How to Take Organized and Awesome Looking Notes
Note-taking is an extremely beneficial studying method for university students, as it helps to retain information better. Additional studying outside of class time may be required when your professor covers a lot of material in a short amount of time.
But when you have copious amounts of information you need to study for, how does one take notes that are both organized and visually appealing? If you want to make your notes look amazing, keep on reading!
1. Choose Between Typed or Handwritten Notes
Typing your notes is faster, as a whole chapter may be completed in 1-2 hours, but may result in lower retention. Typing word for word will decrease the brain’s ability to fully process the information.
As compared to the slower method of handwriting your notes, you are able to retain the material in greater depth. Writing the words out will help reinforce the concepts in your memory.
Looking to take notes on your tablet? Here are some of the best note-taking apps
2. Create the Study Environment
If you will be studying in your room, be sure to clear off any unnecessary items on your desk to fully utilize all the space and to create a proper study environment.
Open your textbook to the corresponding chapter, as well as your professor’s lecture PowerPoint. If you wrote down any additional notes during the lecture, open that up for reference as well.
3. Engage with the Material
For each individual concept, read both the textbook and the professor’s lecture notes to help reinforce the material. Write or type out the notes by including the vocabulary terms and definitions, and summarize important information in your own words.
This will help shift from passively studying the notes to actively engaging with the notes by wording the information to the individual’s understanding.
4. Note Taking
Do not write down all the information. Briefly touch upon the information and concepts you already know. Primarily focus on and elaborate on the information you are not familiar with.
Try to avoid making your notes too text-heavy. Don’t forget to include important graphs, charts, or diagrams in your notes. Summarize important information into tables for comparison or visualization purposes.
Want to start taking effective notes? Check out our video on taking notes with Google Docs:
5. Formatting
Try to condense your notes as much as possible. At a minimum, aim to condense the material to a quarter amount of what was given. For example, if a chapter was 40 pages in length, try to have 10 pages of notes (or less), either written or typed out.
For typed out notes, center and bold chapter headings plus bold and or underline vocabulary terms. For handwritten notes, center and underline chapter headings, use red ink for special emphasis for vocabulary terms, and black or blue ink for regular information.
6. Reinforcement
Make your studying session easier by understanding each section before moving on to the next. Be sure to fully comprehend the information you are writing or typing out.
Once you are finished with your notes read the material one last time. The additional reading of your notes will help reinforce the concepts you already studied to a greater extent.
7. Utilize Writing Shortcuts
It will make your life a whole lot easier if you develop some shortcuts in your writing. This allows you to spend more time listening and thinking than writing.
Some that I use are “b/c” (because), “w/” (with), “w/o” (without), “v” (very), “ex.” (example) and symbols like “→” “+” “=” “<” “>” “#”. And hey, you probably already do this while texting.
8. Listen For Key Words/Phrases
Anybody can just read lecture slides. One of the main reasons you go to class is so that you can discern what your prof thinks is important.
Some key phrases include: “this is the important part” “it doesn’t say this on the slides but…” “In my opinion…” “make sure you understand this…”
These types of phrases indicate concepts that are more likely to be tested, which gives you a huge advantage on exam day. Very savvy play!
Remember the point is to study smarter not harder! By following all the above tips and tricks, you will produce organized notes, which will improve your studying immensely. Good luck!
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