Recall Can Be Nearly 100% if Review Begins After a Lecture

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Online learning tutorials for essential higher skills.

Notation-Taking

iStudy would like to acknowledge Janice Smith for revising the content of this module.

Purpose

Assembling a good set of notes is an essential component of successful learning in higher. Far too oft, students accept the experience of reviewing worthless notes. Unless you accept an boggling memory, effective notation-taking will be very valuable to you throughout your higher and professional careers.

Part of the claiming in taking expert notes is that teaching styles vary from instructor to instructor—as do lecturing styles. Some instructors are well organized and some wander; some are storytellers who leave it up to the student to determine the significance of the story. Information technology is essential for you lot to determine an instructor's lecture way and the method he or she uses to divulge important ideas. This will help y'all determine what information should exist included in notes taken during a lecture.

Goals and Objectives

This tutorial addresses bookish survival skills and requires agile utilize of writing, speaking, and other forms of self-expression. The tutorial also provides opportunities for data gathering, synthesis, and analysis in solving problems and in critical thinking. When you end this tutorial, you should be able to:

• Mind carefully and critically to what is being communicated.
• Increase your comprehension and retention of textile through accurate and meaningful notes.
• Clarify ideas and embellish the cloth presented.
• Develop fantabulous review and reusable resources.

Activities

Read nearly the nuts of taking notes and complete the included activities.

• Preparing for Taking Notes
• Your Notebook and "Practiced" Notes
• Activity one: Note-Taking Strategies
• Listening and Taking Notes
• Activity ii: Constructive Listening Strategies
• Reviewing Your Notes
• The five Rs of Annotation-Taking
• Action 3: The Five Rs
• A Note-Taking Checklist

Note: All external links in this tutorial will open up in a new window or tab.

References

Summary

Instructor's Guide

Preparing for Taking Notes

Educatee Dialog - Taking Notes

Deena: I just returned from a form where I could hardly follow what the instructor was trying to teach united states.

Brian: I know what you mean. All five of my instructors teach in different means. Some are very organized, while others wander all over the identify.

Heather: Wander! Sometimes I remember they're really lost.

Deena: This one professor I take likes to tell stories, but he leaves it up to united states of america to figure out which stories are important to remember.

Brian: The betoken is that considering all of our instructors utilise unlike styles when they lecture, it is of import to figure out what style they are using and so we tin can have good notes.

Deena: I retrieve we all could ameliorate our note-taking skills.

Brian: Learning to take skillful and accurate notes should help with our information drove assignment.

Deena: Well then, who wants to gather up some information about note-taking and bring information technology back to share with us?

Brian: I guess I could do information technology.

Heather: I can work on it too. So, Brian, when practice yous want to come across to brainstorm and develop our sharing strategy? I take a grade coming up.

Brian: That's fine. I'm going to the learning resource heart. Mayhap I can pick up some textile there while I look for yous.

Heather: Sounds good.

Brian: See you after in the pupil lounge.

(Brian and Heather meet at the student lounge.)

Heather: Hi, Brian. So what did yous notice out?

Brian: I didn't spend a lot of time researching annotation-taking, but I did ask a teaching assistant. He said that there are three different stages of a lecture to consider: before lecture preparation, activities during the lecture, and postal service-lecture debriefing.

Heather: That sounds like a good start, why don't we apply those?

Brian: How nearly I take "preparing before the lecture" and "activities during the lecture." You take "activities during the lecture" and "mail service-lecture debriefing."

Heather: So we both get to do "activities during the lecture." We can necktie that together later.

Brian: How practise y'all want to present it?

Heather: I like to apply graphics or visuals to make my ideas clear. And then I guess we could employ some presentation software and display information on a video screen.

Brian: Great.

Prior to Attention Class

Being prepared for grade includes completing assignments likewise equally looking ahead at what will exist covered in the adjacent course. Following are some tips for what to do to prepare for grade and what to do during class:

1. Preview your text or reading assignments prior to lecture—utilize active reading skills. Previewing allows you to identify chief ideas and concepts that will most likely be presented during the lecture.
2. Read over your notes from the previous class.
3. Await at the form outline to encounter where you've been, where you're going, and how it all fits together.
4. Come across with your teacher/TA to analyze concepts from the last lecture.
5. Obtain notes from any course session you lot've missed.
6. List unfamiliar terms and concepts prior to the lecture. Compose a simple definition for unfamiliar terms prior to the lecture. This gives you a full general agreement of the material that volition exist presented in class.
7. Compose clear questions you can inquire about terms or concepts you lot don't understand. You might request clarification from fellow students prior to the lecture. If you are all the same uncertain, enquire for clarification during the lecture. If a term or concept has non been clarified during the lecture, ask the instructor before the class period ends.
8. Note portions of the text or reading consignment that you practise not understand, as yous did with terms and definitions. Mind for explanations during class. Set a question to ask during class if you lot are still confused.

During Course

1. Marker each fix of notes with a date and championship and keep notes from different classes dissever.
2. Sit where you can hear and see conspicuously without distractions.
3. Don't crowd your notes! Exit blanks to fill in missed items and to aggrandize upon your notes later.
4. Ask your instructor, TA, or classmates to help you fill in the gaps if you call back you lot missed one or two important points.
5. Stay involved in the class and ask questions. Volunteer for demonstrations. Join in course discussions.
6. Have too many notes, rather than non enough. You can ever omit unnecessary information later.
7. Think to yourself, "Why is this important?"
8. Focus on the point the professor is making, rather than scrambling to copy the entire overhead without listening to what the professor is saying.
9. Write down notes in your own words when possible and think about what the professor is saying. Still, definitions of technical terms should be recorded exactly equally given.
10. Use abbreviations and symbols to salvage time. Make certain you understand your abbreviations.
11. Take notes in different colors to highlight important points.
12. Use underlining or symbols, such every bit an asterisk or star, to place points your instructor emphasizes.
13. Stay alert for and highlight points your teacher emphasizes through his or her verbal cues. Watch for lists such equally "the following five steps" or "the four major causes" and for summaries signaled by words such equally "consequently" or "therefore."
14. Add examples your professor provides in guild to clarify abstruse ideas and to jog your retention when studying later.
15. Don't be a clock-watcher. Instructors do not always pace themselves accurately and may cram half of the lecture into the last xv minutes.
16. Learn as much as you tin can in class because this will help y'all to better understand and complete outside assignments.
17. Utilize a recorder only to clarify lecture points—employ the counter to make referencing the recording easier.
18. Encounter a conscientious and success-oriented pupil in each class at the kickoff of every semester and share notes.

[peak of folio]

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Student Dialog - More on Taking Notes

(At the next group meeting, Brian and Heather tell Deena what they learned well-nigh note-taking.)

Brian: The training stage of annotation-taking occurs earlier it is fourth dimension to actually have notes. You brainstorm the procedure by taking a look at why you lot should develop good note-taking skills.

Heather: In other words, these skills will hone your agile listening abilities.

Brian: A good note-taker will increase his or her comprehension and retention skills.

Heather: Y'all understand things better and remember them longer!

Brian: Adjacent, if you apply skillful annotation-taking skills, you should be able to create a concise outline of what is meaningful, what things relate to other things, and what concepts depend on others. Any questions nevertheless?

Heather: Note-taking should clarify ideas and embellish the textile presented.

Deena: Yes, correct. Even if you don't have any idea what they are talking about?

Brian: Good question, Deena. Tin y'all save that thought? We will become to that in just a moment.

Heather: Basically, unclutter difficult concepts and aggrandize on them beyond what is in a lecture. You know, get the extra mile to kind of make whatsoever the topic is "your own."

Brian: Okay, and lastly, develop excellent review resources.

Deena: Okay. Now yous've got me. What do you mean past "review resource"?

Brian: Yous can use your notes equally a reference or resource. I know some people keep their notes for their unabridged college career and beyond. Someday, you lot may need to expect something upwardly that you lot know y'all learned but can't retrieve.

Deena: Then if you lot took inaccurate notes yous would probably go it incorrect again.

Heather: That's true. If you share your notes with someone else, it could affect their grade. Okay. We all agree that there are definite purposes for taking authentic notes, but to take the greatest reward of a lecture, nosotros need to do some prior training.

Brian: Here are some steps to follow. If you put some effort into preparation, you lot'll be ahead of the game.

Deena: I don't think of a lecture equally a game. I shouldn't have to try to drag information out of an teacher.

Heather: I agree, Deena, simply if yous are to get the most from what is existence presented, you have to be prepared. The purpose of the lecture is not to read the text to you lot, but to stimulate your thought processes. If y'all don't have the slightest idea what the instructor is talking most, you'll exist lost.

Brian: You lot can also miss opportunities to ask questions about what you don't understand.

Deena: You mean like definitions of unfamiliar words? And concepts?

Heather: Right. Preparing ahead of time volition aid you write down questions and obtain clarification. If you lot don't understand something, at that place are probably many others who don't either.

Deena: So, what should I practice if I don't get the information during the lecture?

Brian: Make a note of it and ask the instructor before the lecture ends.

Heather: Sometimes, just similar with 1 word or term, there may be entire portions of the text that you don't understand. It is our responsibility to brand certain that we fully understand the materials. The information presented in a lecture is a vital part of that.

Deena: I don't retrieve we should go out out making an appointment with an instructor to get additional clarification if we demand it.

Brian: That'south correct, and we tin can also ask classmates what they got from the lecture.

Deena: I might if I was sure they understood the material.

Heather: Probably the only way you could know whether they understand is if you lot are well prepared.

Deena: Right. If nosotros're well prepared, we tin inquire good questions to get clarification.

Brian: You can also ready your notebook. While it may seem obvious, you should either take separate sections or separate notebooks for each form.

Deena: I sometimes have formulas for a class that demand to be transferred to a lab notebook, which is going to be graded.

Heather: In that case, at that place may be a different style you want to take and organize your notes for that form to make the transfer procedure easier.

Deena: And then the way you lot fix your notes can make your notation-taking more effective?

Brian: That's right.

Heather: And that could make a departure in your grade.

Your Notebook and "Proficient" Notes

Construction and organization are cardinal to maintaining authentic notes. Following is a listing of guidelines and tips for setting up a notebook and keeping your notes intelligible.

Setting Upwards Your Notebook

1. Keep a separate notebook or separate section of a notebook for each course. This will aid you stay organized and avoid misplacing your notes.
2. If the course requires different types of notes (due east.g., lecture notes, notes on outside reading, lab notes, computation notes) arrange them on opposite pages for cross-referencing.
3. Notes for each lecture should begin on a new page, with the engagement and page number.
4. Brand your notes brief: a key phrase for a sentence; a word to represent a phrase.
5. Abbreviate whenever possible.
6. Put notes into your own words.
7. A formula, a definition, and specific facts demand exact wording.
8. Number items or use indentations to distinguish between major and modest points.
9. Highlight unfamiliar vocabulary and unclear areas. Take notes as completely equally y'all tin can and check your text(southward) for clarification.
10. Develop questions to ask your friends or teacher to help clarify information or concepts.
11. If you miss something completely, leave a blank infinite and locate the data subsequently.
12. Develop a coding system or scheme to mark your notes.
13. Use technical abbreviations instead of writing out the whole word.
14. Use technical symbols instead of writing out words.
15. A good place to locate your coding scheme(due south) is in the margin of the notebook.

Activeness 1: Note-Taking Strategies

Listening and Taking Notes

Listening for Key Words

One of the habits to develop when taking notes is to mind for key words, clues, hints, patterns and other techniques instructors utilise when presenting or lecturing. Some of these tips for finding clues and patterns in a lecture include:

• Previews and summaries
• Written material on the board
• Highlighted areas on overheads, blackboard/whiteboard writing
• Visual aids
• Repetition of points
• Vocal emphasis
• Questions asked during grade
• Cause-effect relationships
• Give-and-take clues such equally:
• Four causes of
• Five aspects of
• Therefore
• In conclusion
• And and so we meet
• Hence
• In a like manner
• On the other hand
• However

Tips for Effective Listening

• Sit down near the front end of the room.
• Observe a reason to listen to the speaker. Ask yourself, "Why is this important?"
• Listen for more than just facts; effort to sympathise the big moving-picture show.
• Recite fundamental ideas to yourself.
• Take more notes than necessary.
• Pay attention.
• Avert outside distractions and internal noise.
• Anticipate what the speaker is going to say next.
• Try to select main ideas and supporting details (mentally organize).
• Prepare for lectures beforehand.
• Heed first, then write; leave spaces to fill up in gaps in your data.
• Formulate questions to wait up later or ask the teacher.
• Put aside personal bias and heed to the content of the speaker's message.

Write It Downwardly if the Speaker:

• Repeats an item.
• Writes an item on the board or overheads.
• Points or gestures.
• Changes tone or volume of vox.
• Makes a direct reference to the book.
• Asks if anybody understands.
• Gives an example.
• Slows down.

Activeness 2: Effective Listening Strategies

Reviewing Your Notes

Some other note-taking "all-time practice" is to review your notes every bit presently as possible.

1. Review within twenty-four hours after a lecture or your retention will driblet sharply.
2. Should you recopy your notes? Some people benefit from rewriting or recopying their lecture notes. However, be certain to allow time to think most your notes. Experiment and find out what works best for you. Copying without thinking nigh (or revising) notes does non necessarily aid retention. Manipulating the textile by reorganizing and putting it into your ain words, nonetheless, does pb to improve retention.
3. Apply margin space to fill in abbreviations, add omitted points, correct errors, and write key words. Read notes to be sure yous can clarify confusing or illegible material.
4. Fill in further facts and examples while the lecture is all the same fresh in your mind.
5. Clear up misunderstandings and fill in missing information by consulting the lecturer, classmates, the text(south), or other reference materials.
6. Equally you read your notes, underline, highlight, or mark main points or of import points you will desire to give special attention to when you study the material once more for the exam.
7. Elaborate on your notes. Compare the data to what you already know. Write additional information from the text into notes.
8. Connect concepts to see the "big picture"—think of a summary in your caput or write information technology at the end of your notes.
9. Exercise reciting the information using simply key words.
10. Talk with other students about the lecture.
11. Conduct brusk weekly review periods. One time a week, get through all your notes over again. Put reviews on your agenda and arrive a habit.

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Student Dialog - Reviewing Notes

Brian: So, let'southward see - we have covered what to practice to prepare for a lecture and what to practice during the lecture.

Heather: Now that nosotros take our notes, the question is: Are we finished?

Deena: I hope so! Simply kidding.

Brian: Deena, what do you think we should exercise next?

Deena: I'k not sure what you mean. Do yous want to conclude your presentation?

Brian: Good to run into y'all are asking for clarification. What I meant to ask was, what should we do with the notes later nosotros have taken them?

Deena: Okay. I recall you should review the notes.

Heather: Brian, how long would you expect before reviewing your notes?

Brian: Oh, until just before an exam.

Heather: Deena, how long would you lot await?

Deena: It depends on how busy I am. I like to review them as soon every bit possible. That way I think them better.

Brian: Deena, what do y'all practice when yous review?

Deena: I like to fill up in facts, figures, and examples while the lecture is still fresh in my mind. I as well like to clear up misunderstandings and fill up in missing information.

Brian: Hmmm. It sounds similar there may exist more to that argument than meets the eye.

Deena: So, why is information technology of import to review your notes and then before long later a lecture? I sometimes want to get every bit far away from them as possible.

Heather: Unless y'all review within twenty-iv hours, or at least before the next lecture, yous will be relearning the textile instead of reviewing.

Brian: In other words, the sooner yous review, the amend your retention.

Deena: Sometimes I copy notes that same evening because I write fast and can't e'er read my notes.

Brian: That'southward okay, Deena. At that place is a better fashion than but recopying notes. If y'all reorganize and put them into your ain words, you'll retain the information longer and be able to recall it easier.

The V Rs of Note-Taking

Hither is an easy mode to call up the almost of import points of note-taking:

1. Record: During the lecture, write all meaningful information legibly.

2. Reduce: After the lecture, write a summary of the ideas and facts using key words equally cue words. Summarizing as you written report helps to:

• Analyze meanings and relationships of ideas
• Reinforce continuity
• Strengthen retentiveness retentiveness
• Prepare for exams in advance

3. Recite: To report properly, you lot must recite all the information in your own words without looking at our notes or the text.

4. Reverberate: Retrieve about your own opinions and ideas as you read over your notes. Raise questions, and so try to respond them creatively. Record original ideas in your notebook and review them regularly. Utilise your creative ideas when answering exam questions, in classroom discussions, and when writing papers.

5. Review: Before reading or studying new textile, take ten minutes to chop-chop review your older notes. Skim over the master ideas and details. Review enhances your retention of old material while adding new material to your retention.

 - Pauk, W. (1989). How to Study in College (fourth Ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Action 3: The Five Rs

A Notation-Taking Checklist

Ane of the things you can do to ensure that yous are doing a proficient job of taking notes is to piece of work with a checklist. Use the following checklist several times to make certain you are using adept note-taking practices. Note the date or occasion when yous skillful skillful, active notation-taking and bank check off the elements you completed. You may desire to add some of your ain hints to your list.

Did I?

• Review assignments using active reading.
• List and await up unfamiliar terms and concepts.
• List questions to inquire or points where clarification is needed.
• Note hard portions of the text.
• Put notes in the appropriate notebook or section.
• Adapt them co-ordinate to type of notes.
• Begin each prepare on a new dated and numbered page.
• Abridge.
• Put notes into my own words.
• Go along the notes brief.
• Use the coding scheme I adult.
• Locate missing information.
• Check my texts and references to clarify a lecture.
• Number items or distinguish between major/minor points.
• Look/heed for word clues and other ways important concepts are highlighted.
• Review lecture notes within solar day.
• Check for errors and omissions.

References

Content

• Alvarez, P. Jr. (1994). Effective Note-Taking. The CalREN Project, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://slc.berkeley.edu/study-and-success-strategies

• College of Saint Benedict | Saint John'south University. (2004). Lecture Note Taking. CSB|SJU Academic Advising. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://world wide web.csbsju.edu/academicadvising/assist/lec-note.htm

• Procter, M. (2003). Writing at the Academy of Toronto. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/reading-and-researching/notes-from-enquiry

• Academy of Minnesota Duluth. (2002). Taking Notes from Lectures. Student: Handbook. Retrieved July xi, 2017, from http://www.d.umn.edu/student/loon/acad/strat/ss_notetaking.html

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Country University. (n.d.). Note-Taking and In-Class Skills. Written report Skills Self-aid Information. Retrieved July 11, 2017, from http://ucc.vt.edu/academic_support/study_skills_information/note_taking_and_in-class_skills.html

* Indicates that the original Website is no longer available.

Image Credits

Notebook

• Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

• File: Miller_notes.png

• This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Summary

Effective note-taking takes practice, and even the very best students may lose track in a discussion or go confused about the objectives in a lesson. Don't become discouraged. Remember that the more you lot think about the lecture—i.e., listen actively and have expert notes—the more yous will sympathize. It is what you actually practise with the ideas presented in course—or those generated in your thoughts through listening, reading and thinking—that are critical to your agreement and retaining the textile.

This lesson has presented some ways for you to approach notation-taking. There are almost as many ways to accept notes as in that location are students taking them. You should use the methods that piece of work best for you. Work on perfecting your ain technique. Yous will find that effective note-taking is a skill that is of utmost importance in college, simply it is likewise an ability that volition be valuable in your professional person life.

The purposes of expert note-taking are to:

• encourage you to mind carefully and critically to what is existence communicated.
• increase comprehension and retention.
• help you create a concise and complete outline of important topics, subtopics, and supporting ideas.
• clarify ideas and embellish the material presented.

One aspect of grooming is setting up a notebook:

• Proceed a separate notebook or a separate section of a notebook for each course. This will help yous stay organized and avert misplacing your notes.
• If the course requires different types of notes (i.east, lecture notes, notes on outside readings, lab notes, computation notes), arrange them on opposite pages for cantankerous-reference purposes.
• Notes for each lecture should begin on a new page, with the appointment and page number. If electronic, store the notes for each lecture in a new file. Name the file and date it and then yous can easily detect it, such equally Psyc101_7-11-17.doc .

Tips for structuring and maintaining good, accurate notes:

• Brand your notes brief: use a primal phrase for a sentence or a give-and-take to correspond a phrase.
• Abbreviate whenever possible.
• Put notes into your ain words.
• Formulas, definitions and specific facts demand verbal wording.
• Number or indent items to distinguish betwixt major and small points.
• Highlight unfamiliar vocabulary and unclear areas. Have notes as completely equally you tin can and bank check your text(s) for description.
• Develop questions for your friends or teacher to aid analyze data or concepts.
• If you miss something completely, leave a blank space and locate the information later.
• Develop a coding organization or scheme to marking your notes. For example: a ? would stand for "not understood"; an * would mark important points.
• A good place to locate your coding scheme is in the margin of the notebook.

Steps to take prior to the lecture:

• Utilize active reading skills. Preview your text or reading assignments prior to the lecture. This will allow you to identify main ideas and concepts that volition most likely exist presented during the lecture. Try to determine what is and is not important.
• Listing unfamiliar terms and concepts prior to the lecture. Compose simple definitions of unfamiliar terms prior to the lecture. This will give y'all a general agreement of the material to be presented in course.
• If you don't sympathise a term or concept, compose a precise and concise question you can ask nearly it. You might request clarification from fellow students prior to the lecture. If you are still unsure of the pregnant, enquire for clarification during the lecture. If a term or concept has not been clarified during the lecture, ask the instructor before the grade menses ends. Remember, if you are confused, other students probably are, too.
• As you did with terms and definitions, note portions of the text or reading consignment that you practice not understand.
• Mind for explanations during class. Prepare a question to inquire during class if yous are still dislocated.

Recall, this is your education. To go the virtually out of information technology, you will want to ask questions. Fix a list of questions prior to form, especially on concepts you did not fully empathize. Too, note concepts during the lecture that you do non understand and about which you want to ask questions. If you continue to feel that you lot don't sympathize, ask a classmate, brand an appointment with your instructor, or visit the learning support center on your campus.

Teacher'due south Guide

Quizzes, Reflective Questions and Activities

Following are the assignments embedded in the Notation-Taking tutorial:

• Action i: Quiz—Note-Taking Strategies
• Activeness 2: Quiz—Effective Listening Strategies
• Action 3: Quiz—The V Rs

Human relationship to Other iStudy Tutorials

This tutorial is related to other tutorials on personal effectiveness, including active listening and active reading. Therefore, information technology is recommended that instructors introduce this tutorial to students in conjunction with other personal effectiveness tutorials.

Suggested In-Course Methods of Presentation

In-Class Action

The instructor should select a topic and accept students review materials on the topic prior to meeting in class. The instructor should then give a brusque lecture on the material (between 10 to fifteen minutes). Students should have notes on the content presented by the instructor.

Students so review the process by which they took notes. This review tin can serve as the ground for an in-class word about unlike methods students employ to determine importance based on what the teacher says. Groups tin be formed to discuss their methodology and and so report on their insights/learning.

Assessment Criteria

Through observing both the grouping'due south and the individual's action, the instructor may assess pupil operation. Cess criteria are equally follows (Instructors supply the percent weights):

Cess Criteria

Where	Domain	Activities	%
iStudy Tutorial	Knowledge	The student can list effective note-taking principles.
In-Class	Application	The student can apply effective note taking principles in actual annotation-taking during the in-class activities.
iStudy Tutorial	Synthesis	The educatee can requite his/her examples regarding how effective note-taking positively affects his/her overall personal effectiveness.
			100%

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Source: http://tutorials.istudy.psu.edu/notetaking/notetaking_print.html