Taking notes helps you become a better, more attentive listener. Taking notes also helps you understand and remember, and studying your notes later helps you commit the material to memory.

Students forget most of the content of a lecture within a couple of days if they do not take notes and/or review the material. Understanding something does not mean you will remember it. So, instead of assuming that you 'got it,' assume that you will need some notes to refresh your memory.

Whatever format you use, develop a system of abbreviations, key words, and symbols to save time. Click here for some suggestions to get you started. Then, invent your own for the terminology used frequently in your field of study.

Use loose leaf paper, not spiral, and write on only one side of the paper. This way you will be able to take your notes out and mix up the page order for studying. Reviewing your notes in the same order each time you study may cause you to subconsciously rely on the sequence of your notes for recall, and this can work against you when questions on an exam do not follow the same sequence. Develop a quick system of dating and numbering the pages of your notes so that you can easily re-order them after studying.

General Suggestions

• Underline key words or phrases and points emphasized by the instructor. Each time an instructor repeats something you have already written down, underline it. If you have something underlined three or four times, you will know that it is an important point.
• Use stars to mark material the instructor has indicated will probably be on an exam.
• Develop a consistent method, such as drawing a box around the text, to identify references to page numbers, text sections, outside sources, authors, etc. This will signal you to look up the reference later when you study your notes.
• Put a question mark in the margin when you are confused about something or know you need to research it further.
• Use brackets to set off illustrative examples, references to other concepts, helpful associations, etc.
  

Write Your Notes in Modified Outline Format

• Pick out the main points and align them to left margin (Don’t try to use Roman numerals, etc.).
  • Studying the text ahead of time helps a lot with this because you can anticipate what the instructor will be talking about.
  • Listen for verbal cues and transitions that signal introduction of a new main point.
• Indent related details and indent again as needed for further subtopics, examples, etc.
• Leave spaces between sections for visual separation and so that you can add more notes later if necessary.
  

Use the Cornell Method for Organizing and Studying Your Notes

• Que Column   About 2 - 2.5" starting at the left edge of the page   Questions and/or cues go here to help you recall the information to the right   Write these in later when you are studying	Notes   Write your notes here using modified outline format   Subtopics are indented   Multiple levels of indentation may be used   for details   for examples   E.g., stories that illustrate the point   Leave spaces between   Provides visual separation   Allows for additions later
  Summary Space (optional)

• This method involves using a narrow column on the left-hand side of the note paper and a wider column on the right. (You can purchase Cornell note paper if you want the columns pre-printed.)
• Optional: Leave a space across bottom of page for summary of notes (or use a separate page to summarize).
• Write your notes in the large column on the right.
• Later, read through your notes and write cues or questions in the left column to prompt recall of what is in the notes.
• Lay the pages out with the edges overlapping so that only the question/cue column shows.
• Read through the questions/cues and drill yourself, seeing how much of what is in your notes you can recite without having to look.
• Mix up the page order and drill yourself again, repeating this step as many times as necessary to be able to recite all of what is in your notes without looking (regardless of page order).
  

Use Mapping to See the 'Big Picture'

• Mapping helps conceptually organize information through key associations.
• Write key words/topics on a piece of scratch paper and draw ovals around them to create 'idea bubbles.'
• Where the ideas are related in some way, connect the bubbles by drawing lines between.
• Jot what the relationship is along the line connecting any two idea bubbles
• As you start to see patterns in how different ideas are related, you may decide to redraw the map with closely related idea bubbles grouped together.

Using Your Notes for Study

• Consider re-writing your notes when you are studying to better organize the information and reinforce your learning. (Some people re-write multiple times until they can write the notes more or less from memory.)
• Put information into your own words.
• Spread your notes out on the floor or on a table to organize and study them. (You can number them first if you want to be able to return them to original order.)
• Point to the notes as you read (for kinesthetic reinforcement of learning).
• Read your notes out loud, recite out loud, drill yourself out loud, and/or have someone else drill you (for auditory reinforcement of learning).