1. What's Note Making?
Note-making (otherwise called note-taking) is the act of retaining the documentation from various sources. By taking notes, an individual can store the embodiment of the data, liberating their wits from reviewing everything. Notes are ordinarily extracted from a short source, for example, a talk or an oral conversation at a gathering or a conference wherein the notes might be the main record of the occasion or from a long substance. Note-making isn’t only recording all that you peruse or hear, but additionally, a course of orchestrating and looking into thoughts from reading or from one’s talks.
2. Why Note Making is so important?
In the fast-paced world of education, students are constantly bombarded with information, making effective study techniques more crucial than ever. Note-making, a traditional yet powerful method, is a timeless tool for academic success. Let’s understand the importance of note-making for students, shedding light on its benefits and offering insights into optimising this practice for maximum efficacy. Active Engagement in Learning: Note-making is not a passive activity but rather an active engagement with the material. When students actively process information and transform it into their own words, they reinforce their understanding and retention of the subject matter.
Enhanced Understanding and Comprehension: Summarising and condensing information for note-taking requires students to thoroughly process and understand the material. Students deepen their comprehension of the subject by selecting key points and organising them coherently.
Organisation of Thoughts and Ideas: Note-making serves as a tool for organising thoughts and ideas. It helps students structure information logically, creating a roadmap for effective revision. Organised notes facilitate quicker and more efficient recall during exams and assessments.
Facilitates Active Learning: Note-making transforms passive learning into an active process. Engaging with the material, selecting key points, and summarising information require cognitive effort, promoting a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
Promotes Retention and Recall: The act of writing down information helps commit it to memory. When students review their notes, they reinforce the neural connections associated with the material, promoting better retention and recall during exams.
Personalised Learning Tool: Each student's learning style is unique; note-making allows for a personalised approach. Whether through mind maps, Cornell notes, or traditional linear notes, students can tailor their note-taking methods to suit their preferences and enhance comprehension
3. What's the types of Note Making?
Listed below are a few methods of note-making.
The Outlining Method. The Mapping Method. The Sentence Method. The Cornell Method. The Charting Method. Brief description of note making methods
1. Cornell Notes: This style includes sections for the date, essential question, topic, notes, questions, and a summary.
2. Outline: An outline organizes the lecture by main points, allowing room for examples and details.
3. Flowchart/concept map: A visual representation of notes is good for content that has an order or steps involved. See more about concept mapping.
4. Charting Method: A way to organize notes from lectures with a substantial amount of facts through dividing key topics into columns and recording facts underneath.
5. Sentence Method: One of the simplest forms of note taking, helpful for disseminating which information from a lecture is important by quickly covering details and information.
Many students take notes writing down whatever they consider useful in no particular format. The following notetaking systems will give you ways to record notes and choices of the system most effective for you to use.
Verbatim Notes When students take verbatim notes, they write down everything that the instructor says (or as much of it as they can) as they hear it and in no particular format. Such notes are often hard to decipher and are usually incomplete because an instructor may be speaking more rapidly than students can write. As a result, verbatim notes require attention and reorganization to be useful for study. Verbatim notes are more helpful than no notes at all, but there are more efficient approaches.
Informal Outline Notes Most students are familiar with outlining by the time they reach college. This notetaking method builds on outlining, but with more flexibility and less detail. Instead of including all of the numerals, and letters, informal outlines mean placing notes on the page to indicate links between main points, supporting ideas, and specific examples.
Place main points at the left margin of the page and indent supporting points below them. You can indent related supporting points to form an outline format on the page. Later on you can number or highlight points to identify relationships, but the key is to align information so that you establish organization of ideas as you write them down.
Outline notes require active listening and thoughtful decision to determine and record important points, yet it allows you to record as much supporting detail as you need. Such notes are easiest when a class presentation is well organized and especially helpful when the instructor provides a preview such as a brief outline, a handout, or PowerPoint slides. In discussion classes, question and answer sessions, or lectures that are not clearly organized, outline notetaking may be more difficult to use.
The most effective note-taking is active not passive . Active learning helps you to make meaning from what you learn: passive learning is allowing yourself to be an empty vessel into which knowledge is poured with no way of organising or making meaning from it. You are less likely to remember things you learn passively, which means more checking your notes while you're writing assignments, and more repeated effort when you come to revise.
Passive note-taking includes:
underlining words cutting and pasting from online documents trying to write everything you hear in a lecture copying slides from the screen copying lots of direct quotes rather than putting the ideas in your own words writing notes on everything you read, because you're not sure what will turn out to be important not evaluating or criticising the sources you use, but just accepting them as suitable evidence Active note-taking means:
thinking about what you want to get out of your research before you start looking for answers to any questions you may have about the topic looking for connections within the topic you're studying, and to other topics on your course writing notes mostly in your own words - your own explanation of what something says or means recording direct quotes only when it's important to have the exact words that someone else has used . 4. What's the Quality of good notes?
You'll know how good your notes are when you try to use them! Here are some suggestions to make your notes easier to read, easier to understand and easier to find when you need them.
Make your notes brief and be selective Keep them well-spaced so you can see individual points and add more details later if necessary Show the relationships between the main points (link with a line along which you write how they relate to each other, for instance)Use your own words to summarise - imagine someone has asked you "so what did x say about this?" and write down your reply Illustrations, examples and diagrams can help to put ideas in a practical context Make them memorable using: colour, pattern, highlighting and underlining Read through to make sure they're clear - will you still understand them when you come to revise?File with care ! - use a logical system so you can find them when you need them, but keep it simple or you won't use it.5. What's the methods of taking notes?
These two forms of note-taking are useful for different things.
Linear notes
Linear notes are what most people are used to doing. They are written down a page with headings and subheadings. They should have plenty of room for detail.
Here are some suggestions for making linear notes more useful.
Use loads of HEADINGS for main ideas and concepts Use subheadings for points within those ideas Stick to one point per line Underline key words You can use numbering to keep yourself organised Use abbreviations - and don't worry about using full sentences Leave plenty of SPACE - for adding detail and for easy reading Spidergrams
Spider diagrams are on one page and are good for showing structure and organising your ideas. They are sometimes called mindmaps, which indicates how they are good for making connections clear and visual.
They keep your notes on one page - so you're less likely to ramble They show the main points at a glance They keep points grouped together - good for essay structure They clearly show where there are gaps which need more research To make a spidergram:
Use whole side of paper - A4 at least! Put the subject in the centre Use one branch per main point - radiating outwards Don't start by making your points too big - you will need more space than you think You can add how the points are connected on the joining spokes Make it large enough - enough space to add detail Add smaller branches for detail & examples Summarise just enough to remind you of point - details and definitions can be added as footnotes Label with the source 6. How Note Making benefits students?
Notetaking provides several benefits beyond that record of what was presented in a lecture or class activity. Effective notetaking:
Keeps you alert . Notetaking keeps your body active and involved and helps you avoid feelings of drowsiness or distraction.Engages your mind . Listening carefully and deciding what to include in notes keeps your mind actively involved with what you hear.Emphasizes and organizes information . As you take notes, you’ll decide on and highlight the key ideas you hear, identifying the structure of a class presentation. You’ll also be able to indicate the supporting points of a presentation, making study and understanding easier after class. Such organized notes also make it easier for you to link classroom learning to textbook readings.Creates a condensed record for study . A set of concise, well-organized notes from each class session gives you what you need for study, learning, and review after class.Given below are the benefits of note-making in sum and substance
It is a record of the primary concerns of a lecture, meeting, or study for later use. It helps in keeping the data convenient at whatever point we require it. Note-making helps in remembering and reviewing the previous occasions, said or heard. It helps in comprehension, thinking, and gives a super-lasting record. The arrangement assists an essayist with going through massive archives quicker. It helps in understanding an idea effectively if the notes are in a way that would sound natural to you. It assists with recognising the central issues and subtleties. It has extraordinary significance in tests or scholastic composition. 7. When note making is appropriate ?
There’s a lot going on during class, so you may not be able to capture every main concept perfectly, and that’s okay. Part of good note-taking may include going back to your notes after class (ideally within a day or two) to check for clarity and fill in any missing pieces. In fact, doing so can help you better organize your thoughts and to determine what’s most important. With that in mind, it’s important to have good source material.
8. Conclusions
Whatever approach you use to make notes during a class session, remember that you must still engage in actively learning those notes as soon as possible and regularly during an entire class. Collecting even excellent notes for several weeks and expecting to learn them right before the exam is a recipe for failure. Learning, like exercising for fitness, happens over time, not all at once!
9. FAQs
Q. Where does notetaking start?
Ans.
Notetaking depends on active listening. Unfortunately, few students are taught how to do this. You can improve your listening when you determine positively to hear and understand, even in settings or with subjects that may be difficult.
Essential Listening Skills Listening well is an active process which requires determination, energy, and attention. The following can help you listen thoroughly, accurately, and actively:
Overcome distractions . No matter what the distractions may be — noises, worries, or people — you must take responsibility for concentrating on what a class provides. No one else can listen for you. Make a commitment to listen even when it is difficult and reduce any distractions for yourself.Focus on central themes . As you take notes, imagine that you must summarize the information you record to others after class. This will force you to decide on essential information to pass along. Use your extra speed of thought to make sense of what you are hearing. Of course, this kind of thinking requires concentration. If you prepare for class by doing assigned reading and reviewing previous class notes, you will be well prepared position to take in and organize new information you hear. Come prepared to learn.Maintain your focus . When your mind wanders, refocus. Bring your attention back to what you hear. If you feel confused or lose interest, ask a question for clarification or leave a question mark in your notes. You can discuss the point later with your instructor or another student. Always keep up with your notetaking so that your record of each class will be complete.Judge the message, not the messenger —Not all instructors are excellent presenters, but the information that they are presenting is still valuable. Focus on what you are hearing, not how it is being presented. Determine to learn from every class presentation.
References
Academic & Career Development Center. (n.d.). Note-taking . University of Nebraska Omaha. https://www.unomaha.edu/student-life/achievement/academic-and-career-development-center/docs/note-taking-brochure.pdf
Chapter 11: Note-taking strategies | EDUC 1300: Effective learning strategies . (n.d.). Lumen Learning. Retrieved March 2, 2021, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/austincc-learningframeworks/chapter/chapter-11-note-taking-strategies/
Learning Strategies Center Cornell. (2019, December 10). How to use Cornell Notes . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX-xshA_0m8
North Ridgeville City Schools. (n.d.). Note taking: The Cornell method . https://www.nrcs.net/Downloads/Cornell-Note.pdf
Robert Gerver. (2018). Write On! Math: Note taking strategies that increase understanding and achievement 3rd edition: Vol. 3rd edition . Information Age Publishing. https://login.tu.opal-libraries.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1733312&site=eds-live&scope=site
Robinson Cheska. (2018). Note-taking strategies in the science classroom. Science Scope , 41 (6), 22–25.
SNHU. (2019, July 25). How to take notes – note-taking tips for college . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rNzHn9S5tk
Thomas Frank. (2017, August 8. Taking notes: Crash course study skills #1 . CrashCourse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7CwqNHn_Ns
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