Note Taking Basics
Note taking is an
important part of
academic life.
To be successful at note taking, you
need to
• Improve your listening skills.
• Develop your note taking skills.
• Be able to use your notes to study.
Like All Skills
•Listening and note taking improve ONLY
with practice.
•Practice every day for 5-10 minutes.
Note taking = Dictation
Note taking is writing complete ideas;
dictation is writing complete
sentences.
Examples
Dictation:
History 1002 meets 2 days a week, from
10:00 am to 10:50.
Notes:
Hist 1002
-
2 d/wk
10 – 10:50 am
Successful Note taking:
Listen for KEY WORDS
First - costs
Successful Note taking:
Use space. Move your hand.
Three keys to green
environment –
educate public,
improve techno., and
help increase demand
for recycling.
Use space to show
relationships.
Use vertical space.
Use horizontal space.
Use headings to
organize ideas.
To create headings,
use • CAPITAL LETTERS
•
BOXES
• underline
• - - indent below the
heading
Use symbols and
abbreviations.
Mr
=
Mrs
w/
pop
&
%
‹
›
#
!

w/o
x
Note complete ideas,
not just random
words.
• Pop of UNT
pop of TWU
• 1990 intl st < 2% of UNT st
BUT now > 9+%
Get the BIG
PICTURE!
What’s the speaker’s
main point?
What does he want
you to learn?
In college -•Develop your own style.
•After the lecture, rewrite
your notes ASAP (as soon as
possible).
One More Point
Quantity is important!
Now let’s change
sentences to ideas . . .
Change dictation into
notes:
Studies on worldwide literacy* rates show that almost 80
percent of the world’s population over the age of 15 is
now literate. This includes more women than ever before.
*Literacy = ability to read
One way to write this
info
Studies ww literacy rt = almost 80 % world pop over 15
yrs now literate
+ grtr # of women than bef
Remember
Use
•Key words
•Space
•Headings
•Abbreviations and
symbols
•Complete ideas
•Quantity!
Remember
•Get the big picture!
•Rewrite your notes.
•Develop your own
style and
Practice, practice, practice.