Taking Notes

You’ve got the textbook and you listened to the instructor.  Do you need to take notes as well? Despite the vast amount of information available in electronic formats, taking notes is an important learning strategy. In addition, the way that you take notes matters, and not all notetaking strategies lead to equal results.  By considering your notetaking strategies carefully, you will be able to create a set of notes that will help you retain the most important concepts from lectures and tests, and that will assist you in your exam preparation.

By the time you finish this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Describe the benefits of taking notes for learning
  • Decide whether taking notes by hand or on a laptop is best for you
  • Use notes to review class material and prepare for tests and exams.

Why Take Notes?

Two Purposes for Taking Notes

You will take notes for two main reasons:

  1. To keep a record of the information they heard. This is also called the external storage function of notetaking.
  2. To facilitate learning the material you are currently studying by encoding the information.

Reasons to Take Notes: Focus - Taking notes helps you to focus in class and avoid distractions. As you take notes in class, you will be engaging your mind in identifying and organizing the main ideas. Use Class Time Well: Rather than passively listening, you will be doing the work of active learning while in class, making the most of your time. Don't think of notetaking as additional work; consider notetaking as a way to begin your studying while you are still in the classroom. Review - By creating good notes, you will have a record for later review. Reviewing a set of condensed and well-organized notes is more efficient than re-reading longer texts and articles.

Taking Notes Interactive Video

In the activity below, you will watch a video that introduces you to the basic principles of taking effective notes.  Along the way, you will answer questions to reinforce what you are learning.

Use Notes to Review

Reflect and Take Action

In this module, you explored strategies for taking notes.  Reflect on how you will apply your learning with the following questions.

  • Will you take notes by hand or with a computer (or a combination of both)?  Why is this method best for you?
  • How will you use your notes to review on a weekly basis?  How will you use notes to review for tests and exams?

References

CrashCourse. (2017, August 8). Taking Notes: Crash Course Study Skills #1 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7CwqNHn_Ns&t=1s

License

Academic Skills Modules and KPU 100 H5P Workspace Copyright © by Christina Page. All Rights Reserved.

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