationships and to organize information.

General Guidelines to Note-Taking

DON’T: Use complete sentences or worry about spelling/grammar.
INSTEAD: Streamline information using abbreviations and shortcuts.
DON’T: Write down everything that is being said or you’ve read.
INSTEAD: Be selective. Capture main ideas and subpoints.
DON’T: Take unorganized, free-form notes.
INSTEAD: Use a structure to organize your notes.
DON’T: Listen only for facts.
INSTEAD: Listen for main ideas and principles. You have the facts in your PowerPoint or
Softchalk!
DON’T: Copy definitions and concepts verbatim.
INSTEAD: Put them into your own words to make sense of them.

What Are Some Ways to Take Notes?

• If you have a lot of conceptual information, try outlining.
• If you want to visualize processes, ordered information, models, or relationships between
concepts and ideas, use concept mapping.
• If you have a lot of reading or downloaded lecture slides, try annotating.
Here is a good resource on help you develop your learning skills: The Learning Scientists

What About Online Lectures or Modules?

Schedule a consistent time to review or watch pre-recorded lectures. Depending on your learning
preference, you way want to review the PowerPoint or SoftChalk module first for example, then
listen/watch the accompanying videos. This will allow you to be familiar with what the lecture is
covering and help you capture the big/main ideas as you listen to the recording.
Take structured breaks during long lectures.
Listen for signals in the lecture that may point toward important concepts:
• Numbers in explanations.
• Changes in volume, tone, or gestures.
• Transitional language, e.g., ‘therefore’, ‘consequently’.
• Repeated information or information that came up in readings.
• Warnings about common mistakes or misunderstandings.

Thinking About the Past, the Present, and the Future…

Be active in your thinking when you are taking notes and learning information. What is the
relationship between information you are currently learning and taking notes on and the
information presented in the last class or module, the readings, or even where you’re headed next
in the course? Where does everything fit in?

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword… Or is the Computer is Mightier?

Pick a way that works best for you. If you are used to taking notes by hand and are better able to
encode the information, then take notes by hand. Or perhaps, you like to have the ability to search
for terms or concepts when reviewing digital notes? There’s no one right way; you may even find
yourself taking notes by hand in one class, and digitally in the other class, but make sure you stay
consistent in how you take notes for one course.

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Reflection Questions
Sometimes, it may be helpful to talk it out or what we like to call in cognitive psychology and
learning science, elaboration. Try to explain the concept or process to yourself or as if you were
trying to explain it to someone else as you are taking notes or are studying your notes. It may also
be helpful to keep certain questions in mind about the information and notes you are taking…
• Why is what I am learning important?
• How does it tie in with other themes, topics, concepts, or classes in this course so far?
• How does it differ with other themes, topics, concepts, or classes in this course so far?
• What really stood out to me in this lecture or module?
• What concepts or ideas do I not understand fully from the lecture and why?
• What are some questions I have about what I just learned?

What About the Hundred of Pages of Readings?

Professors often assign more reading that what is realistic to actually read and absorb. This is
where you will need to “skim” your readings, but don’t get me wrong about skimming. Don’t think of
skimming as just quickly scanning the text. This won’t work for actual learning. Here are a few ideas
to get you started.
• Pre-read to get an idea of where you’re going. This can mean reading main and subheadings
and the first sentences of each paragraph. This can give you an idea of what you’re about to
learn and how it relates to your lecture.
• Skim until you find the ideas you want to focus on. Think about the text as adding to your
knowledge and that’s why you’re reading it
• Share the reading with classmates. You can each read a section and teach each other what
you’ve learned (remember “elaboration”?).
You’re going to miss something. Always. And that’s okay. That just means you will need to use all
forms of learning accessible to you from lectures, reviews, labs, discussions, etc. You can for,
example, pre-read and skim your assigned readings before actually going to lecture or reviewing
and listening/watching an online module. Why? Well, you pretty much already have a good idea of
what you’re going to learn going into the lecture or module! This will allow you to focus on picking
up on things that you don’t know, are a little fuzzy on, or important concepts that are repeated form
the reading and the lecture or module.
For your handouts that you’ve printed out or digitally downloaded, annotate them instead of
rewriting what’s already on the slide. What important ideas were mentioned that wasn’t on the
slide? Remember, shorthand and abbreviations work here! If highlighting works for you, go for it,
but your highlighting needs to be selective. If your notes or book looks like a rainbow with almost
every line highlighted, that’s not very helpful. This is where annotating is more beneficial.

And After?
When you’re done with your lecture or module, practice recall! Pick a section or a topic in the
lecture and without looking at your notes or readings, elaborate the high points of the material.
Record yourself, for example, and replay it to see if you remembered what you needed to!
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