methods of taking notes

Methods of Taking Notes While in college, one can agree in order to be successful he or she must be able to take effective notes. Learning how to take notes can be confusing. When a professor is lecturing, it is natural to want to copy down everything that the professor says. Taking lecture notes is all about short-handing notes or in other words, summarize what is being taught. There are three effective ways to take notes; the Cornell, Outlining, and Mapping method. Each method presents a strong view on how to take notes. The Cornell method of taking notes is one of the strongest ways to increase the usefulness of taking notes. When using this method, the student would fold the paper in half, creating two columns. The left side is known as the “cue column”, and on the right is the “recall column” or the note taking column. When using Cornell, the right side should be short and to the point. Avoid long sentences and use symbols and abbreviations instead. The right side should also be executed by following the five underlying phases: recording, questions, reciting, reflecting, and reviewing. Recording takes place during the lecture. Questions set the platform to ask anything that was not clarified during class. The questions that were jotted down allow the student to go back and search more in depth to get a better understanding. Questioning also helps to strengthen memory. Recite the questions and answers in your own words by saying the answers aloud. Reflecting is done by asking questions that fit into what the student already knows. Although this stage may seem parallel to the questioning phase, reflecting should go more in depth with the information. Reviewing is the important step and is also an ongoing process. Always go back and review previous notes and see how you can tie them into a tool to help study for exams and finals. Lastly, summarize the notes at the bottom of the page. When a student follows this format, he or she is more likely to be