Effective note taking

Whether in a lecture, seminar or from further reading and resources, effective note taking helps you to be actively engaged with the material you’re studying. Making effective notes is not about writing everything down in a lecture or copying large sections from books and other resources, reviewing these at a later date will be difficult. Instead, the following guide explains how to get the best out of your notes.

Structure

Having a clear and consistent structure to your notes will help you to understand them at a later date. You can develop your own style in working towards this but try to bear in mind:

• Headings - You can use headings to order the information you’re writing down.
• Signposting different points - In order to understand your notes when you come back to them, try giving each point you make under your headings a new line, a bullet point or a number. This will help you to see how arguments are constructed.
• Highlighting - Use highlighters to illustrate key points, arguments and examples.
• Leave gaps so that you can correct or add to your notes at a later date. This is particularly useful when thinking about making best use of your lecture notes in a seminar.
• Date your notes and add the title of the lecture and the name of the lecturer. That way, if you need to ask questions later you’ll have all the information you need to do so.
• Use diagrams or illustrations – where appropriate, jotting notes down in the form of a triangle, flow chart, cycle, or simply within boxes can help you make sense of what is being discussed and can save time (if done effectively)
• Add page numbers.

Using your own words

Writing notes in your own words, rather than copying what is said or written down will help you to understand the information and remember it later. It will also help you to avoid accidental plagiarism when you come to write essays, reports and presentations for your course.
Remember:

• Copy important quotations word for word, but
• Separate these quotations from your own words using “speech marks”
• If there are parts of a lecture or book that you don’t understand, write questions to discuss in seminars or with your lecturer.

Writing concisely

When taking notes there can be a temptation to write everything down but in reality, writing fewer notes helps you to listen and absorb the information and will be more effective in helping you to recall the information later.

• Rather than writing down whole sentences, try to note down key words, phrases and examples
• Add brief details of any examples or evidence that supports a point
• Use arrows to link back to previous points made rather than writing out the whole idea again

Using abbreviations

Abbreviations can be a useful way to streamline your notes. You can use both standard and subject specific abbreviations or even make up your own. If you do make up your own ensure that they are consistent throughout your notes so they make sense when you refer back. While abbreviations help you to limit the number of words you use, don’t use so many that your notes become shorthand, this will make it much harder to understand your notes later.

Using colour and images

• Colour code your notes

Use different colours for different points, debates, theories or ideas.

• Highlighting

Use colour highlighters on any points you want to remember.

• Images and diagrams

Use images and/or diagrams as a quick way of describing a concept or idea.

Making the most of handouts

Most lectures will be accompanied by a handout. If you can, print this out before the lecture and take it along with you. Handouts will help you to follow the lecture and will highlight the key points so you don’t have to write them down. Adding your own notes to these will help you to get the best out of the lecture and ensure you have a clear record of what was covered.

• Highlight keywords and information, it’s already there for you so you don’t need to write this down again.
• Use colour to categorise the information.
• Some lecturers will leave space on the handout for you to add your notes but if they don’t, add your own into the margins.

Summary

• Have a clear note-taking structure that you understand
• Use your own words
• Use key words, phrases and abbreviations
• Use colour, images and mind maps
• When making notes in lectures and seminars, use any handouts given. Some of the key information will be available here so you don’t have to write it down again.

Further reading

Mind map techniques:
https://www2.open.ac.uk/students/skillsforstudy/mind-maps.php

Note-making skills:
http://www2.open.ac.uk/students/skillsforstudy/notetaking-techniques.php