Image
File
Tom Mellish
OP Contributor
© page 10
You have probably had many an occasion to
sit in on a lecture and record an instructor's
notes. Via the overhead projector, you are pre-
sented with the bare bones, abbreviated, and
in point form or a solid, colossal mass of text.
In frenzy, you copy down everything that the
instructor writes. Lost in the illumination, lag-
ging behind, you find yourself desperately try-
ing to catch up.
After taking notes, you usually avoid them
for a month or so. When midterms or finals
roll around, the mess comes out, and you stare
at it blankly. Blowing off the dust and cob-
webs, you review your notes. You discover that
you have retained nothing. Reading your
notes is like encountering some shorthand
account of a car crash. You have absolutely no
connection to your scrawl, no idea what to do
with the notes other than using them as offer-
ings to the ancient gods of education. Sound
familiar?
There are a number of note-taking styles out
there, but none of them involve passive osmo-
sis through the brain sieve. To take useful
notes, you have to listen carefully for where
the main points are extrapolated, and must
review the lecture after class. Toss out the old
way if it doesn’t work—hook up with a new
style.
Prepare for each lecture by pre-reading and
re-reading the assigned material , text, chap-
ters, and notes to obtain a basic background.
Think ahead; anticipate what is going to be
said. Avoid distractions like noisy students,
open windows, etc. Sit where you can hear
and see clearly, towards the front of the class-
room, and do not read or talk. This will help
to create a good impression, eliminate distrac-
tions, etc. If you are bored during class, review
previous class notes. All these things will help
you keep up with the material, and be a posi-
tive, active learner.
Attend all lectures, even if attendance is not
mandatory. Using someone else’s notes can
help, but it is no substitute for attending the
lecture. When you hear the information,
process it, and write it in your notes, you are
already beginning to learn the information.
Reinforcement of the information through
review of your notes completes the learning
process.
Think about ways to relate ideas from previ-
ous lectures to the textbook and to previous
experiences. Listen for “what” is being said,
not how it’s being said. Do not try to write
everything down. Be ready to participate.
Look for vocal, postural, and visual cues indi-
cating what the professor considers important.
Pay particular attention after the first 20 min-
ites, when attention wanes, and to the final
part of the lecture when a summary or a con-
clusion might be given.
During the lecture, put a heading and a date
on your notes for each day. This will assist you
with cross-referencing concepts, and just to
keep it in order. Try not to take notes in para-
graph form. It is difficult to find important
parts when you are studying for a test. Use
general ideas, not illustrative ideas. Skip lines
to show ends of ideas or thoughts. Using
abbreviations will increase your note-taking
speed. Write legibly. Take notes in lists or
“one-liners” as much as possible. Use symbols
and images to help you to remember informa-
tion more effectively than words. Mark your
notes with checks, stars, question marks, cir-
cling dates and names, to bring out the impor-
tant facts. Use colour to separate different
ideas and show the organization of the subject.
There are a number of styles of note-taking.
Here are three: the Roman, the Two Column,
and the Cluster.
The linear, concrete Roman style is a hierar-
chical system that organizes information
through Roman numerals, letters, and num-
bers. Roman numerals stand for a main topic.
Letters represent a sub-topic. Numerals stand
for details. So the pattern would follow as: I,
A, 1. Each symbol gets its own line and they
follow one another in descending order, allow-
ing one to organize the lecture from the gen-
eral to the more specific. This is often the one
type of note-taking that may be taught in
schools or in books.
The Two-Column style is simple. Get a
steno pad or two-column notepaper, or divide
standard paper into two columns. The left col-
umn will hold the actual notes during class.
The right column is for after class review of
sub-themes, specific details, and any other
thoughts that come to mind, broad concepts,
events, or themes—often single words and
main points—key words or phrases can be
written in the recall column. And most impor-
tantly, questions based on the lecture’s infor-
mation.
The Cluster style is excellent for those spa-
tially, or visually inclined. In the middle of
your page, start by writing the title or main
theme of the lecture and draw a circle around
it. Let your mind go with the class. A com-
plete Cluster may have main topic lines radi-
ating in all directions from the centre. Sub-
topics and facts will branch off these, like
branches and twigs from the trunk of a tree.
Use single words or simple phrases for infor-
mation. You don’t need to worry about the
structure produced—this will evolve of its
own accord.
After the lecture, go over lecture notes with-
in 24 hours of writing them down. Spend 10
minutes for every lecture. You lose 50-80% of
the material if you don’t review within the day.
In your review, seek answers to questions
that arise. Summarize each main idea
complete sentences. Read through your note
and make them more legible if necessary.
Write key words, phrases or questions that
serve as cues for notes taken in class—cue
phrases and questions should be in your own
words. Jot down ideas or key words that give
you the idea of the lecture. Cover up the left-
hand portion of your notes and say aloud the
general ideas and concepts of the lecture. Read
each key word or question; recite the facts or
idea brought to mind by a key word or ques-
tion.
Review your notes periodically by reciting,
and mulling over what you have learned.
Apparently lectures themselves are in a
structured classical essay format. I’ve never
noticed the structure before. The parts of a
lecture are, as any English student knows: the
Introduction, or opening remarks, which set
the tone of the session; the Thesis sentence or
statement that gives you the topic for the rest
of the hour; the Body, which is the largest part
of the lecture and demands the most listening
with five or six main points to be made with
discussion and clarification of each; and final-
ly the Summary, which contains the crux of
what the lecture was all about in the first
place.
So, as you listen, it may help to categorize the
lecture as though it were an essay. It should
have an introduction, a body, and a summary.
The next time you take notes in the future,
remember the three steps to making them an
effective process. Start by building a back-
ground through reading that will increase the
chances of the lecture making sense to you. Set
up your note page with a style or system, so
that later you can capture the complete ideas
of the speaker. Include all examples, drawings,
terms, and definitions. Review your notes, and
turn the content into test-like questions.
Edited Text
Tom Mellish
OP Contributor
© page 10
You have probably had many an occasion to
sit in on a lecture and record an instructor's
notes. Via the overhead projector, you are pre-
sented with the bare bones, abbreviated, and
in point form or a solid, colossal mass of text.
In frenzy, you copy down everything that the
instructor writes. Lost in the illumination, lag-
ging behind, you find yourself desperately try-
ing to catch up.
After taking notes, you usually avoid them
for a month or so. When midterms or finals
roll around, the mess comes out, and you stare
at it blankly. Blowing off the dust and cob-
webs, you review your notes. You discover that
you have retained nothing. Reading your
notes is like encountering some shorthand
account of a car crash. You have absolutely no
connection to your scrawl, no idea what to do
with the notes other than using them as offer-
ings to the ancient gods of education. Sound
familiar?
There are a number of note-taking styles out
there, but none of them involve passive osmo-
sis through the brain sieve. To take useful
notes, you have to listen carefully for where
the main points are extrapolated, and must
review the lecture after class. Toss out the old
way if it doesn’t work—hook up with a new
style.
Prepare for each lecture by pre-reading and
re-reading the assigned material , text, chap-
ters, and notes to obtain a basic background.
Think ahead; anticipate what is going to be
said. Avoid distractions like noisy students,
open windows, etc. Sit where you can hear
and see clearly, towards the front of the class-
room, and do not read or talk. This will help
to create a good impression, eliminate distrac-
tions, etc. If you are bored during class, review
previous class notes. All these things will help
you keep up with the material, and be a posi-
tive, active learner.
Attend all lectures, even if attendance is not
mandatory. Using someone else’s notes can
help, but it is no substitute for attending the
lecture. When you hear the information,
process it, and write it in your notes, you are
already beginning to learn the information.
Reinforcement of the information through
review of your notes completes the learning
process.
Think about ways to relate ideas from previ-
ous lectures to the textbook and to previous
experiences. Listen for “what” is being said,
not how it’s being said. Do not try to write
everything down. Be ready to participate.
Look for vocal, postural, and visual cues indi-
cating what the professor considers important.
Pay particular attention after the first 20 min-
ites, when attention wanes, and to the final
part of the lecture when a summary or a con-
clusion might be given.
During the lecture, put a heading and a date
on your notes for each day. This will assist you
with cross-referencing concepts, and just to
keep it in order. Try not to take notes in para-
graph form. It is difficult to find important
parts when you are studying for a test. Use
general ideas, not illustrative ideas. Skip lines
to show ends of ideas or thoughts. Using
abbreviations will increase your note-taking
speed. Write legibly. Take notes in lists or
“one-liners” as much as possible. Use symbols
and images to help you to remember informa-
tion more effectively than words. Mark your
notes with checks, stars, question marks, cir-
cling dates and names, to bring out the impor-
tant facts. Use colour to separate different
ideas and show the organization of the subject.
There are a number of styles of note-taking.
Here are three: the Roman, the Two Column,
and the Cluster.
The linear, concrete Roman style is a hierar-
chical system that organizes information
through Roman numerals, letters, and num-
bers. Roman numerals stand for a main topic.
Letters represent a sub-topic. Numerals stand
for details. So the pattern would follow as: I,
A, 1. Each symbol gets its own line and they
follow one another in descending order, allow-
ing one to organize the lecture from the gen-
eral to the more specific. This is often the one
type of note-taking that may be taught in
schools or in books.
The Two-Column style is simple. Get a
steno pad or two-column notepaper, or divide
standard paper into two columns. The left col-
umn will hold the actual notes during class.
The right column is for after class review of
sub-themes, specific details, and any other
thoughts that come to mind, broad concepts,
events, or themes—often single words and
main points—key words or phrases can be
written in the recall column. And most impor-
tantly, questions based on the lecture’s infor-
mation.
The Cluster style is excellent for those spa-
tially, or visually inclined. In the middle of
your page, start by writing the title or main
theme of the lecture and draw a circle around
it. Let your mind go with the class. A com-
plete Cluster may have main topic lines radi-
ating in all directions from the centre. Sub-
topics and facts will branch off these, like
branches and twigs from the trunk of a tree.
Use single words or simple phrases for infor-
mation. You don’t need to worry about the
structure produced—this will evolve of its
own accord.
After the lecture, go over lecture notes with-
in 24 hours of writing them down. Spend 10
minutes for every lecture. You lose 50-80% of
the material if you don’t review within the day.
In your review, seek answers to questions
that arise. Summarize each main idea
complete sentences. Read through your note
and make them more legible if necessary.
Write key words, phrases or questions that
serve as cues for notes taken in class—cue
phrases and questions should be in your own
words. Jot down ideas or key words that give
you the idea of the lecture. Cover up the left-
hand portion of your notes and say aloud the
general ideas and concepts of the lecture. Read
each key word or question; recite the facts or
idea brought to mind by a key word or ques-
tion.
Review your notes periodically by reciting,
and mulling over what you have learned.
Apparently lectures themselves are in a
structured classical essay format. I’ve never
noticed the structure before. The parts of a
lecture are, as any English student knows: the
Introduction, or opening remarks, which set
the tone of the session; the Thesis sentence or
statement that gives you the topic for the rest
of the hour; the Body, which is the largest part
of the lecture and demands the most listening
with five or six main points to be made with
discussion and clarification of each; and final-
ly the Summary, which contains the crux of
what the lecture was all about in the first
place.
So, as you listen, it may help to categorize the
lecture as though it were an essay. It should
have an introduction, a body, and a summary.
The next time you take notes in the future,
remember the three steps to making them an
effective process. Start by building a back-
ground through reading that will increase the
chances of the lecture making sense to you. Set
up your note page with a style or system, so
that later you can capture the complete ideas
of the speaker. Include all examples, drawings,
terms, and definitions. Review your notes, and
turn the content into test-like questions.
Tom Mellish
OP Contributor
© page 10
You have probably had many an occasion to
sit in on a lecture and record an instructor's
notes. Via the overhead projector, you are pre-
sented with the bare bones, abbreviated, and
in point form or a solid, colossal mass of text.
In frenzy, you copy down everything that the
instructor writes. Lost in the illumination, lag-
ging behind, you find yourself desperately try-
ing to catch up.
After taking notes, you usually avoid them
for a month or so. When midterms or finals
roll around, the mess comes out, and you stare
at it blankly. Blowing off the dust and cob-
webs, you review your notes. You discover that
you have retained nothing. Reading your
notes is like encountering some shorthand
account of a car crash. You have absolutely no
connection to your scrawl, no idea what to do
with the notes other than using them as offer-
ings to the ancient gods of education. Sound
familiar?
There are a number of note-taking styles out
there, but none of them involve passive osmo-
sis through the brain sieve. To take useful
notes, you have to listen carefully for where
the main points are extrapolated, and must
review the lecture after class. Toss out the old
way if it doesn’t work—hook up with a new
style.
Prepare for each lecture by pre-reading and
re-reading the assigned material , text, chap-
ters, and notes to obtain a basic background.
Think ahead; anticipate what is going to be
said. Avoid distractions like noisy students,
open windows, etc. Sit where you can hear
and see clearly, towards the front of the class-
room, and do not read or talk. This will help
to create a good impression, eliminate distrac-
tions, etc. If you are bored during class, review
previous class notes. All these things will help
you keep up with the material, and be a posi-
tive, active learner.
Attend all lectures, even if attendance is not
mandatory. Using someone else’s notes can
help, but it is no substitute for attending the
lecture. When you hear the information,
process it, and write it in your notes, you are
already beginning to learn the information.
Reinforcement of the information through
review of your notes completes the learning
process.
Think about ways to relate ideas from previ-
ous lectures to the textbook and to previous
experiences. Listen for “what” is being said,
not how it’s being said. Do not try to write
everything down. Be ready to participate.
Look for vocal, postural, and visual cues indi-
cating what the professor considers important.
Pay particular attention after the first 20 min-
ites, when attention wanes, and to the final
part of the lecture when a summary or a con-
clusion might be given.
During the lecture, put a heading and a date
on your notes for each day. This will assist you
with cross-referencing concepts, and just to
keep it in order. Try not to take notes in para-
graph form. It is difficult to find important
parts when you are studying for a test. Use
general ideas, not illustrative ideas. Skip lines
to show ends of ideas or thoughts. Using
abbreviations will increase your note-taking
speed. Write legibly. Take notes in lists or
“one-liners” as much as possible. Use symbols
and images to help you to remember informa-
tion more effectively than words. Mark your
notes with checks, stars, question marks, cir-
cling dates and names, to bring out the impor-
tant facts. Use colour to separate different
ideas and show the organization of the subject.
There are a number of styles of note-taking.
Here are three: the Roman, the Two Column,
and the Cluster.
The linear, concrete Roman style is a hierar-
chical system that organizes information
through Roman numerals, letters, and num-
bers. Roman numerals stand for a main topic.
Letters represent a sub-topic. Numerals stand
for details. So the pattern would follow as: I,
A, 1. Each symbol gets its own line and they
follow one another in descending order, allow-
ing one to organize the lecture from the gen-
eral to the more specific. This is often the one
type of note-taking that may be taught in
schools or in books.
The Two-Column style is simple. Get a
steno pad or two-column notepaper, or divide
standard paper into two columns. The left col-
umn will hold the actual notes during class.
The right column is for after class review of
sub-themes, specific details, and any other
thoughts that come to mind, broad concepts,
events, or themes—often single words and
main points—key words or phrases can be
written in the recall column. And most impor-
tantly, questions based on the lecture’s infor-
mation.
The Cluster style is excellent for those spa-
tially, or visually inclined. In the middle of
your page, start by writing the title or main
theme of the lecture and draw a circle around
it. Let your mind go with the class. A com-
plete Cluster may have main topic lines radi-
ating in all directions from the centre. Sub-
topics and facts will branch off these, like
branches and twigs from the trunk of a tree.
Use single words or simple phrases for infor-
mation. You don’t need to worry about the
structure produced—this will evolve of its
own accord.
After the lecture, go over lecture notes with-
in 24 hours of writing them down. Spend 10
minutes for every lecture. You lose 50-80% of
the material if you don’t review within the day.
In your review, seek answers to questions
that arise. Summarize each main idea
complete sentences. Read through your note
and make them more legible if necessary.
Write key words, phrases or questions that
serve as cues for notes taken in class—cue
phrases and questions should be in your own
words. Jot down ideas or key words that give
you the idea of the lecture. Cover up the left-
hand portion of your notes and say aloud the
general ideas and concepts of the lecture. Read
each key word or question; recite the facts or
idea brought to mind by a key word or ques-
tion.
Review your notes periodically by reciting,
and mulling over what you have learned.
Apparently lectures themselves are in a
structured classical essay format. I’ve never
noticed the structure before. The parts of a
lecture are, as any English student knows: the
Introduction, or opening remarks, which set
the tone of the session; the Thesis sentence or
statement that gives you the topic for the rest
of the hour; the Body, which is the largest part
of the lecture and demands the most listening
with five or six main points to be made with
discussion and clarification of each; and final-
ly the Summary, which contains the crux of
what the lecture was all about in the first
place.
So, as you listen, it may help to categorize the
lecture as though it were an essay. It should
have an introduction, a body, and a summary.
The next time you take notes in the future,
remember the three steps to making them an
effective process. Start by building a back-
ground through reading that will increase the
chances of the lecture making sense to you. Set
up your note page with a style or system, so
that later you can capture the complete ideas
of the speaker. Include all examples, drawings,
terms, and definitions. Review your notes, and
turn the content into test-like questions.
Tom Mellish
OP Contributor
© page 10
You have probably had many an occasion to
sit in on a lecture and record an instructor's
notes. Via the overhead projector, you are pre-
sented with the bare bones, abbreviated, and
in point form or a solid, colossal mass of text.
In frenzy, you copy down everything that the
instructor writes. Lost in the illumination, lag-
ging behind, you find yourself desperately try-
ing to catch up.
After taking notes, you usually avoid them
for a month or so. When midterms or finals
roll around, the mess comes out, and you stare
at it blankly. Blowing off the dust and cob-
webs, you review your notes. You discover that
you have retained nothing. Reading your
notes is like encountering some shorthand
account of a car crash. You have absolutely no
connection to your scrawl, no idea what to do
with the notes other than using them as offer-
ings to the ancient gods of education. Sound
familiar?
There are a number of note-taking styles out
there, but none of them involve passive osmo-
sis through the brain sieve. To take useful
notes, you have to listen carefully for where
the main points are extrapolated, and must
review the lecture after class. Toss out the old
way if it doesn’t work—hook up with a new
style.
Prepare for each lecture by pre-reading and
re-reading the assigned material , text, chap-
ters, and notes to obtain a basic background.
Think ahead; anticipate what is going to be
said. Avoid distractions like noisy students,
open windows, etc. Sit where you can hear
and see clearly, towards the front of the class-
room, and do not read or talk. This will help
to create a good impression, eliminate distrac-
tions, etc. If you are bored during class, review
previous class notes. All these things will help
you keep up with the material, and be a posi-
tive, active learner.
Attend all lectures, even if attendance is not
mandatory. Using someone else’s notes can
help, but it is no substitute for attending the
lecture. When you hear the information,
process it, and write it in your notes, you are
already beginning to learn the information.
Reinforcement of the information through
review of your notes completes the learning
process.
Think about ways to relate ideas from previ-
ous lectures to the textbook and to previous
experiences. Listen for “what” is being said,
not how it’s being said. Do not try to write
everything down. Be ready to participate.
Look for vocal, postural, and visual cues indi-
cating what the professor considers important.
Pay particular attention after the first 20 min-
ites, when attention wanes, and to the final
part of the lecture when a summary or a con-
clusion might be given.
During the lecture, put a heading and a date
on your notes for each day. This will assist you
with cross-referencing concepts, and just to
keep it in order. Try not to take notes in para-
graph form. It is difficult to find important
parts when you are studying for a test. Use
general ideas, not illustrative ideas. Skip lines
to show ends of ideas or thoughts. Using
abbreviations will increase your note-taking
speed. Write legibly. Take notes in lists or
“one-liners” as much as possible. Use symbols
and images to help you to remember informa-
tion more effectively than words. Mark your
notes with checks, stars, question marks, cir-
cling dates and names, to bring out the impor-
tant facts. Use colour to separate different
ideas and show the organization of the subject.
There are a number of styles of note-taking.
Here are three: the Roman, the Two Column,
and the Cluster.
The linear, concrete Roman style is a hierar-
chical system that organizes information
through Roman numerals, letters, and num-
bers. Roman numerals stand for a main topic.
Letters represent a sub-topic. Numerals stand
for details. So the pattern would follow as: I,
A, 1. Each symbol gets its own line and they
follow one another in descending order, allow-
ing one to organize the lecture from the gen-
eral to the more specific. This is often the one
type of note-taking that may be taught in
schools or in books.
The Two-Column style is simple. Get a
steno pad or two-column notepaper, or divide
standard paper into two columns. The left col-
umn will hold the actual notes during class.
The right column is for after class review of
sub-themes, specific details, and any other
thoughts that come to mind, broad concepts,
events, or themes—often single words and
main points—key words or phrases can be
written in the recall column. And most impor-
tantly, questions based on the lecture’s infor-
mation.
The Cluster style is excellent for those spa-
tially, or visually inclined. In the middle of
your page, start by writing the title or main
theme of the lecture and draw a circle around
it. Let your mind go with the class. A com-
plete Cluster may have main topic lines radi-
ating in all directions from the centre. Sub-
topics and facts will branch off these, like
branches and twigs from the trunk of a tree.
Use single words or simple phrases for infor-
mation. You don’t need to worry about the
structure produced—this will evolve of its
own accord.
After the lecture, go over lecture notes with-
in 24 hours of writing them down. Spend 10
minutes for every lecture. You lose 50-80% of
the material if you don’t review within the day.
In your review, seek answers to questions
that arise. Summarize each main idea
complete sentences. Read through your note
and make them more legible if necessary.
Write key words, phrases or questions that
serve as cues for notes taken in class—cue
phrases and questions should be in your own
words. Jot down ideas or key words that give
you the idea of the lecture. Cover up the left-
hand portion of your notes and say aloud the
general ideas and concepts of the lecture. Read
each key word or question; recite the facts or
idea brought to mind by a key word or ques-
tion.
Review your notes periodically by reciting,
and mulling over what you have learned.
Apparently lectures themselves are in a
structured classical essay format. I’ve never
noticed the structure before. The parts of a
lecture are, as any English student knows: the
Introduction, or opening remarks, which set
the tone of the session; the Thesis sentence or
statement that gives you the topic for the rest
of the hour; the Body, which is the largest part
of the lecture and demands the most listening
with five or six main points to be made with
discussion and clarification of each; and final-
ly the Summary, which contains the crux of
what the lecture was all about in the first
place.
So, as you listen, it may help to categorize the
lecture as though it were an essay. It should
have an introduction, a body, and a summary.
The next time you take notes in the future,
remember the three steps to making them an
effective process. Start by building a back-
ground through reading that will increase the
chances of the lecture making sense to you. Set
up your note page with a style or system, so
that later you can capture the complete ideas
of the speaker. Include all examples, drawings,
terms, and definitions. Review your notes, and
turn the content into test-like questions.