How to Take Notes

1. How to Take Notes and improve your academic progress

2. Introduction Students who take great notes and use them effectively, retain more information, receive higher test scores and better grades. Students can forget up to half of the information from a class lecture when they do not review their notes soon after class. Consider the following tips to help you take more effective notes.

3. Take Great Notes • Sit up front or away from distractions • Write your notes clearly and neatly • Ask questions if you do not understand • Review your notes soon after taking them • Compare notes with others

4. Label Each Set of Notes • Start each set of notes on a new page • At the top, write the course name, date, topic • Include page numbers, to keep notes in order • If you are taking reading notes, include page numbers in your notes from passages or chapters

5. Keep Notes Together • Keep a separate notebook for each class • Keep class notes and reading notes for each class together in a folder or binder • Organize your notes so it is easy to find them to review each week • Review notes each day or at least each week

6. Reviewing Notes Improves Learning • Neaten up messy handwriting • Fill in blanks if you missed something • Add detail to anything that might be unclear • Underline or highlight important points or important terms • Getting your notes in good shape while they’re fresh in your mind is your best chance for understanding and remembering them.

7. Review and Organize Notes ASAP! • Review your notes soon after you take notes to help reinforce what you have learned. • Review soon after class, on the same day, when the lecture is still fresh in your mind. • You may want to review with a study partner or study group and compare notes. • Remember, reviewing is not just re-reading your notes. Make it meaningful to you.

8. Summarize, Question, and Connect • The more ways you work with information, the better you'll know it and remember it. • Summarize points in your own words • Quiz yourself • Try to predict test questions • Recite answers aloud if possible • Map or chart, to think about how all the information relates

9. The Five Rs of Note-Taking • Record:Write down the meaningful facts and ideas, writing legibly • Reduce: Summarize the facts and ideas to clarify meaning and relationships, this helps with memory • Recite: Cover your notes, and try to recall the facts and ideas, make it meaningful to you • Reflect: re-examine your notes throughout the semester, relating previous info with new info • Review: spend just a few minutes each week reviewing notes to improve memory and ensure success on exams

10. Taking Reading Notes

11. Taking Reading Notes • Complete reading assignments on time. • While reading, write down key facts to help prepare for class. • While reading, write down any questions or thoughts you may have, and note anything that your don’t understand. • Share your questions and comments in class, or see the teacher before or after class. • While reading, highlight just the key words, main points, names (if highlighting is permitted in your book or materials).

12. Preview, Read, and Review • Skim: identify purpose, focus on key terms, words in bold or italics, and summaries, look at pictures and graphics, read captions. • Read a section at a time: look for main points and supporting statements, important facts, dates, names, lists. Write down any questions that come up. • Review: Take what you have read and summarize it in your own words, explain to yourself what graphics show, answer your study questions, and quiz yourself.

13. SQ4R Method • S = Survey • Read the title, the introduction, and headings • Look at graphics and captions • Read the conclusion or summary • Q = Question • Based on the title or heading, write a question using who, what, when, why, or how.

14. SQ4R Method • The 4 Rs: Read, Recite, Record, Review • Read the entire selection. As you read, look for answers to your questions • Reciting helps you remember what you read. After each section, recite the answer to your question aloud and in your own words • Record the information you’ll need to know. Write down the answers to your questions and any important information • Review the whole reading, reread your notes, or redo them in another form. Quiz yourself. Review your notes later on, to help you remember.

15. Taking Class Notes

16. Taking Class Notes • Being present and participating in class helps you get the most out of class time. • Arrive on time and stay the whole time • Don’t arrive late or leave early • Actively listening and taking notes helps you stay more interested, remember more, and study for tests more effectively.

17. Taking Class Notes • Avoid distractions • Sit near the front, or near the instructor • Turn off your cell phone, and other electronics • Interact with the material and the teacher • Make a notation if you have a question or comment • Ask questions or share thoughts • Ask teachers to clarify, or pause if you need more time to finish writing notes.

18. Taking Class Notes • Listen to everything, but don’t write down everything. • Write down main ideas • Write down important facts and details • Look for clues from the teacher: • gestures, expressions, eye contact, notes on the board, demonstrations, graphics • “this is important,” “remember,” “pay attention to,” “on the test,” or use of emphasis on certain words or phrases

19. Note-Taking Methods

20. Make Study Cards • Write a card for each fact • Write a question on the front of the card • Write the answer on the back of the card • Quiz yourself • “Teach” someone else

21. Acronymsuse a letter from each word in a list • HOMES • Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior • Roy G. Biv • Colors of the rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

22. Acrosticssentences, first letter of each word is a memory clue • My very educated mother just sent us nine pizzas. • Order of planets: • Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto • King Phillip crawled over four giant stumps. • Biological classification: • Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

23. Mental Pictures and Rhymes These help create associations to help with memory and recall. Try creating images that are colorful and out of the ordinary. This mental picture uses rhymes as well: • Picture a yellow beehive [5] with two [2] entrances, one where eight [8] bees wait and the other where zero [0] bees wait. • There are 5,280 feet in a mile

24. Develop Your Own Shorthand • Use symbols and abbreviations: • write beginnings of words • leave out small words like “a” and “the” • leave out vowels (you cnstll rd thm!) • just make sure you can understand your notes later • Examples: • w/o without • ex for example • b/c because • conc. conclusion • > greater than

25. Cornell Method • Condense and summarize notes to make them easy to review and study • Draw lines on your paper to divide the paper into thirds 2 ½” Recall Column: Write key words and questions here. These are recall clues. Quiz yourself using these clues. 6” Main Note-Taking Space: Write notes here as you normally do, and review asap. 2” Summary Space: Use this space to write a brief summary of notes.

26. Outline Method • Indent to show main points, sub-points, and relevant details • Start each main point at the left • Indent details under each main point • Indent again for additional points or details • Use Roman numerals, capital or lower case letters, numbers, etc. • Combine strategies like using abbreviations

27. Outline Example The Water Cycle (WC) – April 9 I. Water on Earth now = all ever had, ever will. Same water moves through WC II. WC = continuous – no beginning/end III. WC cmplx, but 4 main stages *could strt by tlkngabt any stage A. Storage B. Vapor C. Condensation (=clouds) D. Precipitation 1. Rain 2. Snow

28. Mapping Method • See the big picture and how all the pieces relate. • Try color coding, making main point one color and sub-points another color. Study buddy Sit near the front Participate in class Study Habits Use a calendar Ask questions Stay organized Take great notes Get enough sleep Color code materials

29. Charts

30. Helpful Links • http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/college-success/955.html • http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/notes.html • http://www.how-to-study.com/study-skills/en/notetaking/27/taking-notes-in-class/index.asp • http://www.testtakingtips.com/note/index.htm