Name____________________________ Date: _________________________
GRADE XI – ENGLISH
NOTE MAKING
Note-making basically involves noting the main points of whatever is read or heard, as one cannot be
expected to remember all that one has read. Now the question we address here is: why do we make
notes? We make notes to record all the important or key points of a text for future reference. Hence in
note-making, what we do is to identify the main points, condense information and organise it in a
systematic way.
There are other questions that crop up when we are to make notes of a certain passage.
(i) What is the passage about, i.e., what is the main topic?
(ii) What details, points, opinions, conclusions drawn about the topic are essential?
(iii) What are the main components or sub-parts of the passage?
To find answers to the above questions, follow the given guidelines:
⮚ Write the points in a sequence; sometimes you have to take two or three ideas as one point.
⮚ Compare and cross check all the points. Neither should important points be missed out nor any
unimportant or irrelevant point included.
⮚ Effective and successful note-making depends on the use of numbers, symbols, abbreviations etc
and the omission of articles, prepositions, conjunctions etc.
HOW TO PREPARE NOTES
⮚ Prepare notes using only phrases; never use complete sentences.
⮚ The topic sentence of each paragraph is the Main Point and the ideas affiliated to it are Sub Points.
⮚ There may be two to three sets of Notes, depending on the supplementary ideas or concepts in the
paragraph.
⮚ Do ensure at least one set of sub-sub points in the entire Notes
⮚ It is your discretion to choose which information qualifies for which category
⮚ Provide a title for the notes as well as the summary or abstract, as given in the question
⮚ Include a minimum of 4-6 distinctly different, recognisable abbreviations in the notes.
⮚ Cover all the important points in the notes meaningfully to prepare the abstract/ summary in about
80 words
⮚ Write the summary/abstract in 80-100 words complete sentences in a paragraph
Indentation of Notes
All similar level points should maintain the same distance from the margin.
Write the heading/title in block letters. Underline the heading/title. Do not give a one-word title.
For example, the title for a passage on “Darwinism” could be “Need For Universal Darwinism”
A. Main Point
1. Sub-points
1.1 Follow the indented format
1.2 Don’t write complete sentences
1.3 Use abbreviations and symbols where required.
1.4 Notes should not be very long. Don’t write numbers or points in the margin
1.5 ………………………
1.5.1 Sub-sub-sub point
1.5.2 Sub-sub-sub point
2. Sub-point
2.1 Sub-sub point
2.2 Sub-sub point
B. Main Point ……
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Note Making Exercises
Passage 1
1. How often do we exclaim: "That was a mistake!" That bewildered expression of regret and panic gets
relayed through life. Some mistakes we forget, others we don't. The mistakes can be mundane as
forgetting to turn the geyser off or to pick up your passport from the airport counter.
2. Absent mindedness, preoccupation, distraction carelessness, nervousness there are umpteen excuses
to justify mistakes. However major decisions like relocations of home of an unwarranted resignation
letter can cause much trouble and upheaval and lead to regrets that leave you sad and depressed.
Some mistakes are irreversible then is there room for hope?
3. In fact, there are no mistakes, only experiences. There are no problems only challenges. Every
experience teaches us something in life. Every mistake inspires retrospection and introspection. The
experience is humbling and it makes us wiser. That is, if every mistake is regarded as an experience and
not as a source of self condemnation. Many times people are unable to reconcile with the change
grooved in the blame culture and rooted in the past, they had to realise the life time benefits they
receive from changes.
4. Nature abounds in examples of flexibility and relocation in case of birds and beasts. Scientific research
in the behaviour of birds has confirmed this. Birds, animals and even nomads, travel miles and miles in
search of better food, congenial climate and safety. These relocations may cause some amount of
stress, no doubt, but they are the source of survival: helping to group bonding and cooperation; and to
explore the beauty of new space and better environment.
5. To the weak problems are stumbling blocks, to the brave, they are stepping stones." An untimely
resignation and or termination letter is certainly traumatic and disturbing. But think of possibilities it
can throw open for you. A young man felt disappointed when he failed an interview for a corporate
job. At that point of time, he left dejected. Today, looking back he says, "It was a blessing in disguise. I
would have never reached this far." Some mistakes bring in a very important message. "Believe and
achieve! And in order to do so, faith is essential. It is the triple faith that men need today: faith in one’s
self, faith in the world around us and, above all, faith in God!"
(A) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes on it using headings and subheadings.
Also use recognizable abbreviations, wherever necessary (Minimum 5). Supply a suitable title. (5 Marks)
(B) Write a summary of the above passage in your own words. (3 Marks)
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Passage 2
1. In Indian homes, the floor of the house is always the best maintained element, cleaned twice a day and
wiped down to a sparkling state. In front of the threshold of the home the floor often is decorated with
Rangoli and other ritual diagrams. This is true in rural as well as in many urban homes in metropolitan
cities. When building a new home people spend as much money per sq. foot for a beautiful floor as
they would spend on the entire structure. Yet, this pride and obsession for a clean floor suddenly
vanish as we step out into the street: the floor of the city.
2. In Delhi where 80% of the people are pedestrians in some stage of their commuting, least attention is
paid to pedestrian paths. Delhi’s sidewalks are too narrow, very poorly maintained and full of potholes,
poles, junction boxes and dangerous electrical installations, not to speak of the garbage dumps that
stink and stare at the pedestrian. Ashram Chowk is a good case in point where thousands of
pedestrians change direction from the Mathura Road radial to the Ring Road. A flyover facilitates the
automobiles while the pedestrian is orphaned by the investment- hungry authorities. One corner of the
Ashram Chowk has a ridiculous imitation wood sculpture with an apology of a fountain and across the
same Chowk, you have the open mouthed, massive garbage dump right on the pedestrian path, in full
exhibition for the benefit of the public. These symbols of poor taste and abject apathy are then
connected by narrow dangerous and often waterlogged footpaths for the hapless pedestrians to
negotiate. In the night, street lighting in the central median light up the carriageway for cars and leave
the pedestrian areas in darkness.
3. Delhi’s citizens leave home and want to get to their destination as fast they can. No one wants to linger
on the road, no leisure walks, no one looks a stranger in the eye. It is on the pedestrian path that the
citizen encounters head-on the poor pubic management and the excuse called ‘multiplicity of
authorities”. One agency makes the road, another dig sit up to lay cables, third one comes after months
to clear up the mess and the cycle of unaccountability goes on. Meanwhile crones are spent in
repairing the carriageway for vehicles and in construction of flyovers without a care for the pedestrians
below. Solution offered is to make an expensive underpass or an ugly foot over bridge, ostensibly for
facilitating the pedestrian, while in reality they only facilitate the cars to move faster at the expense of
the pedestrians. Take Kashmiri Gate, ITO, Ashram Chowk, AlIMS or Dhaula Kuan. At all these important
pedestrian cross-over points the story is the same: They have pulled the sidewalk from under the
pedestrians’ feet.
4. In modern cities across the world, the pedestrian is king. The floor of the city is designed and
maintained as an inclusive environment, helping the physically challenged, the old and the infirm,
children and the ordinary citizen to move joyfully across the city. Delhi aspires to be ‘world class city’.
Hopefully the authorities would look once again at the floor of Delhi. The pleasure of strolling on the
road is deeply connected to our sense of citizenship and sense of belonging. Pride in the city grows only
on a well designed floor of the city.
A. On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes on it using headings and sub-headings.
Also use recognizable abbreviations, wherever necessary (Minimum 5) Supply Suitable title.
B) Write a summary of the above passage in your own words.
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Passage 3
1. Here are some questions to ponder. Do you know why a certain film star received an arsenal of
weapons from a gangster terrorist’ Do you know why witnesses who turn hostile do not get prosecuted
for either perjury or wasting police time, or both? Do you know why it takes a decade or longer to try a
criminal case in India? Have you ever thought through any solutions to these problems? If you haven’t
it might be because of the Type of education you received!
2. Most of us reluctantly accept the way things are because we have been educated to be accepting. We
are not educated to be openly critical. We are not educated to argue, protest or confront. The Brits
made no bones about it - in their schools we were educated to accept given values and ways of doing
things. We were trained to be loyal servants to the status quo. Most of us oldies were subjected to the
traditional approach to learning that focused on mastery of content, with little emphasis on the
development of analytical skills and the nurturing of inquiring attitudes. We were the receivers of
information, and the teacher was the dispenser. The passivity encouraged by teachers was typified by
one of my principals who implored all the girls to be like ‘limpid water in a crystal vase’.
3. These days I am kept very busy by schools that are running teacher-training courses to introduce the
‘inquiry approach’ to learning. Unlike traditional learning, this approach is focused on using and
learning content as a means to develop information-processing and problem-solving skills. This system
is more student-centered, with the teacher as a facilitator of learning. There is more emphasis on “how
we come to know” and less on “what we know”. Students are more involved in the construction of
knowledge through active analysis and investigation. They are encouraged to ask questions, and give
opinions and share what they know.
4. They are encouraged to criticize and argue, and confront the conventional wisdom. At the moment this
new approach is restricted to a few schools. However this year the ability to critically analyse has been
introduced as part of the CBSE school syllabus. It is a small start but it is a move towards introducing
thinking skills into all of our schools. It is the start of a big change. Our government and bureaucracy
are full of old, well-educated people of a traditionalist background, who also see, read and hear the
news reports about hostile witnesses, gangsters and film stars, and murders by politician’s sons. Like us
they find them outrageous, but they don’t know how to change things. Critical analysis, change
management and innovation were not part of their schooling, and in adult life they have not become
freely critical, outspoken analysts capable of applying the fruits of their analysis to increasingly complex
problems.
5. We often come across the shortcomings of our government, judiciary and media. With very little effort
these shortcomings will become a thing of the past. But they will be a long time coming. Not because
our ‘leaders’ and societal managers are unfeeling, immoral, self-seekers. but because they were
educated and excelled in consulting a textbook, and regurgitating someone else’s opinion and
knowledge. As the newly educated might say: we can expect the same for a long time to come.
A. On the basis of your readings of the above passage, make motes on it using headings and sub-headings.
Also use recognizable abbreviations, where ever necessary. (Min. 4). Supply a suitable title.
B) Write a summary of the above passage in your own words.
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