Note Taking

Strategies And Tips

By Nang Swe Swe Li (group 4)
Cherry Myay Academy , Batch 5
What is note taking?
 Note taking is a practice of writing down pieces of
information in a systematic way. It includes taking notes
in a lecture or discussion.
 Taking effective notes and spending time reviewing
these notes after each class significantly improves
retention and comprehension of textbook and
lecture material.
 Note Taking Tips
1. Read your assignment before you come to class. Note taking
become easier when you already have some understanding or
awareness of materials.
2. Get organized and begin each lecture on a new page. It is
important to put date on each new lecture, and page number.
3. Choose a note taking strategy that would works for you. There
are five strategies to choose from that can help with organizing
your notes for easy review. Experiment and select a method that
the best reflect how you listen, think , and process of
information.
4. Write down and ask your professor any question that came
from your reading and lecture. This will help to clear up any
potential gaps in your understanding and make you focus on
those parts of materials you need help strengthening.
5. After each lecture, go through your notes. Reviewing your
notes helps you remember the materials, underscores the
instructor’s lecture, and lets add things that you want to make
sure you don’t forget.
Five notes taking strategies
1. The Cornell notes taking strategy
2. The mapping strategy
3. The charting strategy
4. The sentence strategy
5. The outline strategy
Cornell note taking strategy
• Description :
 A systemic format of condensing and organizing notes
without need for laborious recopying, by diving paper
into specific sections
• Method :
 Firstly, divide paper into three sections.
 Keep notes during class in “ main space”/ each time
instructor move to a new point, skip a few line.
 After the class, complete phrases, sentences as much as
possible/write “cues” in left hand column
 To review – cover main section with card; say “cue” out
loud and then say as much you can : move card and see
if it matches what you wrote
If you can say it, you know it!!
The Cornell notes strategy
The cornel strategy sample
The mapping strategy

Description: This strategy is useful for visual learners.

It is similar to flowchart, with the purpose of helping
you identify relationship between concepts, phrases
and key terms.
Method : Begin by placing the main idea of what
we ‘ve learned , or read or are learning in the center
of a page. As we continue to read, add supporting
terms, phrases or concepts around it. Use lines or
arrows to link the supporting concepts to main idea.
The mapping strategy format
The mapping strategy sample

Lymphatic Respiratory
System System Muscular
System
Skeleta
l
System Digestive
Human Body System
Cardiovascul
ar
Nervous
System
System
Endocrine
System Urinary
Reproductive System
System
The charting strategy
Description: a use of columns with appropriate heading labels in
a table format
Method : Set up our paper in columns and label appropriate
heading for each topic. As we read the materials, use the
columns to record in important phrases , ideas, terms and
arrange that information according to the main concepts.
The charting notes strategy
The charting strategy- example
 The sentences notes strategy
The sentence note taking method consists of writing a list of
sentences as you read through the material. Each sentence should
be the main point or important concept. Number each sentences
as we take notes so we have a way to distinguish the different
concepts. When we are finished reading, review our notes and
organize the sentences into themes or categories. This will make
it easier to review when we want to look at our notes again.
Sentence method - Example
1. Note taking can improve our focus and concentration.
2. Note taking can improve reading comprehension and lecture
comprehension.
3. Note taking promote retention of information.
4. Note taking help us identifying key points.
5. Notes can contain information that is not found elsewhere.
6. Notes taking can be helpful step in prewriting.
7. Notes taking can be helpful study tools.
This method is similar Outline notes taking
to sentence strategy ,
but it more organized strategy
layout. Instead of
randomly writing one
sentence after
another, sentences are
group according to
main points. The first
sentence for each
group should consists
of main concept, any
related term, phrases
or ideas, are written
underneath that
sentence.
The outline notes taking strategy -
example
 Additional notes taking tips

 We don’t need to write every words of the lecture, instead of focus

on the main point.
 We should ask to professor, if we have any question.
 Watch out for material from professor places on the blackboard. If
our professor feels strongly enough to write something down, it
must be important.
 Keep the back of notes pages blank. This is a good places
additional information on a topic covered in class, to place
questions we may or write down questions others students asked.
 if an idea or topic is stressed as important by professor , note it by
a sign(eg. star or something)
 Do not stop taking notes until the class is over. Packing up early
might cause us to miss some important information.
 We should be reviewing our notes after each class. After class is the
best time because most of the material is still fresh on our mind.
Thank you for your
listening
Have a nice day
Be positive
We shall over come this difficulties