The Secret to Taking Great Notes

Are you one of those people who feel as though you do not need to take notes because you remember everything that you read? Do you feel as though taking notes takes up way too much time and you hardly have the time to read the assigned material? I have been in both of those mindsets because I used to HATE taking notes. After being in college for a few years, however, I have learned that taking notes is probably the greatest way to make sure that you remember things from class. So, lets get started!

Taking notes is a good idea because:

• Notes make a text more understandable
• If you can summarize the text into notes that are understandable to you then it shows that you are comprehending the text.
• Notes remind you of the main concepts of the material
• By writing down the main idea of the text that you are reading, you are ensuring that you will not forget what was discussed. This will ultimately make it easier for you to write a paper or do an assignment because, instead of re-reading the text to find the main points, you will have only a few pages of notes to look through.
• Notes help you keep all of the concepts organized 
• By writing out all of the concepts on a separate sheet of paper, you will be able to organize them in a way that makes sense to you and for the assignment that you may be trying to complete. This will make it so that you do not have to take extra time to dig through the text that you are using.
• Imagine the amount of time you will be saving if you have multiple sources to go through in order to write an essay. If you go through each source and take notes then you won't have to read them over again if you don't remember which source had which information. 

My Secrets to taking good notes:

• Find a style that works for you
• Some people like to abbreviate all of their words in order to make the process go faster, but I prefer to write my words out.
• Every time you come across something of importance, take the time to write it down.
• Write down things that you don't understand if you do not have time to look them up right away. This will ensure that you remember to look it up or ask about it later.
• Draw pictures!
• I have found that when I draw pictures next to concepts (concept maps or little doodles) I am more likely to remember them.
• Try to connect the facts together with arrows
• This can help with organizing the ideas in your mind so that it will make more sense. It will also give you a head start if you are writing an essay.

Some notes that I have taken in my Introduction to Langauge course.

(Photo/Jordan Heiliger)

Hopefully these tips will help you out, I know they have worked for the students that I tutor! Keep in mind that you might find note taking tedious at times if you are not used to it but in the long run, you will thank yourself with the amount of time you save.