How to Take Better Notes

Tips for Efficient Note Taking

1. Be concise: Write only what is essential. Use abbreviations and symbols when possible.
2. Stay organized: Use headings, bullet points and different colours to differentiate between topics and keep your notes structured.
3. Use your own words: Paraphrase information instead of copying word for word. This will help you retain information better.
4. Focus on key ideas: Identify the main ideas and write them down, rather than recording every detail.
5. Review and revise: Regularly go over your notes and make additions or corrections as needed.
6. Make connections: Look for connections between pieces of information and link them in your notes to create a comprehensive picture.
7. Stay engaged: Stay focused during the discussion and actively listen to what is being said.
8. Experiment: Try different note-taking methods to find what works best for you, such as mind mapping, diagramming or the Cornell method.
9. Redo: After listening and taking notes, re-write them in a more organized manner. This helps you absorb the content and helps you be better prepared for tests and exams.
10. Practice: Take notes by hand and digitally (if possible) to determine which method works better for your learning style. In general, taking notes by hand improves understanding of the content while taking them digitally increases speed.

Key Information to Note

1. Main ideas and concepts: Capture the most important information being presented, including the main topic and any supporting details.
2. Definitions and explanations: Write down definitions and explanations of any new or unfamiliar terms and concepts.
3. Examples and illustrations: Examples and illustrations help bring concepts to life and can be useful when you need to refresh your memory.
4. Key facts and statistics: Write down any important data or statistics that are relevant to the material being discussed.
5. Quotes and direct references: If the speaker quotes a source or directly references a specific piece of information, it may be important to capture that in your notes.
6. Your own thoughts and questions: Note down any questions or thoughts that arise during the lecture or discussion. This can help with engagement and future research.

Outlining

Outlining is a great method for taking notes because it provides a clear and organized structure that makes it easy to review information later. Additionally, it forces you to focus on the main ideas and helps you identify connections between different pieces of information.

Terms and concepts are organized in a hierarchy using main topics and subtopics.

Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a visual note-taking method that allows you to see the connections between different pieces of information. With mind mapping, you start with a central idea and then draw branches to related subtopics and supporting details. This method is great for visual thinkers and can help you understand complex information by creating a visual representation of it.

Mind mapping requires a certain level of creativity and free-form thinking, and it can be difficult to know in advance how much space you will need to represent all the information. That’s why it’s often recommended to take traditional notes (such as the outlining style) during the lesson and then create a mind map from those notes. This way, you have a solid structure to work from and can focus on organizing and visualizing the information in a meaningful way.

Cornell Notes 

The Cornell Notes method is a systematic way to take notes that emphasizes organization and active engagement with the material being learned. By dividing the page into two columns, you can quickly record key information in the recall column and provide more detailed information in the notes column.

The summary section at the bottom of the page encourages review and reflection, as you summarize the main points and ensure that you have a clear understanding of the material. This can help improve retention and make studying easier, since you have a concise and organized set of notes to refer to. The summary section can be completed as a class to help discuss what was covered.

Charting

Charting is a note-taking method that is best for comparing multiple topics or dissecting a single topic into its different parts. By dividing the page into columns, you can easily keep track of information related to each topic and ensure that your notes are organized and clear.

This method works best when you need to track multiple topics at the same time, such as in a lecture or discussion where the speaker frequently switches between subjects or outlines the pros and cons of an issue.

Sentence Method

The Sentence method involves writing down key information as short sentences or bullet points to capture the most important information in fast-paced lessons. It’s helpful for reviewing, quickly covers the details and helps distinguish important information. To use this method, simply write down important information emphasized by the teacher and start a new sentence or bullet point for each new detail, using headings to organize points by main topics.