NOTES

NOTES

As students of any level of leaning – whether the primary or tertiary – notes are very important. This could be the notes you jot while listening to a talk, guest lecture or the one you take during normal class hours where the instructors actually dictate. On the other hand, it could be the notes you make while doing your own reading. Whichever way we look at it, notes are important duties expected of students. If you must know, “adequate notes are a necessary adjunct to efficient study and learning ... (Cook Counseling Center, Virginia Tech, 2009).

Note-Taking

Notes are very useful to every aspect of our lives. Ask our ancestors, particularly those that are not literate, they will tell you they lost most things bequeathed to them because they did not write them down anywhere. Successful businessmen\women are where they are because they keep notes of what to do and what they have done. As students, it is important you take notes (notes are reminders or something to record or preserve in writing) whether you like it or not. You cannot possibly remember everything you know every time you need them. It is through taking notes that this can be made possible. Note taking does the greatest favour for you as a person as it aids your memory. “If you want to keep in your consciousness something that you might need later and it has to be 100% correct, you have to make notes of everything and you have to organize your notes correctly” (Noll, 2011).

Taking notes amongst other thing helps you (students):

• remember things – be it what happened in class or while you were doing your own reading. When something is written, chances are you are likely to recall all that transpired during the time (that is that thing that happened that you recorded some part in writing).
• notes are often a source of valuable clues for what information the instructor thinks most important (i.e., what will show up on the next test). If you are in class and follow what the instructor talks about in class keenly, you’ll be able to have an idea of what the test is likely to be (the format of the test).
• notes helps you to concentrate in class as well as keep you active. Since taking notes involves the taker with the giver, it helps you to be focused and to pay full attention to what is going on in class. When you do this, you are the better for it as this makes you a part of the transaction. Since you concentrated to get the notes, it becomes easier when you go over what you took down much later and this ultimately helps you improve yourself.

Note taking skills help one to pay better attention to an oral presentation or written document because they keep the individual active. In school, good note taking skills aid in understanding of material, effective preparation for exams, and completion of assignments. They also improve reading comprehension (http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/notetaking.html).

• create a resource for test preparation. When you eventually take the test of the subject which you cannot but take; your notes will serve as your resource for the preparation (Center for Teaching and Learning, Stanford University).
• notes serve as a permanent record that will help you learn and remember later. When you write something down, it becomes a record that can be referred to later in life. In the same way, when you take your notes, it becomes an archive material that can be referred to later, particularly in preparation for the examination and later in life. Note taking involves recording ideas and facts that you learn in class to help you remember and use them later (http://www.canyons.edu/committees/leap/team1/15tips/tip2.asp).
• notes are good for revision. When you take down notes, it is easier when you want to go over the material – what you have taken down – that is revising your work as this aids your understanding of the material you have taken down in your notes. Note also helps in:
• recognising the main ideas
• identifying what information is relevant to your task
• having a system of note taking that works for you
• reducing the information to note and diagram format
• where possible, putting the information in your own words
• recording the source of the information (http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/pdf/notetake.pdf)
• reinforces what is communicated verbally.
• Making yourself take notes forces you to listen carefully and test your understanding of the material.
• When you are reviewing, notes provide a gauge to what is important in the text.
• Personal notes are usually easier to remember than the text.

· The writing down of important points helps you to remember then even before you have studied the material formally.

On the other hand, taking notes:

• could distract from listening as you pay attention to what you want to write rather than what the speaking is saying. This is the problem most students have in the higher institution as they pay too much attention to getting on paper what the instructor is saying and not closely following the issues being raised in the lecture.
• could put additional stress on those who do not write naturally. It is not everyone that enjoys writing. For those of us that writing is not what we enjoy doing, taking notes is seen as an additional stress to our already stressed life and lifestyle. As a person I do not enjoy attending meeting as most meeting I attend they tend to make me the secretary and for all other members care I enjoy taking minutes of the proceedings but to me what they thought I enjoy I abhor with every fibre of my bone as writing notes is a very stressful venture for me.

However, for you to take good notes in class, it is important you know that note taking is a process and the process requires tact and skills. Note taking does not just involve taking down what is said in class. It is a process that starts before the actual class starts, during the class and well after the class. You are also expected to be in class physically and psychologically. That is, use your pen, use your ears, use your body and use your mind (Center for Teaching and Learning, Stanford University). As such, you need to understand that note taking is not just writing but it is an all embracing process. The Wikipedia comments that “the main purpose of taking notes may be to implant the material in the mind; the written notes themselves being of secondary importance”. We shall group our talk on note taking into three subgroups: before, during and after the class.

• Before the class: you are expected to make some preparation for the class ahead of time. Being prepared for the class makes learning and note taking easier. The difference between the high school learning and higher institution’s learning is that in the higher institution, learning is done outside the classroom since students prepare for the class and continue leaning even after the class has ended. The preparation includes that you:

o Go through the course outline to see what the next lecture will be and to gauge how far you have gone in the course. Going through the outline before the class gives you time to do some reading and thinking before the class commences and it gives you the opportunity to prepare some questions of your own in readiness for the class. This is previewing and predicting the course. Through previewing and predicting, you have a better understanding of the course as it gives you the chance to reflect on/about what you might learn about the topic. What questions does it bring up for you? Write down what you would like to know (http://www.sfsu.edu/~ctfd/tutorials). At the same time, when you preview and predict a course you have a broader view of the style of lecture the lecturer uses – whether it is: “Topic-List, Question-Answer, Compare-Contrast, Series of Events, Cause-Effect or Problem-Solution” (http://www.how-to-study.com/study-skills/en/notetaking/90/identifying-lecture-styles/). Above all, preview familiarizes you with the course and the materials involved. It at the say time allows you know what you and how to go about it. Previewing gives you the advantage of not wasting time by writing down stuff that is already there in your study material. Rather, you know what to write, where to pick links and to clear your concepts. By the time the lecture is over, you are in a much clearer state of mind. This way, taking down notes becomes more meaningful and worth the time you spent doing it (Anand, 2008).

o Complete outside reading or reference assignments before the class commences. To have a firm stand in the course, the reference materials are best done well ahead of the class. When you do this, the lecture becomes a reintegration of what you already know or will throw light on those cloudy areas you have encountered while you were reading.

o Review notes from the previous lecture. You have a clearer picture if you look over what you have done earlier in the earlier class as it will help you see the larger picture the course in question is trying to paint. This will also help you in preparing questions to ask or points of clarification to ask in class.

o Meet with other students to discuss the course in general (ideas, particular points and the progress made). This will give you surer footing of things in the course. You will see things clearer since your fellow students will help you clarify things or you help them in the process of doing this you are improving your chances of intellectual success.

o It is your responsibility to fight distraction as much as possible. In doing this, you should sit in front of the class as the chances of distractions are reduced when you sit in front than when you are at the back.

o Be open-minded about points you disagree on. If there is any point in the course of your reading before the class that you do not agree with, keep an open mind about it rather than being right and in the process stray away from the essence of the point.

o Write legibly as it is of no use if you cannot read what you took down. The whole trouble of taking the notes would be defeated if at the end of the day the notes you took does not make sense to you as you cannot read what you have taken down. This could be as a result of using abbreviations or symbols you cannot remember their meanings or as a result of your own handwriting not been legible.

o Most importantly, you should be well rested. When you come to class after a good sleep. You are focused as you both in taking notes and concentrating with happenings in class.

• During the class: as there are responsibility you are expected to comply with in preparing for the course before the class commences so are there responsibilities during the actual class. It is important that you:

o Make sure your pen and paper are ready: you should not leave your room without spare pens and pencils as well as papers. Just in case your pen stops writing and your pencil broke, you can quickly hook up with what is happening in the class with the spare you have with you. However if you did not come prepared for this, you are likely to be thrown off balance.

o Sit in front of the class or somewhere not too far from the front row where you can have a command view of everything happening in the class. When you do this, it gives you an edge over those that are far from the front as they are not likely to get a command view of happenings in the class. With a command view, it will

be easier for you to ignore the people outside of the classroom, the people that are causing trouble in the back of the classroom, the clock that is slowly counting down the minutes until you can get out of your dreaded class, and all of other things that may distract you (http://www.notetakinghelp.com/how-to-take-notes-on-a-boring-subject.html).

o Pay close attention by listening intensely

o Write down the title of the lecture, the name of the course and the date. This is particularly useful if you use loose sheets and not a notebook in writing your note. However, you should “take and keep notes in a large notebook. The only merit to a small notebook is ease of carrying and that is not your main objective (Cook Counseling Center). A large notebook allows you to adequately indent and use an outline form”. There have been arguments back and forth about the use of loose sheets in writing your notes. However, this aspect of the book does not concern itself with which method to use so we would not dwell on that here. For whichever technique you use, dating your notes makes it easier for you to go over and to follow the class as it progresses. If there is anything you missed out, it will be easier to know which of the classes this happened and making amendments becomes really easy.

o Leave blank spaces for points you did not get clearly or hear. It would not speak well to keep bringing the class back if you did not hear properly what is said. You can always fill that up when the class is over through your colleagues or ask the lecturer personally. You should also leave space in the notes so that you can fill up the space later “as you review your notes within 12 to 24 hours of taking them, you will need this space to make additions or clarifications”. To save you the embarrassment of not catching up with the speed of the lecture, learn to invent or use standard abbreviation.

o Invent or use standard abbreviation. Most times students do not get the main idea(s) of a lecture because they dwell to long on writing. For you not to fall prey to this, if is advisable that you use standard abbreviations and symbols or formulate one for yourself.

http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/pdf/notetake.pdf

You should invent your own personal abbreviations and stick to them so as not to confuse yourself. In as much as using abbreviations and symbols help you in covering lots of ground within a short time, you should write:

• formulas
• definitions
• specific facts

as exactly as they are presented as they cannot be presented in other way than they appear.

o Make sure you can see the speaker. Looking at them enables you to be on the lookout for their body language so as to know when the point they are talking about is important. At the same time, it is very important to pay attention to the cue words they use. “Try to recognize main ideas by signal words that indicate something important is to follow. Examples: "First, Second, Next, Then, Thus, Another important...," etc.” (http://www.csbsju.edu/academic-advising/study-skills-guide/lecture-note-taking.htm).

o Do not perform manual activities which will detract you from taking notes. Do not doodle (a pattern or picture that you draw when you are bored or thinking about something else) or play with your pen. These activities break eye contact and concentration.

o Ask questions. Those things you read about before the class will come in handy as there will be concepts that are cloudy or conflict with what you already know. It is through asking question on this that they become cleared.

Don't be in a rush. Be attentive, listen and take notes right up to the point at which the instructor dismisses you. If you are gathering together your personal belongings when you should be listening, you're bound to miss an important point--perhaps an announcement about the next exam (http://www.csbsju.edu/academic-advising/study-skills-guide/lecture-note-taking.htm)!

o Be Selective and Systematic in your note taking. Whether you are taking notes in class or from the texts you are reading the bottom line is that you should be very selective in writing as it is not possible to use everything you read or hear. This is why it is very important to listen intensely as if you listen effectively, “you will have a better understanding of the content, which will help you write clear, helpful notes that will make sense to you later on”.

On the other hand if you are taking notes during your reading; think about your purpose for reading:

o Are you reading for a general understanding of a topic or concept?

o Are you reading for some specific information that may relate to the topic of an assignment (http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/pdf/notetake.pdf)?

Being selective also mean your note will be a summary of the important points of what you hear or read. You should know that “notes are not just collections of information. The information must be recorded correctly and in an organized manner in order to be of use at a later time” (http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/notetaking.html).

Just as it important to be selective of what you take down as note in the lecture so is it important to be selective of what you take down when you read. Since you are trying to get something down on paper that would remind you of what have read, you should rather than write down everything paraphrase what you read.

The notes need to be such that when you look at them months later ... they remind you what argument was being made, ... need not be in the form of full sentences, nor need they always be very detailed (Dixon, 2004:63).

When you take notes during your reading, it is very important that you take down the bibliographic details as it would amount to plagiarism (intellectual fraud) if you use materials that are not yours without acknowledging them in writing your essays (assignments). So apart from been selective, you should take down vital details about the book for it to be useful in future. This is what clearly differentiates taking notes in class from taking notes from books.

• After the class: having prepared for and attended the class, it is not the end as you are expected to go over your notes so as to give flesh to the bones you took down. In the course of writing, most note-takers only write the main points or important details. This is what secretaries to meetings do. It is after you are done with the class that you begin to expand those things you took down. Most importantly, do this within the next 24-hour as the materials are still fresh in your head. “Students forget 50% of what they learn if they don't review within 24 hours”. This is the process of reviewing what you have written down. If there are concepts that are not too clear then it is your responsibility to:

o ask your colleagues or go ask the lecturer personally for clarification. Most lecturers like the idea of students coming to them after the class for clarification and they encourage their students to this as it stimulates intellectual development in the students and develop student-lecturer relationship.

o question you should formulate questions based on what you took in the note. “Writing questions helps to clarify meanings, reveal relationships, establish continuity, and strengthen memory. Also, the writing of questions sets up a perfect stage for exam-studying later”.

o review spend at least ten minutes every week reviewing all your previous notes. If you do, you’ll retain a great deal for current use, as well as, for the exam.

o reflect on the material by asking yourself questions, for example: “What’s the significance of these facts? What principle are they based on? How can I apply them? How do they fit in with what I already know? What’s beyond them (http://lsc.sas.cornell.edu/Sidebars/Study_Skills_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf)?

o clarify concept that you encountered in class with what you read in text. The clarification here becomes necessary so as not to mix things up.

Note taking techniques

There many methods of note taking used over the years and have proved successful to students. They include:

• Outline method:

§ Start main points at the margin.

o Indent secondary and supporting details.

§ Further indent major subgroups.

§ Definitions, for example, should always start at the margin.

§ When a list of terms is presented, the heading should also start at the margin.

o Each item in the series should be set in slightly from the margin.

o Examples, too, should be indented under the point they illustrate.

§ When the lecturer moves from one idea to another, show this shift with white space by skipping a line or two.

• Mapping Method: Mapping is a visual system of condensing material to show relationships and importance. A map is a diagram of the major points, with their significant sub-points, that support a topic. The purpose of mapping as an organizing strategy is to improve memory by grouping material in a highly visual way.

The map provides a quick reference for over-viewing a lecture or a textbook chapter.

How to Map

The following steps describe the procedure to use in mapping:

• Draw a circle or a box in the middle of a page, and in it write the subject or topic of the material or lecture.
• Determine the main ideas that support the subject and write them on the lines radiating from the central circle or box.
• Determine the significant details and write them on lines attached to each main idea. The number of details you include will depend on the material and your purpose.

Maps are not restricted to any one pattern, but can be formed in a variety of creative shapes as the following diagrams illustrate:

The following diagram illustrates how the lecture on the circulatory system could be mapped. Notice how the visual display emphasizes the groups of ideas supporting the topic.

http://web.alextech.edu/en/CollegeServices/SupportServices/StudySkills/LectureNoteTaking/MethodsOfNoteTaking.aspx

• The Connell System also called the 2-6 Method: The 2-6 refers to the way you divide the space on your notepaper. Make two columns, using the red line on the left of the page as your border (http://www.academictips.org/acad/literature/notetaking.html). In this technique, the writing material whether your notebook or loose sheet is divided into: the margin, main area and summary area.

In order to keep up with what is happening in class or to move with the current as you read,

o Use the left-hand margin to annotate (add explanatory notes or comment) your notes indicating key terms, concepts, dates, and any other important information that will help you to review for exams or write papers.

o Use the bottom margin to write a summary of each page of notes—or, if it makes more sense, summarize at the end of one set of lecture notes.

http://lsc.sas.cornell.edu/Sidebars/Study_Skills_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf

Notes References

Cook Counseling Center, Virginia Tech (2009). "Notes". Retrieved ‎June ‎03, ‎2011 from: http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/notetake.html.

Noll, C. (n.d.). “The importance of note taking”. Retrieved ‎June ‎03, ‎2011 from: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-of-Note-Taking&id=2912944.

Learning Strategies database (n.d.). “Note taking”. Retrieved ‎June ‎03, ‎2011 from: http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/notetaking.html.

College of the Canyons (2011). “College success tip #2: Note taking”. Retrieved ‎June ‎08, ‎2011 from: http://www.canyons.edu/committees/leap/team1/15tips/tip2.asp.

University of New South Wales (2011). “Note-taking skills”. Retrieved ‎June ‎10, ‎2011 from: http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/pdf/notetake.pdf.

NoteTakingHelp.com (2011). “How to take notes on a boring subject”. ”. Retrieved ‎June ‎03, ‎2011 from: http://www.notetakinghelp.com/how-to-take-notes-on-a-boring-subject.html.

The learning centre (n.d.). “Note-taking skills”. ‎”. Retrieved June ‎03, ‎2011 from: http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/pdf/notetake.pdf.

College of Saint Benedict Saint John's University (2011). “Lecture note taking”. Retrieved June ‎03, ‎2011 from: http://www.csbsju.edu/academic-advising/study-skills-guide/lecture-note-taking.htm.

The Cornell note-taking system (n.d.). Retrieved June ‎03, ‎2011 from: http://lsc.sas.cornell.edu/Sidebars/Study_Skills_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf.