Helpful Ways to Improve Your Note-Taking
There has been a lot of research that for learning to be effective, you need to be doing things with the material you are engaging with. Hence, class activities that include reading, writing, recitation, and discussion are part of student life. Actually, taking good notes helps you absorb and recall information easily. More importantly, it’s a life-saver when there are upcoming exams. Yet taking good notes is more than jotting down what you see and hear. You also need to get your notes organized in a way that you will understand them. To cut the chase out, I will walk through these helpful note-taking methods in order for you to improve your note-taking. Find out below which method suits you best.
Ways for Taking Better Notes
Mind Mapping Method
Cornell Method
Outlining Method
Mind Mapping Method
Mind mapping is an effective note-taking tool that works well on any topic or concept that you need to break down into various points. Also, it serves as a visual aid to determine the relationships of every topic to one another. Using this technique, you will be able to represent your notes visually with the help of bubbles, lines, and boxes. In this way, note-taking is fun and at the same time easy to do. Since digital note-taking is in trend, I am using GitMind to help me organize notes. The best free mind mapping so far is GitMind which is totally web-based and offers unlimited access to its features.
Advantages
- Associate figures to easily remember topics
- Great for visual learners
- Smart way to show relationships between different concepts
Disadvantages
- Need a vast amount of workspace
- Might demand lots of editing
Cornell Method
Cornell Method is another helpful way that could improve your note-taking. It is a well-structured note-taking method wherein you divide your page into 3 sections. You can also make it 4 divisions depending on your preference. This includes the title at the very top of the page and is optional. The main parts are the cues at the left column, notes at the right column and summary at the bottom-most part of the page. Of course, the allotted space for notes is wider than the rest of the sections. This is also where all the main note-taking takes place. The narrow column at the left part should contain key points and questions. When you are through with the note-taking, you need to come up with a summary of the whole lecture notes in your own words. This part is specifically placed at the bottom center of the page.
Additional Note:
“Title” is placed at the topmost page(optional)
“Cues” is placed in the left column covering 30% width of the page
“Actual Notes” is placed right section and should keep 70% width of the page
“Summary” is placed at the bottom of the page
Advantages
- More organized way of taking notes
- Helps you review information more quickly
- Helps save time for further reviewing
Disadvantages
- Takes time to summarize the content
Outlining Method
Your note-taking skills might also benefit from the bullet journal method. This method can easily pullout major ideas and concepts. It makes use of heading and bullet in organizing your notes. The idea is to separate the main topic from subtopics and supporting ideas. However, this cannot be done with just bullets alone. You need to use indentation to easily determine the key points according to their level of importance. You can begin by writing down the main topic on the far left of the page. Below it, are related ideas such as subtopics and supporting ideas using indents. In this manner, you will have a clear overview of your notes and helps you focus on which topic to review. All in all, it’s the simplest method for note-taking and anyone can use it without any issue.
Advantages
- Best for topics that contain lots of details
- Classify information based on the level of importance
- Convert bullet points into test question for reviewing
Disadvantages
- Not suitable for subjects that involve solving equations
- The structure of the lecture must be fixed
Conclusion
Now you have the methods for effective learning, choosing the best way, of course, will all depend on your learning style. If you can easily absorb information through handwritten notes, then Cornell and Outlining methods should improve your note-taking. On the other hand, Mind-mapping shines by adding visuals to your notes. This stimulates learning through shapes representing concepts and topics.