Jotting down the words the teacher writes on the board before they change or getting down every point. Note-taking is a more important activity than copying and pasting. Defined as ‘recording the essence of the information, freeing the mind from having to recall everything’, it is more indefinite than it seems. Note-taking is evidently foundational in an educational setting but equally as crucial for personal knowledge management. The aim of the note taker is to create the most comprehensive notes whether they feel it necessary to review or not. The best note-taker can instinctively find the filter to find the most relevant information, write legibly at speed and create notes that can be understood later.
The note taker is required to filter the information, organise it in relation to existing knowledge, comprehend the information, categorise and write down and finally integrate it. This seems like a lot of work but we do this automatically when receiving any new information.
Of course, note-taking can be hard work. In a lecture scenario, the average teacher would be speaking 2-3 words per second and the student writing at a speed of 0.2-0.3 words per second which equates to 12-18 words per minute in contrast to 120-1280 spoken words. It is clear the notetaker must be highly effective but fortunately, the techniques later explored makes the task much simpler.
There are a few common methods for taking notes and so which to use depends on the subject of the notes and the personal choice of the taker. For example, more visual notes would be better suited to subjects with lots of interlinked content whereas linear notes are more effective when trying to get down everything said in a lecture. Experimenting with different techniques would therefore be a good idea. Regardless of the medium, the techniques explained below can be split into the groups’ linear and nonlinear methods.
Non-linear notes:
- The mapping method can be traced back to the notes of Leonardo Da Vinci in the 15th century. It requires the taker to be engaged and actively understand information. It is simply a mind map that interlinks lots of information and makes sense to use when a subject is organised into topics and subtopics. All you need to do is write the main topic in the centre and have further topics branching out with arrows from this.
- The chatting method of note-taking is a very visual method. This is powerful when you have information that can be clearly split into direct categories. It uses charts to condense and organise. It is optimal for factual or statistical information as it makes the knowledge easier to compare and compartmentalised. You need to think of your information as in a spreadsheet with rows and columns.
Linear notes:
- The Cornell note-taking method is becoming an increasingly popular option for students. It requires a page set up with a vertical line that covers ⅓ of the page and a horizontal line ⅔ down the page. In the left column, you can note down keywords and phrases. On the right, the bigger column is reserved for explanations, facts and ideas. The bottom section is for a summary of the above notes. This method ensures notes are concise and also can be further improved by using colour and images.
- The Outline may seem dense and highly logical but is probably what you already use. It is basically just using bullet point arrow points and numbered lists within each other to create easy-to-find, structured notes. There are downsides to this as it can be difficult to add information later and demands a lot of thought on how to categorise.
- The Sentence method is possibly the most basic of the methods. You simply summarise each point into a sentence and number each sentence as you write. This means the method is clearer than just a paragraph but while the information is concise it is also not ideal for finding later on. It is versatile and easy to use so recommended when listening to lectures and needing to get the information down when you don’t have time to organise.
To choose the method best suited to you all you need to do is consider the subject you are writing notes for and how you will engage with them. In terms of school work, it can be useful having a tracker of all the topics you need to write notes about so you can tick each topic throughout the year. The tracker will then become a useful tool for revision. Engaging with notes is also very important and can be done through the use of flashcards or quiz questions to develop your understanding of the content you have just come across. Of course, colour is crucial for all the methods for many reasons predominantly for its ability to increase productivity.
Although you have the methods it is very easy to still find the information hard to get down quickly enough, especially in the case of live teachings. In that situation, the most important thing to remember is that you need to get the important stuff down whether you get everything or not.
So the next time you need to get some notes down think about the options you have and take your pick.
