2. Evaluate your notes based on
1. Content – how well you accurately recorded
information
This can be judged by how well you perform on
quizzes or exams…if you are missing a lot of the
information needed to answer questions on a quiz or
exam then perhaps you are not taking effective notes
2. Organization – how well you organize the
information
If you write down everything without organizing the
information, you may find you have a jumble of
unrelated facts and ideas. The more organized your
notes are, the more easily you will be able to study
from them.
3. Before Class:
Read or survey the material that will be covered in
the upcoming lecture
Review notes from previous class sessions
Get the notes from any class session you’ve missed
Meet with your instructor to clarify concepts from
the last lecture
4. During Class
Date and title each set of notes and keep notes from different classes
separate
Sit where you can hear and see clearly without distractions
Don’t crowd your notes leave blanks to fill in missed items and to
expand your notes later
Concentrate! Stay involved in the class and ask questions. Join class
discussions
Take a lot of notes, but don’t try to write every word
Use abbreviations and symbols to save time
Write legibly so that you can read your own writing
Mark ideas that the instructor emphasizes with an arrow, star, or
underlining
Pay attention to signal words or key phrases that indicate something
important is to follow
Add examples your professor provides in order to clarify abstract
ideas…these can be used to jog your memory later
Learn as much as you can in class because this will help you better
understand and complete outside assignments
5. After Class
Review notes within 24 hours of class
Fill in abbreviations, add omitted points, and correct
errors
Use information from your text or ask your
instructor or a classmate to help you fill in gaps in
your notes
Use margin space to write key words or phrases –
then study by covering your notes and testing
yourself on that information using the key words as
cues
Review your notes several times throughout the
week
6. No one correct way to take notes exists…there
are a variety of methods for taking lecture
notes. You need to use and adapt the strategy
that works best for you and the type of course
lecture. Four common Note Taking Systems
are:
1. The Outline Method
2. The Block or Paragraph Method
3. The Mapping or Clustering Method
4. The Cornell Note Taking System
7. Organize your lecture content based on an
informal outline
This works because it is a familiar form of note
taking
This works well when the lecturer is well organized
and proceeds in an orderly manner from main points
to supporting points
This is effective as long as students are not distracted
by the rules of formal outlining and spend too much
time thinking about how they should label the next
point in their notes or students are not equating
outlining with just writing down key words because
one word outlines contain too little of the lecture
content
9. A very simple system:
Write the first main topic in heading form or
question form starting at the lefthand margin of your
notebook
Indent a few spaces and then begin to write your
notes in block or paragraph form
Listen for what the lecturer has to say about the topic
and write down as many of the details as you can
Remember you do not have to write in complete
sentences
Concentrate on meaningful phrases
11. In this method notes are recorded in
a chart or in a graphic format
The placement of material shows how
each point is connected to the others
Not appropriate for all lecture
information
