How To: Be an Effective Note Taker

Note-taking is something that you will heavily utilize in your college career and beyond. However, it is something that is rarely taught. Here are some quick tips for you on learning effective note-taking.

• Listen for an organizing pattern. Observe whether you can determine the speaker’s system for addressing subjects (e.g., chronologically or topically).
• Note whether a handout accompanies lecture materials. If so, chances are that the information is considered to be important—especially if the speaker elaborates on those points during the course of the lecture.
• Recognize verbal cues. At the beginning of the lecture, did the speaker mention that he or she would address a certain number of key points? That’s one cue revealing how many main ideas will be addressed and what to listen for. Additionally, listen for signal words and phrases such as “For example…,” “On the other hand…,” or “In summary…,” as these are used to highlight main points.
• When in doubt, write it down. To prevent yourself from inadvertently missing a main point, let the motto “better safe than sorry” be your watchwords.
• Consider your learning style preferences. If you are visual, drawing diagrams may help; other learners may prefer outlines. Determine which method suits you best.
• Create a shorthand system that works. Very few people could literally capture every word of a live lecture. Abbreviations and symbols (such as “pp” for “pages” or “@” for “at”) can help you save time (and line space!) as you write.

 You can gather more note-taking tips from UNI's Academic Learning Center website here. Just scroll down to the "Handouts" section and select "Note-Taking Strategies."

This post was adapted from Cengage Learning and the original can be found here.