NOTE
TAKING
STRATEGIES Project
OVERVIEW OF WORKSHOP
Note taking from lecture
Decide on typing or writing
Decide on a format
Capture main ideas
Assistive technology/ accommodations
Note taking from text
Develop your personal system
Capturing main ideas
THE CHALLENGES OF TAKING
NOTES FROM A LECTURE
How should I organize my notes?
How do I keep up with the professor?
How can I concentrate on what the
professor is saying, participate AND
take notes?
How do I summarize a lecture?
TAKING NOTES FROM
A LECTURE
FORMATTING YOUR NOTES:
TO TYPE OR NOT TO TYPE….
Benefi ts of typing
Benefi ts of writing
MICROSOFT ONE NOTE
EVERNOTE
SONOCENT
OTHER TECH OPTIONS
AudioNote-
$2.99 (I
Pad), $4.99
(Mac)
Notability-
$2.99 (I Pad
and Mac)
Google
Docs
MS Word
PowerPoint
HOW SHOULD I ORGANIZE MY
NOTES?
Modifying your notes to fi t the course
Always look at materials the professor
gives you
Separating main ideas and sub-points
Avoid writing all your notes continuously
Formats
The “half page” technique
Outline form
Cornell Style
Write on PowerPoint print outs
OUTLINE FORM
PRINTING POWER POINTS FOR
NOTE TAKING
SELECTING THE MAIN IDEA
If you’d like additional
help with this… ask! We
have another workshop!
HELP! HOW CAN I ACTIVELY LISTEN,
TAKE NOTES, AND PARTICIPATE?
The challenge of doing two things at once
Talk to your professor
Accommodations- Discuss with your AS
counselor
Have a note taker
Assistive Technology
Voice Recorders
Livescribe Smart Pen
Sonocent
HOW DO I SUMMARIZE A LECTURE? SHOULD I
WRITE EVERYTHING THE PROFESSOR S AYS?
How much you write depends on
several things
Your own ability to juggle writing while
listening
Are you using a voice recorder or smart
pen?
Did your professor provide PPT slides?
Was there a topic you were confused
about in the reading?
TAKING NOTES FROM
TEXT
CHALLENGES OF TAKING NOTES
FROM TEXT
Do I really need to take notes from my
text book?
How do I know what to take notes on?
How do I avoid “re-writing” the book?
Taking notes from a text seems to take
forever! How can I make this process
quicker?
DEVELOP YOUR PERSONAL SYSTEM
Do you want to annotate your book or
take separate notes?
Are you going to underline/ highlight?
Are your books digital or traditional?
Do you want to use an app or assistive
technology?
WHAT SHOULD I TAKE NOTES ON?
Identify the main idea of a paragraph
If you want to underline/ highlight- only
mark this
Or- write this in the margin
Or- write this in your notes
Always put information in your own
words
Keep it short and to the point
WHAT ELSE SHOULD I DO?
Use the books structure
Use headings and sub-headings to format
your notes, if you are taking separate notes
But be judicious!
Five minute summary strategy
Use eff ective reading strategies
PQRST