Things I Wish I Had Known Before University: Note-Taking

During my time at university, many of my habits changed. As I look back, I can still remember my first classes. I arrived at school early in the morning and procured a seat near the front. I then waited as the rest of the class slowly filed in. Like a court clerk, I meticulously wrote down every utterance of the professor in my perfectly organized school binder. Between classes, I eagerly tore through the assigned reading. I was determined to be perfect in every aspect of my schooling. Needless to say, I was one of those idyllic optimists that I mentioned in the previous article. Sadly, by the end of my four year stay I was rarely early for class (too often late and sometimes too tired to truly appreciate the content); I infrequently completed my reading (Warning: Not reading is a stupid idea!); I was less convinced that I could glean the world's collective knowledge within the walls of my institution; and I certainly did not make note of my professors' every idea and word. As most people can probably identify, this pattern was, for the most part, a regression from an altogether positive start. If we all listened well to our mothers, we learned that punctuality, thoroughness, and a love of learning are all admirable virtues. Perhaps you're now thinking that I was a horrible student by my senior year. Honestly, I wasn't. In my defense, not all that changed was for the worse. You may have caught that I briefly described a change in the way that I took notes. In this area, I did improve. In fact, during my last year (and even my last semester) I remember wishing I could turn back time and teach myself some of the note-taking and organizational skills I had amassed through the years. Regrettably, time travel had not - and has not - yet fully matured. Consequently, some lucky reader (perhaps you) will benefit from my trial and error.

Holistic Notes

Taking notes requires balance, a "holism," if you will. Too many people (including yours truly) have made the error of focusing all one's class-time energies into writing notes. In short: not a good idea. I'm sure that I'm simplifying things, but in my humble opinion there are (at least) two things that are important to keep in mind whilst attending classes. First, it is important to write things down. Despite the impressive storage capacity of the human brain, most human beings (with exception to some savants and that guy from Jeopardy, Ken Jennings) are simply incapable of storing/encoding all the information they encounter (thankfully). We are thus forced to rely on other means of information storage and retrieval. Notes allow for easy access of information at a later date. The details of a lecture can be much more easily remembered with the aid of notes than by memory alone. Therefore, well-written and thorough notes can be of great value for a student. However, let us suppose a student focuses his or her entire attention on the task of taking notes from the board or overhead. That student will have missed out on another integral benefit of attending class: the class environment. Having said this, someone is bound to object by telling me that their professor is particularly boring, incapable of speaking proper English, or simply that their fellow classmates are hardly the type to engage in stimulating conversation and debate. Touche! Admittedly, there will always be exceptions to any rule. There are never neat answers that cover all possible situations. However, in a decent class with a semi-competent professor, it's important to be aware of and remember more than that which is written on the board or displayed on the overhead. Most professors who are worth their weight in salt will not simply read off the screen or regurgitate what you have read in your textbooks. There should be class discussions, poignant real-life examples, and important student questions that all contribute to the course's information stream. At university there were times in which I did nothing more than copy the contents of the professors slide points onto my computer. Forty days later, when it became necessary to interpret the notes, I found myself wishing I jotted down what had been discussed in class on that particular point. In contrast, when I did strike a holistic balance between taking notes and engaging in the class experience, I absorbed information far better while in class and was also more capable of information retrieval days, weeks, or even months later.

There are several note-taking tips that I want to share briefly.


Have a system, but don't be too strict. Ideally, I like being able to record everything in outline form. In a perfect world, I'd be able to do that. However, this is not a perfect world. Some stuff just doesn't fit the mold. It's a good idea to find a way to organize what you're learning, but feel free to just jot stuff down in the way that is best for that particular bit of information. For example, a doodle may be much more helpful for recall than a half-page description.

Be thorough. Essentially, don't slack off. If you spend one or two classes staring out the window at the clouds instead of doing what you paid thousands of dollars to do, you're going to regret it. Two months later, you'll be staring at your notes thinking, "When the frick did we ever talk about this in class?" If there's important information being exchanged in class, pay attention! Take notes!

Don't just copy the slides. Trust me on this one. I've done it on more than one occasion. Good professors who know the bad habits of students will intentionally minimize the amount of information that is posted on the slides. Believe it or not, the professor may actually say some stuff that's worth writing down. If your professor doesn't say anything of worth, you may want to raise that particular issue with the dean of education.

Don't be cryptic. If you use shorthand, be darned sure that you're going to know what it means 2 months from now. There's nothing more frustrating than finding out that you don't make any sense to yourself. It's better to take 2 extra seconds to write something that's legible and coherent than to find out later that your notes are useless.

Keep your notes together. This rule can be put into practice in different ways depending on your method of taking notes. If you use a computer, try to keep all your notes in one file or folder. Keeping the majority of your notes in one file offers the benefit of being able to easily search your document. For example, in music history, it was nice to quickly and easily search for everything pertaining to G.F. Handel. If you're using pen and paper, keep your stuff together. Frankly, if your notes are not easy to access, you're probably not going to use them (in which case, save a tree and don't even bother). Regardless of your note-taking method, be sure to keep your handouts orderly and accessible. If your professor gives you handouts without hole punchings, send them hate mail.

Review. Writing your notes is half the battle. Despite how unrealistic it sounds, reviewing your notes within 24 hours of your class will do wonders to your level of retention! This is a very good habit to form! Better yet, if you can discuss what you've learned to someone, your retention will improve still further.

Recently, I came across a very helpful article that is not my own. However, I still want to pass it on (Note: some of the information below may repeat what I have already said).

What to Write Down

Your focus while taking notes should be two-fold. First, what’s new to you? There’s no point in writing down facts you already know. If you already know the Declaration of Independence was written and signed in 1776, there’s no reason to write that down. Anything you know you know you can leave out of your notes.

Second, what’s relevant? What information is most likely to be of use later, whether on a test, in an essay, or in completing a project? Focus on points that directly relate to or illustrate your reading (which means you’ll have to have actually done the reading…). The kinds of information to pay special attention to are:

• Dates of events: Dates allow you to a) create a chronology, putting things in order according to when they happened, and b) understand the context of an event. For instance, knowing Isaac Newton was born in 1643 allows you to situate his work in relation to that of other physicists who came before and after him, as well as in relation to other trends of the 17th century.
• Names of people: Being able to associate names with key ideas also helps remember ideas better and, when names come up again, to recognize ties between different ideas whether proposed by the same individuals or by people related in some way.
• Theories: Any statement of a theory should be recorded — theories are the main points of most classes.
• Definitions: Like theories, these are the main points and, unless you are positive you already know the definition of a term, should be written down. Keep in mind that many fields use everyday words in ways that are unfamiliar to us.
• Arguments and debates: Any list of pros and cons, any critique of a key idea, both sides of any debate related in class or your reading should be recorded. This is the stuff that advancement in every discipline emerges from, and will help you understand both how ideas have changed (and why) but also the process of thought and development within the particular discipline you are studying.
• Images and exercises: Whenever an image is used to illustrate a point, or when an in-class exercise is performed, a few words are in order to record the experience. Obviously it’s overkill to describe every tiny detail, but a short description of a painting or a short statement about what the class did should be enough to remind you and help reconstruct the experience.
• Other stuff: Just about anything a professor writes on a board should probably be written down, unless it’s either self-evident or something you already know. Titles of books, movies, TV series, and other media are usually useful, though they may be irrelevant to the topic at hand; I usually put this sort of stuff in the margin to look up later (it’s often useful for research papers, for example). Pay attention to other student’s comments, too — try to capture at least the gist of comments that add to your understanding.
• Your own questions: Make sure to record your own questions about the material as they occur to you. This will help you remember to ask the professor or look something up later, as well as prompt you to think through the gaps in your understanding.

Note-Taking Techniques

You don’t have to be super-fancy in your note-taking to be effective, but there are a few techniques that seem to work best for most people.

• Outlining: Whether you use Roman numerals or bullet points, outlining is an effective way to capture the hierarchical relationships between ideas and data. In a history class, you might write the name of an important leader, and under it the key events that he or she was involved in. Under each of them, a short description. And so on. Outlining is a great way to take notes from books, because the author has usually organized the material in a fairly effective way, and you can go from start to end of a chapter and simply reproduce that structure in your notes.

  For lectures, however, outlining has limitations. The relationship between ideas isn’t always hierarchical, and the instructor might jump around a lot. A point later in the lecture might relate better to information earlier in the lecture, leaving you to either a) flip back and forth to find where the information goes best (and hope there’s still room to write it in) or b) risk losing the relationship between what the professor just said and what she said before.

• Mind-mapping: For lectures, a mind-map might be a more appropriate way of keeping track of the relationships between ideas. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of mind-mapping, but it might just fit the bill. Here’s the idea: in the center of a blank sheet of paper, you write the lecture’s main topic. As new sub-topics are introduced (the kind of thing you’d create a new heading for in an outline), you draw a branch outward from the center and write the sub-topic along the branch. Then each point under that heading gets its own, smaller branch off the main one. When another new sub-topic is mentioned, you draw a new main branch from the center. And so on. The thing is, if a point should go under the first heading but you’re on the fourth heading, you can easily just draw it in on the first branch. Likewise, if a point connects to two different ideas, you can connect it to two different branches. If you want to neaten things up later, you can re-draw the map or type it up using a program like FreeMind, a free mind-mapping program (some wikis even have plug-ins for FreeMind mind-maps, in case you’re using a wiki to keep track of your notes).

• The Cornell System: The Cornell System is a simple but powerful system for increasing your recall and the usefulness of your notes. About a quarter of the way from the bottom of a sheet of paper, draw a line across the width of the page. Draw another line from that line to the top, about 2 inches (5 cm) from the right-hand edge of the sheet. You’ve divided your page into three sections. In the largest section, you take notes normally — you can outline or mind-map or whatever. After the lecture, write a series of “cues” into the skinny column on the right, questions about the material you’ve just taken notes on. This will help you process the information from the lecture or reading, as well as providing a handy study tool when exams come along: simply cover the main section and try to answer the questions. In the bottom section, you write a short, 2-3 line summary in your own words of the material you’ve covered. Again, this helps you process the information by forcing you to use it in a new way; it also provides a useful reference when you’re trying to find something in your notes later. You can download instructions and templates from American Digest, though the beauty of the system is you can dash off a template “on the fly”.

I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface of the variety of techniques and strategies people have come up with to take good notes. Some people use highlighters or colored pens; others a baroque system of post-it notes. I’ve tried to keep it simple and general, but the bottom line is that your system has to reflect the way you think. The problem is, most students haven’t given much thought to the way they think, leaving them scattered and at loose ends — and their notes reflect this. What advice do you have for the folks out there trying to get it all together this semester?

Considering the person writing this article, it would hardly seem complete if it didn't contain some information regarding computer software.

If you have a great piece of software that you are comfortable using, keep using it. Don't be afraid to try something new, but don't feel like you have to be constantly searching for the perfect piece of software. However, you might want to consider the following pieces of software depending on your operating system.

Macintosh

OmniOutliner: For some mac users, this program comes bundled. If it's not in your application folder, you can buy this software for about $40. I found this software to be a great way to take notes and create outlines for papers and writing assignments. Get it here.

Bean: Despite it's wacky name, this software is fast and isn't very complicated to learn. A program that doesn't use many of your resources is always a good thing! Another great selling feature of this program is that it is FREE! Get it here.

This section will be updated from time to time. I also hope to create a section specifically dedicated to student-specific software for the Mac.

Windows

Abi Word: I went to school with some folks that swore by this program. Because it runs like crap on Mac, i haven't taken the time to really explore it. Like "Bean" for Mac, it's more lightweight than many of its word-processor counterparts. It's free! Get it here.

OpenOffice: I intend to cover this software much more in a future article. Essentially OpenOffice is a fully functioning but free equivalent to Microsoft's Office suite. Get it here.

if you have any additions that you would like to make to this very short list, PLEASE leave a comment or send me an email via the "Contact" link on the left. I know that there are lots of great titles out there for Windows users, but I'm afraid that I'm not aware of them all.

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