Taking Good Notes

What are the difficulties that students face in note-taking?

  • Information is hard to understand.
  • It is difficult to keep up.
  • It is hard to determine what is important enough to write.
  • Teachers give the information too fast.

Studies show...

  • Note-taking does not interfere with listening or comprehension; it helps!
  • Students who review their notes remember 1 and 1/2 times more after six weeks.
  • Students who do not review notes or who do not take good notes forget 80% of the lecture information within 3 weeks.

The purpose of Note-taking

  • to recreate the highpoints of the lecture
  • to prepare information for testing

Important points to remember when taking notes:

  • First and foremost:  Go to Class! It is so easy to do this. If you miss class you miss information. Even if you borrow notes from someone, you still miss information. Your notes are always better for you than someone else's.
  • Read the chapter material prior to class so you are familiar with the information to be presented; this will make it easier to follow along with the professor. If you get behind in your reading, read information assigned from the last class period. Scan the chapters by looking at bold headings, main points, boldface/italic words, chapter summaries, and visual aids.
  • Set up your notes with headings. Leave spaces in the margins. 
  • Get the terms down. Write examples given that will help you understand.

Notice clues from your professor:

  • Examples can easily become test questions. Write them down.
    "Give me 2 examples of the causes of..."
  • If the professor says it twice, write it down.
  • If he says that you'll see this again, that it will come up later, or that it will be on the test, write it down.
  • If it is written on the board, write it down.
  • Read body language: If a professor comes to the front row and speaks louder, write it down.

Last but not least...

  • Use abbreviations--common ones are w/ (with), w/o (without), b/c (because), b/t (between), and @ (at).
  • Write questions down with answers following them.
  • Underline important information
  • Note any text page numbers the professor mentions; use these as a reference when reviewing class notes. Write it in the margin of your paper so you can refer back to it within the context of your notes.

Don't forget to come to our Study Skills workshops!