NOTE TAKING &

SUMMARISING
What actually is note taking?
Note taking is… Note taking is generally not…
A shortened version of the The final stage in the learning
information you need to learn or process
remember
A skill to learn A word for word copy of the
information provided to you
A revision technique
A way to record information
When should you be taking notes?

■ When listening to a teacher present ideas and content in class

■ When reading textbooks or handouts (including novels for English)
■ When researching
■ When watching videos
■ When listening to presentations

■ Basically, any time you are expected to learn and remember

something!!!!
Effective notes should be:
■ In a format that suits you – try different methods
■ Be brief and clear – use underling, colour, your own shorthand
■ Should help make sense of the material, break it down
■ Should link to previous knowledge and information on the subject – going over them
after a class, and thinking about the links is important
■ Should be useful – so in a format that will ‘bring it all back’ when you get them out ready
for the next task, or revision
■ Be able to be read, but only for you – no-one else needs to read them
■ Should contain any useful names, dates, statistics that you need to use again
■ Be filed somewhere appropriate – just don’t leave them sitting in the bottom of your
locker!!!!
Strategies for effective note-taking
Good Note-Making: General Useful Strategies
Think before you write Note key words and main ideas
Keep notes brief Write phrases – not sentences
Keep notes organised Use abbreviations
Use your own words Use headings
Leave a wide margin and spaces to add note later Number points
Make the page memorable – with colour, illustrations
etc.

Link up points – using arrows, dotted lines, colour,

number, boxes

Note sources of information exactly

Write quotations in colour
Strategies for effective note-taking
Unhelpful Strategies  Tidying Messy Notes
Copying chunks from books or everything on a Draw a ‘square’ around sections of notes in different
PowerPoint colours to make them stand out

Writing more notes than you can use Use a ruler to divide the page up between sections

Writing out notes several times to make them neater Draw a ring around floating bits of information

Link stray information by colour-coding it

Methods of Note Taking - Visual
■ Pictures, drawings, graphs, diagrams
■ Graphic organisers: fishbone, mind maps etc.
Methods of Note Taking: Written
■ Some of the main methods of note taking include:
– Cornell method
– Outlining method
– The Charting method
– Mapping method
– Sentence method

■ BUT REMEMBER, you don’t need to follow any of these methods

exactly, you can adapt them to a style that works best for you.
Note-Taking - Practice

■ Pick one of the methods outlined in the handout ‘5 methods of note-taking’

■ Using that method take notes from the article ‘The impact of social media on youth’
Summarising

■ Summarising is a brief statement that presents the main points of a body of material in a
concise, condensed form.
■ Why are summary’s important?
– Clarify learning
– Provide an opportunity to communicate what is important
– Serve as a way to check understanding
– Provide practice in decision making and sequencing
Summarising Practice

■ Watch the video ‘Would winning the lottery make you happier?’ -
https://youtu.be/juO4zxsjSjw
■ In 2-3 sentences summarise the main ideas of the video.