WHAT ARE NOTES?

Notes are brief records of points or ideas written down as an aid to memory. It could
be:
 a piece of information that one writes down as record of something which is
happening, or
 a short comment on or an explanation of a word, a passage, or an article.
Any good notes have some characteristics including the following:
 They reflect the thoughts presented by the speaker/writer.
 They reflect the understanding of the hearer/listener/reader.
 They are usable – i.e. they‟re written and kept in a manner that helps the
learner use them for their revision.
Even though we‟ll make effort to distinguish between note-taking and note-making,
these two terms are usually used interchangeably.
NOTE-TAKING
Note-taking is the practice of recording information from different sources usually
making use the original author‟s language. It involves copying as much
information as the listener (as in most cases) may be able to catch and recall, or find
very useful for future use. You take notes at lectures, seminars or reading by writing
down what other people are saying for future reference. Note-taking usually
involves the following characteristics:
UNIT 9: NOTE-TAKING AND NOTE- MAKING
 It uses the original author‟s language.
 The content is often poorly assimilated/understood and easily forgotten.
 It‟s fast and feels easier.
 It‟s often common (but not limited to) while listening.
STAGES OF NOTE-TAKING
137
Note-taking involves (1) learners/students‟ preparation before the lesson, (2) what
the learners do during the lesson, (3) what the learners do after the lesson. So,
taking notes involves three stages – before, during and after (class, lecture, etc.).
a. Before stage
The following are some preparations you need to put in place before a lesson
begins.
1. Revise your notes from the previous lesson (where applicable).
2. Read ahead of the new lesson. This includes reading all assigned readings
before you come to class.
3. Get ready all materials you would need to take notes. These include your
notebook, pen/pencil, ruler, etc.
4. Be ready for the class mentally and physically.
5. Sit at a convenient place where you can hear the lecturer or speaker clearly.
b. During stage
The following are what you need to do during the lesson.
1. Listen attentively and try to understand what is said before writing it down.
2. Write down the information (i.e. core points) that is repeated or written on
the board.
3. Write quickly often making use of abbreviations and shortened structures.
4. Write only the key information or ideas.
5. Make sure to write down any questions you have so that you can ask for
clarification when you get the opportunity.
6. Organize your note well. Ideally, start on a fresh page and specify the date
and topic of the lesson.
c. After stage
You need to:
138
COMMUNICATION SKILLS for Students in Technical Universities
1. Read over your notes after the lesson or compare with others‟ to fill in any
missing information.
2. Rewrite your notes to make with better organization.
3. Try to answer any questions that came into mind during the lesson.
4. Do all assignments and submit them before the deadline.
NOTE-MAKING
It
is the recording of important details from a source such as books, articles,
meetings and oral discussions using one‟s own language that reflect his/her
understanding of the information heard or read. It involves:
 reading or listening critically;
 relating ideas to other information and your purpose of reading; and
 reviewing, connecting and synthesising ideas from your lectures or reading.
SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF NOTE-MAKING
 It uses own language. The note-maker uses their own language to capture as
much content as possible from the lecture or what they read.
 The content is easier to understand and remember. This is so because the
note-taker uses their own language to note down what they grasped from
the lecture.
 It‟s slower and more involving. You need to make sure you understand
what you‟re reading or listening to and find your own expressions to put
them down.
 It‟s common (but not limited to) while reading.
STAGES OF NOTE-MAKING
Similar to note-taking, note-making too involves three stages – before, during, and
after lesson.
a. Before stage
1. Get ready your writing materials such as notebook, pen/pencil and ruler.
UNIT 9: NOTE-TAKING AND NOTE- MAKING
139
2. Get reading materials ready. These may include Internet, textbooks,
journals
3. Sit at a comfortable and convenient place with minimum distractions,
preferably, a library.
4. Be mentally and physically ready.
b. During stage
1. Read the text closely and try to understand the content.
2. Mark the areas that are relevant to your purpose of reading.
3. In your own language, as much as possible, write down the understanding
you get as the relevant information.
c. After stage
1. Read over your note for all the necessary corrections.
2. Fill in missing information.
WHY NOTE-TAKING / NOTE-MAKING
Have you ever had to take or make notes at lecture, seminar, church, etc. of any
important content?
 They are useful to students for revision prior to examination.
 Notes help improve memory.
 They reduce (and in some cases prevent) the frequency of future contact
with the source of the information.
 Notes have value when they represent the source of information faithfully.
TIPS FOR GOOD NOTE-TAKING/MAKING
1. Think before you write.
2. Keep notes brief and organized.
3. Use your own language as much as possible.
4. Maintain key words and ideas in the original material.
140
COMMUNICATION SKILLS for Students in Technical Universities
5. Write in phrases and short sentences.
6. Use abbreviations and symbols for brevity.
7. Number or bullet the points.
8. Note sources of information (e.g. book titles, author, page number, etc.).
REVISION EXERCISE 9.1
1. State two distinctions between note taking and note making.
2. State four things you will do while
a. taking notes during a lecture.
b. making note during a lecture or reading a text.
c. preparing to attend a lecture.
Section 9.2: TECHNIQUES OF TAKING/MAKING NOTES
How to represent what we have read or heard and understood is the central and most
crucial stage in note taking/making. Notes are represented basically in two main
ways, namely:
 The diagrammatic representation
 The undiagrammatic representation
DIAGRAMMATIC NOTES
The items or points/ideas in diagrammatic notes are written or arranged with some
form of artistic pattern. They include:
 Outline
 Spidergram
1. OUTLINE (LINEAR NOTES)
It is the lineal representation of points on a topic. Notes are in short structures,
usually noun phrases.
Ideas are arranged/grouped according to their various parts and the relationship
between the parts. The outline notes must meet the following conditions:

141 UNIT 9: NOTE-TAKING AND NOTE- MAKING

 You should be able to identify the main divisions of a topic and the details
under each division.
 The lecture needs to be well-organised.
As hinted earlier, the features of outline notes are: grouping of items, uniformity of
presentation.
Grouping items: All aspects of a point should be brought together even if they‟re
scattered in the lecture presentation or the text.
Uniform presentation: Use the same heading form, mode of numbering/bulleting,
indentation and underlining to identify items of analogous level.
Study the sample outline note on the topic: “Factors of Well-Written University
Essay” and “Types of Sports” below and answer the following questions for better
understanding:
i. What are the main divisions (i.e., the factors of a well-written essay)?
ii. What are the subdivisions of the main divisions?
iii. Do the subdivisions have other details? If yes, what are the details?
Factors of Well-Written University Essay
a. Structure
i. Introduction
 Background
 Thesis statement
 Outline aims
ii. Body
 Topic sentence
 Supporting sentences
 Concluding sentence
iii. Conclusion
b. Language
i. Cohesion
ii. Formality
Types of Sport
a. Individual sports
i. Track
ii. Cycling
iii. Golf
iv. Tennis
b. Team sports
i. Basketball
ii. Baseball
iii. Football
iv. Volleyball
v. Hockey
c. Contact sports
i. Football
ii. Basketball
iii. Soccer/Football
d. Water sports
i. Swimming
ii. Diving
iii. Water polo

142
COMMUNICATION SKILLS for Students in Technical Universities
2. SPIDERGRAM (OR NUCLEAR) NOTES
Unlike the linear notes, nuclear notes spread out from the centre. The main heading
is at the centre of sub-headings. The sub-heading may also become sub-centre from
where other points spread out. Here is an example.
Spidergram can be used to represent the causes, effects and solutions of a
phenomenon such as environmental degradation.
illegal minning
causes
environmental
degardation
effects
felling of trees
bush burning
global warming
irregular rainfall
pattern
solutions
public
education
prosecuting
offenders
UNIT 9: NOTE-TAKING AND NOTE- MAKING
Merits of Diagrammatic Notes
143
1. Outline notes or spidergrams give detailed information making it possible
to be used by another.
2. Outline notes or spidergrams aid revision because of its brevity of the
points
3. Their pictorial outlooks can help one to memorise and remember the items
and their relationships.
Demerits of Diagrammatic Notes
1. Outline notes or spidergrams may take much time to construct if the
information (i.e. lecture or reading) is not coherent enough.
2. They may not be easy to construct from a deeply analytical material.
UNDIAGRAMMATIC NOTES
Undiagrammatic notes (also called Spread Notes) are notes taken in the block form
of ordinary writing. Spread notes include: Quotation, Paraphrasing, Summarizing,
and Headline technique
1. QUOTATION
One way to take/make notes is the exact representation (i.e. copying) of all the
words including punctuations from a writing or speech. Quotation may not
represent one‟s understanding of a text. Quotation is often done for the following
reason:
 Some phrases or sentences may be so obligatory or indispensable for future
use because they represent the author‟s thoughts directly. We usually quote
a definition of a technical term; a name of an event, a place or a parson;
date of an event; characteristics of an entity, e.g. Ghana became a republic
on July 1, 1960 with Kwame Nkrumah as her first president;
The merits of Quotations
i.
ii.
Quotations help the listener/reader to maintain and learn specialised
vocabulary of a discipline.
Quotations reflects the full thoughts of the author (i.e. speaker or
writer).
144
COMMUNICATION SKILLS for Students in Technical Universities
2. PARAPHRASING
With paraphrasing, one uses their own language (words) to represent the points as
much as they understand the content.
Paraphrased notes are made by understanding the core information or points as well
as the details and the relationship between the core points and their details.
3. SUMMARY
Summary involves putting down the salient points or ideas of a lecture, speech or
reading in one‟s own language (words) as much as possible. Summary occurs
generally in sentences. One writes summary on the general sense of complete unit
of thought.
4. HEADLINE TECHNIQUE
With headline technique, all the details are generally left out leaving only the very
skeletal ideas.
Notes involve use of clauses (finite, non-finite, verbless) and phrases, and they
resemble newspaper headlines. For example, a headline note of the challenges
confronting Africa will look like this:
CHALLENGES OF AFRICA
 Unemployment
 Environmental degradation
 Illiteracy
 Diseases: child killers disease, malaria, tuberculosis
USE OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNS IN NOTE TAKING/MAKING
In order to reduce time for writing in note taking/making especially from a speech
or lecture, these three techniques may be used:
1. Shortening constructions
Shortening long constructions includes:
 Removing determiners, e.g. a, an, the, some, both
UNIT 9: NOTE-TAKING AND NOTE- MAKING
 Removing auxiliaries, e.g. is, are, can, may, should, have
 Removing prepositions, e.g. in, of, from, by
145
e.g. Many students have stayed at home for seven days becomes Students
stayed home 7 days.
 Cutting out main verbs particularly linking verbs
e.g. His story appears to be true becomes Story is true.
 Replacing verbs with prepositions
e.g. The President will leave for ECOWAS Summit on Thursday becomes
President for ECOWAS Summit Thursday.
 Using non-finite clause or phrase in place of finite clause.
e.g. Workers who were striking have returned to their duty becomes
Striking workers return to duty.
2. Abbreviating Words:
A.M. – ante meridiem [in the morning]
B.C.E. – Before Common Era
cm – centimeter(s)
Apr.
HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus – April
i.e.
dept. – id est [that is] – department
e.g.
Dr. – exempli gratia (for example/instance) – doctor
VIP – very important person
Jr. – Junior
PMS – premenstrual syndrome
Mr. – Mister
oz – ounce(s)
3. Using Signs and Symbols
% ____ percent/ percentage
= ____ the same as
& ____ and w ____ which
# ____ number w ____ with
+ ____ in addition to; and
c/o ____ care of – ____ without; with the exception of; minus m ____ minutes/metres
: ___ is to; is expected to; must/should
s ____ seconds
146
COMMUNICATION SKILLS for Students in Technical Universities
REVISION EXERCISE 9.2
Explain with an example each of the following: