11.1 Taking Notes
Work Smarter, Not Harder
As a college student, you have a lot to read both online and in print. For example:
policies, course outlines, job offers, exam schedules, test questions, multiple choice answers, textbook chapters, announcement boards, assignment instructions, PowerPoint slides, Excel spreadsheets, graphs, charts, emails, text messages, course sites, etc.
Understanding how you will use the information then helps you determine how and when to make notes that will help you be successful in understanding what you read.
Know Your Purpose
Whenever you enter a classroom, start to read a chapter, review an assignment, send an email, take notes, or start a conversation, know your purpose.
Investing two minutes thinking about your purpose (WHY you are doing this thing) will help you stay focused and make good use of your time.
- WHY you are reading/listening/talking/writing and determine
- WHAT you will do with this information.
Sometimes the answer is simple:
- I NEED to read detailed instructions of my assignment to identify due date, format for submission, requirements of the task, and where to submit to get the best grade possible.
- I NEED to take notes on the 7 step process to create a spreadsheet the professor is outlining so that I can create one for my assignment.
- I NEED to read this paragraph to identify if my in-text citations are formatted correctly.
Knowing what you need to do with the information you read will help you stay focused and help you organize the information in a way that is easy to retrieve. Rather than passively attempting to absorb new information, it is important to make conscious decisions about the methods of learning you will use (based on what you intend to do with the information), how you will select and use learning materials that are appropriate for your needs, and how persistent you will be in the learning activity.
This chapter will highlight tips to help you read with purpose and create effective notes that are effective study tools.
Reflective Practice
These questions will help you determine how this chapter concepts relate to you right now. As we are introduced to new concepts and practices, it can be informative to reflect on how your understanding changes over time. We’ll revisit these questions at the end of the chapter to see whether your feelings have changed. On a scale of 1 (I need significant improvement) to 4 (I’m doing great), reflect on how you’re doing right now on these statements:
- I am reading on a college level.
- I take good notes that help me study for exams.
- I understand how to manage all the reading I need to do for college.
- I recognize the need for different notetaking strategies for different college subjects.
“9.0 Introduction” and “9.1 Self-Assessment” from Fanshawe SOAR by Kristen Cavanagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
