Note-making
A quintessential tool for a Scholar
Purpose of Note-Making
Prepare for essay writing
Summarising
Keep a record of reading/lectures
Revise for exams
Help remember main points
Effective Note-Making
Should be short ideally. (Length can also be task-dependent: you
may only need a few points, or a lot of detail.)
Keep them simple as they are often written quickly. At the same
time, they should make sense to you when you read them again.
Write phrases, not sentences.
Leave out articles (a/the), conjunctions (and/or) and prepositions
(of/to).
Have clear headings, sub-headings and numbering systems (a, b, c,
or 1, 2, 3) to organise the information. Do not crowd your notes.
Use symbols (+, >, =) to save time.
Use abbreviations (eg. = for example). You may have your own
specialised abbreviations for your subject area. But do not
abbreviate too much, or you may find your notes hard to
understand in the future!
Note-form
Information is logically divided and
subdivided by the use of figures/letters
Example 1
Main Sections : 1, 2, 3…
Sub-sections : (i), (ii), (iii)…
Sub-sub-sections : (a), (b), (c)…
Example 2 ‘Decimal System’
Main Sections : 1, 2, 3…
Sub-sections : 1.1, 1.2, 1.3…
Sub-sub-sections : 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3…
Academic Note-Making
Always record the source of your
notes. This will save time when you
have to write the list of references.
Use your own words to avoid the
risk of plagiarism. Don’t copy
phrases from the original.
Abbreviations
SHORTENED WORDS - Often used without the writer being
aware of the original form.
Omnibus - Bus
Laboratory - lab
ACRONYMS - Made up of the initial letters of a name or
phrase. They are pronounced as words.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome - AIDS
Indian Space Research Organisation - ISRO
OTHERS - Read as individual letters.
British Broadcasting Corporation - BBC
Please Turn Over - PTO
Common Abbreviations
AGM - annual general meeting
BA - Bachelor of Arts
BCE - before common era
BSc - Bachelor of Sciences
CV - curriculum vitae
DIY - do-it-yourself
EU - European Union
FE - further education (non-university study above 18)
GM - genetically modified
GNP - gross national product
HE - higher education (university study above 18)
HRM - human resource management
ICT - information and communications technology
Common Abbreviations
IMF - International Monetary Fund
LLB - Bachelor of Laws
MA - Master of Arts
MSc - Master of Science
PG - postgraduate
PGCE - Postgraduate Certificate of Education
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
PLC - public limited company
PR - public relations
UCAS - Universities and Colleges Admissions Service
UG - undergraduate
UN - United Nations
URL - uniform resource locator (website address)
VC - Vice-Chancellor
WTO - World Trade Organisation
Abbreviations in
Academic Writing
anon. - anonymous (no author)
asap - as soon as possible
c. - circa (in dates - about)
cf. - compare
ed. - editor/edition
e.g. - for example
et al. - and others (used in place of names of multiple
authors)
Fig. - figure (for labelling charts and graphs)
ibid. - in the same place (to refer to source mentioned
immediately before)
Abbreviations in
Academic Writing
i.e. - That is
K - thousand
NB. - take careful note
nd - no date (i.e. an undated source)
op. cit. - in the source mentioned previously
p.a. - yearly (per annum)
pp. - pages
PS - postscript
re: - with reference to
vs - versus
Symbols
Happy to Help!
Reach out:
Rahul Jain
Junior Research Fellow (PhD Candidate)
Department of English and Cultural Studies
Panjab University
Chandigarh UT, India
rahuljain2301@[Link]