BEDFORD CUSTOM TUTORIAL FOR HISTORY
Taking Effective Notes
As a college student you probably spend several hours a day in your
classes, listening to your instructors and participating in discussions with
your classmates. You probably also spend several hours a day doing the
readings for your courses. Both of these activities are crucial for success
in college but neither are simple. Lectures and course materials present
large amounts of information—both big ideas and supporting details—
that can be overwhelming. How do you figure out what is most important, what is less important, and how best to keep track of it all so you
can use that information to enhance your learning? In this tutorial, you
will learn to do the following:
• Take legible, organized, and selective notes
• Take notes from textbooks and supplemental readings that facilitate understanding by emphasizing major arguments and supporting evidence
• Take notes from lectures and discussions that capture major points, arguments, and supporting facts and information
Why Is Note-Taking Important?
Taking effective notes is vital for success in college. The processes of studying and learning at every age and in every setting are really about creating
memories. In college classes, your textbooks and instructors deliver a lot
of new information to you every day, and you have to figure out how best
to filter that information into meaningful categories that make that information understandable and memorable. The act of taking notes serves two
purposes. First, during the time you are taking notes, the process helps you
pay attention, focus on the material, think about whether or not you
understand it, and begin to analyze it. Second, the note-taking process
aids in retaining information. Writing down important points helps you to
remember the material even before you study. It also creates your own
record of content that you can use later to study the material more systematically. Effective notes should contain the most important points presented in lectures and readings so that you can use your study time more
effectively.
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2 Taking Effective Notes
Most people think of note-taking as a fairly simple process but taking
effective notes actually requires a combination of strategies and skills.
Although some note-taking guides endorse specific systems (you can look
these up online), this tutorial offers general strategies you can use with any
system. The first section of the tutorial presents the essential elements of
effective note-taking. The second section offers strategies and suggestions
for taking notes from your textbooks and supplementary readings. The third
and final section focuses on taking effective notes in your classes, using
specific examples from lectures and providing models of effective notes.
Taking Effective Notes: The Fundamentals
The college experience consists primarily of situations in which students
consume information, process and learn it, and then prove that they have
done so on exams or in other written work. Because the process of taking in
information is such a regular and essential part of success in college, you
should ideally take notes every time you read course material or listen to and
participate in an academic lecture or presentation. Doing so will ensure that
you gain the maximum benefit from your learning opportunities. Although
there are many different formats that can be used to create useful notes, there
are several basic elements that every single set of good notes shares in common. These are legibility, consistent organization, and selectivity.
Legibility
It goes without saying that notes can only be useful if they are legible, but
sometimes students are so focused on writing down information that they
neglect to think about whether they will be able to make sense of it later.
Some students try to address this issue by taking notes on laptops, but
unless you have excellent keyboard skills and the self-discipline to resist
the ever-present temptations of the Internet, using a laptop in class can
create more problems than it solves. There are many arguments to be
made in favor of the old pen-and-paper method of note-taking. For example, a recent study at the University of California at Los Angeles demonstrated that taking handwritten notes actually enhanced students’ learning.
They found that students who used laptops took more notes, but that
students who wrote out their notes by hand had a stronger conceptual
understanding and were more successful in applying and integrating
the materia.1 The researchers determined that although writing by hand
is slower than typing, it requires students to listen, process, and summarize in order to record the most important elements of the content. This
“mental lifting,” they suggest, facilitates comprehension and retention.
Ideally, then, you should handwrite your notes. It is not necessary that
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Taking Effective Notes: The Fundamentals 3
they be legible to anyone but you, but be sure that you will be able to
decipher them when you need them.
One way to take notes by hand more quickly, which can also help to
maximize legibility, is to develop a set of abbreviations and symbols to
indicate commonly used words and ideas. Those of you who communicate
regularly by text message are probably already familiar with the usefulness
of abbreviating, and some of those conventions are probably transferrable
to note-taking. Other symbols and abbreviations that might be particularly
useful for taking notes in history or other social science and humanities
courses might include some of those listed in Table 1. Of course you can
also develop your own abbreviations, depending on the focus of your class
and your own particular needs. In a course on World War II, for example,
you might use Ax and AP to refer to the Axis powers and the Allied powers
respectively. For a course on revolutions in history you might use AR, FR,
and HR to refer to the American Revolution, French Revolution, and Haitian Revolution. Whatever symbols and abbreviations you choose, make
sure they help you make sense of the material and that you use them consistently throughout your notes to avoid confusion. You can also use bulleted or numbered lists, circles, underlining, stars, asterisks, or other forms
of highlighting to indicate strength, emphasis, or relationships between
ideas or concepts.
c.
century
women
@
at
men
+ or &
and
v.
very
b/c
because
vs.
against (or as opposed to)
w/o
without
e.g.
for example
w/in
within
i.e.
in other words
→
leads to or causes
econ
economic
≈
similar to
pol
political
≠
different from
soc
social
<
less than
cult
cultural
>
greater than
intel
intellectual or intelligent
→
Table 1 Symbols and Abbreviations for Note-Taking
increased or increasing
wc
working class
→
decreased or decreasing
mc
middle class
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4 Taking Effective Notes
Consistent Organization
Legibility is important, but even legible notes are useless if you cannot
locate them or figure out where they came from. For that reason, it is vital
that you implement an organizational system for your notes. Some students
swear by the three-ring binder with folders, dividers, and loose-leaf paper,
which can contain notes and other materials for one class or several classes.
Other students prefer spiral notebooks for their notes and folders to contain
other materials. Whichever system you use, do it consistently. Make sure
that every time you begin a new set of notes—whether for a lecture or a
textbook chapter—you begin by including the date and subject at the top of
the page. If you are taking notes on loose-leaf paper, go back at the end of
your note-taking session and put the subject, date, and page number on
every page so you do not lose track of which page belongs where. Your goal
is to create a fairly complete but distilled version of the written or spoken
information or material you are taking in on a daily basis. Notes that maintain the instructor’s and textbook’s organizational schema will be much
more useful than notes in a haphazard or random arrangement.
Selectivity
Many students approach note-taking with the assumption that more notes
are better than fewer. But as the UCLA study on the advantages of handwritten notes demonstrated, selective notes are almost always better than
comprehensive ones. Not only is it unrealistic to write down every word
from a lecture or a reading, it is also inadvisable. The most useful notes
focus on the big ideas and include the concrete examples and details
needed to illustrate and support those ideas. In order to take good notes,
you need to focus more on understanding the material and less on reproducing it verbatim. Your goal should be to create notes that are brief yet
understandable, reflect your comprehension of the material, and provide
you with a resource that will be helpful to you as you prepare for assignments or exams later in the term.
Taking Effective Notes from Textbooks and
Supplemental Readings
Now that you are familiar with the basics of effective note-taking, you are
ready to think about how to take notes from the readings assigned in your
history course. This section of the tutorial will guide you through the process of taking notes from your textbook and supplemental readings your
instructor might assign.
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Taking Effective Notes from Textbooks and Supplemental Readings 5
Textbooks
Textbooks are assigned in most college history courses for first- and
­second-year students, and the most frequent reading assignments are from
them. Many students make the mistake of skipping textbook reading or
saving it for exam time, figuring that the instructor will cover the material
in class anyway. Most often, however, instructors design their lectures to
build on the textbook reading assigned for that day. Actually reading and
understanding the book before class time will familiarize you with important terms and concepts and, in that way, greatly enhance your learning in
the classroom.
Many students approach textbook reading with a sense of dread, assuming that the book will be both confusing and dry. In fact, most textbooks
are carefully written and designed to make the information interesting and
accessible and to guide students through the process of absorbing and
assimilating it. Textbook chapters generally include chapter previews, lists
of major points, colored headings, summaries, review questions, and other
features that emphasize the major points. These organizational and conceptual cues are helpful to readers, but they can also serve as useful guides
when you are taking notes.
Let’s imagine that your instructor has assigned you to read a textbook
chapter on the global impact of Columbus’s voyages and Europe’s colonization of the New World. You want to read the material in order to be
well-prepared for class the next day, and you know that you will absorb
and retain it better if you take notes as you read. The first major section of
the chapter reads as follows:
European Empires in the Americas
Among the early modern empires, those of Western Europe were dis­tinctive
because the conquered territories lay an ocean away from the i­mperial heartland, rather than adjacent to it. Following the breakthrough voyages of Columbus, the Spanish focused their empire-building efforts in the Caribbean
and then, in the early sixteenth century, turned to the mainland, with stunning conquests of the powerful but fragile Aztec and Inca empires. Meanwhile the Portuguese established themselves along the coast of present-day
Brazil. In the early seventeenth century, the British, French, and Dutch
launched colonial settlements along the eastern coast of North America.
From these beginnings, Europeans extended their empires to encompass
most of the Americas, at least nominally, by the mid-eighteenth century. It
was a remarkable achievement. What had made it possible?
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6 Taking Effective Notes
The European Advantage
Geography provides a starting point for explaining Europe’s American empires. Countries on the Atlantic rim of Europe (Portugal, Spain, Britain, and
France) were simply closer to the Americas than were any potential Asian
competitors. Furthermore, the fixed winds of the Atlantic blew steadily in
the same direction. Once these air currents were understood and mastered,
they provided a far different maritime environment than the alternating
monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean, in which Asian powers had long operated. European innovations in mapmaking, navigation, sailing techniques,
and ship design—building on earlier models from the Mediterranean, Indian
Ocean, and Chinese regions—likewise enabled their penetration of the Atlantic Ocean. The enormously rich markets of the Indian Ocean world
­provided little incentive for its Chinese, Indian, or Muslim participants to
venture much beyond their own waters.
Europeans, however, were powerfully motivated to do so. After 1200 or
so, European elites were increasingly aware of their region’s marginal position in the rich world of Eurasian commerce and were determined to gain
access to that world. Once the Americas were discovered, windfalls of natural resources, including highly productive agricultural lands, drove further
expansion, ultimately underpinning the long-term growth of the European
economy into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beyond these economic or ecological stimuli, rulers were driven by the enduring rivalries of
competing states. The growing and relatively independent merchant class in
a rapidly commercializing Europe sought direct access to Asian wealth to
avoid the reliance on Muslim intermediaries that they found so distasteful.
Impoverished nobles and commoners alike found opportunity for gaining
wealth and status in the colonies. Missionaries and others were inspired by
crusading zeal to enlarge the realm of Christendom. Persecuted minorities
were in search of a new start in life. All of these compelling motives drove
the relentlessly expanding imperial frontier in the Americas. Summarizing
their intentions, one Spanish conquistador declared: “We came here to serve
God and the King, and also to get rich.”
In carving out these empires, often against great odds and with great difficulty, Europeans nonetheless bore certain advantages, despite their distance from home. Their states and trading companies enabled the effective
mobilization of both human and material resources. Their seafaring technology, built on Chinese and Islamic precedents, allowed them to cross the Atlantic with growing ease, transporting people and supplies across great
distances. Their ironworking technology, gunpowder weapons, and horses
initially had no parallel in the Americas, although many peoples subsequently acquired them.
Divisions within and between local societies provided allies for the determined European invaders. Various subject peoples of the Aztec Empire, for
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Taking Effective Notes from Textbooks and Supplemental Readings 7
example, resented Mexica domination and willingly joined Hernán Cortés in
the Spanish assault on that empire. In the final attack on the Aztec capital of
Tenochtitlán, Cortés’s forces contained fewer than 1,000 Spaniards and
many times that number of Tlaxcalans, former subjects of the Aztecs. After
their defeat, tens of thousands of Aztecs themselves joined Cortés as he
carved out a Spanish Mesoamerican empire far larger than that of the Aztecs. Much of the Inca elite, according to a recent study, “actually welcomed
the Spanish invaders as liberators and willingly settled down with them to
share rule of Andean farmers and miners.” A violent dispute between two
rival contenders for the Inca throne, the brothers Atahualpa and Huáscar,
certainly helped the European invaders to recruit allies to augment their own
minimal forces. In short, Spanish military victories were not solely of their
own making, but the product of alliances with local peoples, who supplied
the bulk of the Europeans’ conquering armies.
Perhaps the most significant of European advantages lay in their germs
and diseases, with which Native Americans had no familiarity. Those diseases decimated society after society, sometimes in advance of the Europeans’ actual arrival. In particular regions such as the Caribbean, Virginia, and
New England, the rapid buildup of immigrant populations, coupled with the
sharply diminished native numbers, allowed Europeans to actually outnumber local peoples within a few decades.
Source: Robert W. Strayer and Eric W. Nelson, Ways of the World: A Brief Global History
with Sources, 3rd ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016), 554–57.
Before you begin to read, glance at the chapter’s headings to become
familiar with its topics and organization. Once you have a general sense
of its major points, begin to read and take notes, focusing on the major
sections in order. In this case, the first major section of the chapter is
printed in large type, “European Empires in the Americas,” and the first
subsection printed in a somewhat smaller type is “The European Advantage.” Begin your notes with the chapter title and date at the top of the
page. Your goal is to read for the authors’ arguments (the big ideas) and
to write down the examples and evidence they use to support these big
ideas. Organize your notes using the chapter’s headings and subheadings in a rough outline form. For this first section of the chapter, ideal
notes would look something like this:
Chapter 13: Empires and Encounters, 1450–1750
6/25/15
I.European Empires in the Americas—European empires distinctive b/c conquered
territories are an ocean away. Spain develops empires in Caribbean and by 16th
c. on mainland; Portugal in Brazil; British, French, and Dutch in Northeast. *By
1750 Europe dominates Americas. How is this possible?*
A. The European Advantage—Factors that make American empires possible
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8 Taking Effective Notes
• Geography: Countries in W Europe are closer to Americas than Asia
and Atlantic winds blow west.
• Technology: European mapmaking, navigation, sailing techniques, ship
design
• Motivations: (a) Economic: Wealthy Eastern empires have little;
Europeans have growing desire to gain power, wealth, resources. (b)
Political: Europeans driven by rivalries with competing states (c)
Religious: Some desire to spread Christianity, others to escape
religious persecution.
• State and commercial institutions: Govts. & trading companies
mobilize and organize material and human resources for empire
building—ships, migrants, supplies, etc.
• Divisions and conflicts in Americas: These provide allies for European
invaders. E.g., resistance to Mexica empire provides allies for Cortés
and conquistadores; disputes among Inca leaders make them
vulnerable to Europeans.
• Native American vulnerability to European disease: These decimate native societies and allow quick European domination.
Now that you have read and understood your textbook and condensed one
section of dense text into brief notes, you will be several steps ahead of
your classmates who did not take the time to prepare. Not only will be
familiar with many of the terms and concepts you will likely encounter in
your next class, but you will have a clear and useful outline of the text
when you sit down to study for your next exam.
Supplemental Readings
In some courses instructors assign supplemental readings in addition to
the textbook. Instructors assign such readings in order to give students the
opportunity to learn about particular topics in more detail and to expose
them to the ways in which scholars analyze the basic facts of history in
different ways.
Reading and taking notes on supplemental texts is different from reading
and taking notes on your textbook. These readings do not ordinarily contain
the navigational and conceptual clues and hints that characterize textbooks,
which can make the process of reading more challenging. But instructors
also do not expect students to read and absorb supplemental texts at the
same level of depth as their textbooks, which means that you can take many
fewer notes per page of text. Most likely your instructor hopes that students
will come away from the article or book with a good understanding of its
major thesis or argument and how it compares to the approaches outlined
in the textbook and lectures, the ability to talk about how the author uses
evidence to develop and support his or her conclusions, and an informed
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Taking Effective Notes from Textbooks and Supplemental Readings 9
opinion about how well the author made his or her case. Therefore, your
reading should focus on the piece’s introduction, body, and conclusions in
order to identify its thesis and major points and the types of evidence the
author uses to prove them. In the end, your notes should briefly summarize
these aspects of the work and omit many of its details.
If you were assigned to read an article about the ways ideas about race
and racism shaped World War II as a global conflict, your ideal notes might
look something like this:
John Dower, War without Mercy (New York: Pantheon, 1986), Chapter 1
I.
Thesis: World War II was in many ways a “race war.” It was fueled by racial pride
and rage on almost all sides. Racial hatred and racist ideology that portrayed
the enemy as subhuman justified the war’s hideous brutality. War’s central focus
on race also helped to bring about a massive transformation in racial consciousness throughout the world after 1945.
II.Body:
•N
azis upheld “Aryan” supremacy and sought to exterminate “undesirables,” particularly Jews. Other Europeans supported extermination
campaign, and anti-Semitism in US prevented it from admitting most
Jewish refugees.
•A
llies’ fight against Nazis emphasizes a critique of their ­“master race”
arguments. This exposes Western hypocrisy: ­anti-Semitism, US
racism such as Jim Crow and internment of Japanese Americans, UK
colonialism. Sparks new demands for equality.
•J
apan uses critique of Western colonialism to justify invasions of
West’s colonial outposts. Makes pan-Asiatic arguments to whip up
enthusiasm for its actions, but also institutes policies of “Japanization” that assume its culture is superior to those of other Asians.
•A
llies’ fight against Japan employs viciously racist imagery and
rhetoric, portraying them as subhuman, contemptible, formidable,
deserving of no mercy.
• Both sides use classic idioms of Self and Other. Racism reflected savagery of the war and contributed to it at the same time.
•R
acial rhetoric transforms at war’s end. Japanese “purity” comes to =
peace. Dangerous “otherness” projected on Chinese, Koreans, and
Soviets.
Taking notes in this way should make it easier for you to hone in on the
vital elements of the reading—thesis and evidence—and contain enough
details to make it possible for you to contribute to a class discussion on the
book or prepare a writing assignment in response to it.
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10 Taking Effective Notes
Taking Effective Notes in Class
Most full-time college students spend around twelve hours every week
in the classroom. Although in-class lectures usually build on the material
you have been assigned to read for that day in your textbook, they usually do not just reiterate it, and the discussions that take place in the classroom as students interact with one another and the instructor usually
present valuable opportunities for learning. It is vital that you learn to capture the important elements of class content in your notes because class
periods, unlike textbooks or other written sources which can be read again,
only happen once. Your notes are the only means by which you can revisit
that class period a second time to prepare for an exam or a writing assignment. As with taking notes from textbooks, your goal when taking notes in
class should be to capture the big ideas and the most important examples
and evidence the instructor uses to support the larger points.
Although the purposes of notes on reading and notes taken in class are
basically the same, the process of taking notes in the classroom is somewhat more challenging. When you are reading you have control over the
speed at which you consume information, but in a lecture or discussion
instructors often present material at a rapid pace. Whereas written sources
are usually well organized, spoken communication often contains interruptions, digressions, and other conversational detours. Reading the text
before class so that you are familiar with the day’s terms and ideas, and
sitting front and center in the classroom so that you can see and hear better will help you take the most effective notes possible.
Lectures
For college history instructors, lecturing is a time-consuming endeavor. It
is the rare instructor who comes to class and talks off the cuff about the
topic at hand. Most history instructors spend at least several hours before
every class preparing a lecture that poses a historical question and answers
it using evidence. When you come to a lecture prepared to take notes, you
should keep in mind that your goal is to follow the instructor’s argument
and understand how the relevant facts fit into its larger organizational
structure. Fortunately, many instructors create guides for their lectures,
such as photocopied outlines or electronic presentations such as those in
PowerPoint, which are meant to show where their lectures are going and
how they will get there. Handouts and other visuals are meant to assist
you as you take your notes, not to be a substitute for them. You can be
sure, however, that any information instructors write on paper, the blackboard, or other presentation tool is something they believe is important, so
be sure you include it in your notes. If your instructor passes out hard
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Taking Effective Notes in Class 11
copies of his or her outline keep yours visible during class to help you
follow the lecture, and keep it with your materials for the course (with the
date noted at the top) because it might be useful later.
Once the lecture begins, listen for verbal cues to discern its organization. This is particularly important if you have an instructor who does not
provide any kind of visual outline or guide for the session. Often speakers
begin by introducing the major topics, putting them into some broader
context, and outlining their major points. Pay attention to your instructor’s
intonation and rhythm. Many speakers increase their volume when they
introduce a new idea, and some use pauses, gestures, and/or repetition to
emphasize major points. Finally, most speakers use signal words and
phrases such as “There are three schools of thought on . . .”; “The event
had five major causes”; “For example”; “In comparison”; “On the other
hand”; or “In conclusion” to indicate the direction of their narrative
and help students to record information effectively. Using written and/or
verbal clues and careful listening, you should be able to create a set of
notes that reflects the major interpretations and important facts your
instructor covers.
Imagine that you are in class listening to your instructor lecture about
the causes of European expansion in the late fifteenth century. The instructor says:
Yesterday we talked about the Afro-Eurasian trade world of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries in which Arab, Persian, Turkish, Indian, African, Chinese, and European merchants and adventurers competed for trade in spices,
silks, and other goods. We mentioned that Europeans did not produce many
products that Eastern elites found desirable, which meant that Europe’s role
in the Afro-Eurasian trade was modest.
Today we are going to begin to look at the question of how and why
­Europe’s role in the global economy changed at the end of the fifteenth century. What factors accounted for the transformation of Europe from a relatively marginal player in the international economy of the fifteenth century
to a major economic and political force by the end of the sixteenth century?
This question is large and complex and we will be talking about it for several class periods. Today I will begin by talking about the demographic,
economic, cultural, and political developments of the fifteenth century that
ultimately led to Columbus’s voyages of 1492.
Here, your instructor has essentially given you an introduction to her lecture. She has talked about how the topic for the day relates to the previous
lecture and expressed the new historical question she will address: “What
factors accounted for the transformation of Europe from a relatively marginal player in the international economy of the fifteenth century to a
major economic and political force by the end of the sixteenth century?”
She has also given some strong clues about how she will be answering that
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12 Taking Effective Notes
question. This information is vital for framing your notes, which would
ideally condense her words into a format something like this:
History 150
“Causes of European Expansion”
February 4, 2015
P1
14th and 15th cs: Europe marginal in Afro-Eurasian trade.
By 1600 it is economic and political powerhouse. WHY?
Today’s lecture—focus on:
• Demog
• Econ
• Cult
All factors that ultimately → Columbus 1492 exploration
• Pol
Your instructor then launches into the meat of her lecture. She says:
You no doubt remember that in the 1300s and early 1400s Europe suffered
from the “little ice age,” the bubonic plague, famine, the Hundred Years’
War, and major social upheaval. These factors were, of course, part of the
reason that Europe remained marginal on the international stage during that
time. By 1450, however, Europe saw the beginnings of recovery from these
crises. The population began to recover from the lows of the Black Death.
The upsurge in population contributed to economic revival as well. The Italian city-states Genoa and Venice had been active participants in Asian trade
since 1300 and, as Europe’s economy recovered, they exchanged Spanish
and English wool, German metal goods, and Flemish textiles for spices, silks,
and carpets. By 1450, Europe’s economy is prosperous enough that there is
new demand among elites for Eastern products, especially spices. Spices
were desirable because they add flavor and variety to food. They were also
useful for creating anointing oil and incense for religious rituals. Others used
them to make perfumes, medicines, and dyes. Because they were expensive,
they served as a high-status good which European elites used to signify their
social standing.
At the same time as economic recovery, however, the Ottomans gained
control of Eastern trade routes in the Mediterranean which meant that European merchants and traders either needed to find new sources of gold and
silver to trade with the Ottomans, or new trade routes that bypassed them.
This dilemma serves as one important catalyst for European exploration of
the Atlantic.
Religious and political factors also served as catalysts for the expansion of
Europe into the Atlantic and the New World. By the late 1400s, ­Ferdinand
and Isabella of Spain had conquered the last remaining Muslim state on the
Iberian Peninsula and sought a new focus. Their desire to find new non-­
Christian territories to dominate and people to convert was part of the reason they decided to sponsor Columbus’s voyages. The conquest of the
Americas was, in many ways, an extension of the reconquista in Spain.
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Taking Effective Notes in Class 13
Finally, in the late 1400s the Renaissance created new interest in learning
about the unknown, including the physical universe. Renaissance curiosity,
which occurred during a time when Europe had increasing contact with the
East, made possible their discovery of Eastern knowledge and technology
such as Ptolemy’s Geography, which showed the world was round. Contact
with the East also served as the source for Europeans’ access to technology
such as the magnetic compass and the astrolabe, which made it possible for
them to navigate at sea. These innovations, along with the development of
the caravel and the importation of gunpowder from China, were all preconditions for Columbus’s expeditions and the establishment of sustained contact between the Old World and the New World.2
Good notes, which follow the organizational scheme of the lecture and
record the argument and major points your instructor made, would look
something like this:
History 150
“Causes of European Expansion”
February 4, 2015
P2
→
1300s–1450: Europe—“little ice age,” bubonic plague, war, and social upheaval keep
Europe marginal player in Afro-Eurasian trade. By 1450 Europe is recovering.
Population and economy . Trade with East facilitated by Genoa and Venice.
There is increasing demand for Eastern goods, especially spices.
1450s: Ottomans gain control of Eastern trade routes in Mediterranean, threatening European access to Eastern goods. Europeans need to find new sources
of gold and silver to trade with Ottomans, OR new trade routes that bypass
them. These are demog, econ, and pol motivations for European exploration
of Atlantic.
Religious and Political Factors: Late 1400s—Spain has conquered last Muslims on
Iberian Penin. & seeks new non-Christian regions to conquer and people to
convert. This motivates monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella to fund Columbus’s
journeys. Spanish conquest of Americas is extension of Spanish reconquista.
→
Renaissance creates new interest in learning about the physical universe—­
CULTURAL CHANGE. Curiosity occurs during period of contact with
East. Combination brings Eastern knowledge and technology to Europeans
including:
• Ptolemy’s Geography—shows world is round
•M
agnetic compass and astrolabe—enable navigation at sea
• Importation of gun powder from China—enables conquest of Americas
These notes are useful because they record the most important information from the lecture in a fairly organized fashion. You can improve them
substantially, however, by reviewing them and reorganizing them after
the lecture ends. Do not just rewrite the notes; look for the overriding
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14 Taking Effective Notes
concepts and categorize and reclassify the information whenever necessary. Reorganized effectively, the above notes might look like this:
History 150
“Causes of European Expansion”
February 4, 2015
P2
→
Economic and Demographic Factors:
1300s–1450: Europe—“little ice age,” bubonic plague, war, and social
upheaval keep Europe marginal player in Afro-Eurasian trade. By 1450
Europe is recovering. Population and economy . Trade with East
facilitated by Genoa and Venice. There is increasing demand for Eastern
goods, especially spices.
1450s: Ottomans gain control of Eastern trade routes in Mediterranean,
threatening European access to Eastern goods. Europeans need to find
new sources of gold and silver to trade with Ottomans, OR new trade
routes that bypass them.
Religious and Political Factors:
By the late 1400s Spain has ousted the last Muslims on Iberian Penin. &
seeks new non-Christian regions to conquer and people to convert. This
motivates monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella to fund Columbus’s
journeys. Spanish conquest of Americas can be viewed as an extension
of Spanish reconquista.
Cultural Factors:
Renaissance creates new interest in learning about the physical universe.
→
Curiosity occurs during period of contact with East. Combination brings
Eastern knowledge and technology to Europeans including:
• Ptolemy’s Geography—shows world is round
• Magnetic compass and astrolabe—enable navigation at sea
• Importation of gun powder from China—enables conquest of
Americas
By rewriting and reorganizing your notes not only will you make them
clearer and more useful, but you will also increase your comprehension of
the material and strengthen its impression on your mind.
Discussion-Based Classes
Discussions are, by nature, less organized than lectures. Thus, it can be
more challenging to take notes from a class discussion than from a lecture.
But discussions also contain important information and can greatly
enhance your understanding of the course material, so it is important to
participate and to take notes at the same time. The basic guidelines for
taking notes from a class discussion are as follows:
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Taking Effective Notes in Class 15
• Write down the questions the instructor asks to stimulate discussion.
Instructors ask questions to help you think about and understand
various aspects of the material. Their questions are intended to elicit
important information and ideas from members of the class. It is vital
to record the material they cover in this way.
• Listen carefully to your classmates’ contributions since they might
expose you to new perspectives and make connections you had not
thought about before. Students’ questions also often raise significant
points. Write down the questions and contributions you find particularly interesting or helpful.
• Pay attention to the instructor’s responses to student contributions.
Listen for ideas the instructor reinforces and emphasizes with comments such as “Great point,” “That’s an important question,” and so
on. Take notes when the instructor reiterates or clarifies one of your
classmates’ points because the instructor is indicating that he or she
finds the contribution particularly significant.
As with lecture notes, it can be very useful to rewrite and reorganize discussion notes after class. Pay particular attention to identifying themes or
concepts that recur over the course of the discussion since these are likely
significant.
Films and Other Visual Presentations
Finally, many instructors show films or other use other audiovisual
­materials at least occasionally to supplement lectures and class discussions. It is tempting during these presentations to sit back and relax,
but instructors use films and other audiovisual media because they can
make significant contributions to the course and their students’ learning. Consequently, you should also regard them an important part of
the course material and take notes on them as you would during any
other class.
Taking notes on films or slide shows is not always easy: the room is typically dark and it can be difficult to know exactly what you should be taking
away from the presentation. If you are unsure about the purpose the pre­
sentation will serve, you should ask your instructor what he or she hopes
you will learn from it. In general, however, if the film in question is a documentary you should record the major facts and interpretations as you would
in a lecture. Alternatively, if the film is dramatic rather than documentary
(e.g., 1492: The Conquest of Paradise, Amistad, or Casablanca), pay attention to its emotional themes and messages as well as the historical facts it
purports to represent. Consider the time period in which the film was made
and how its historical context might have shaped the writers’, directors’, and
actors’ choices. And finally, record information from scenes and dialogue
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16 Taking Effective Notes
that are important for understanding the events the film presents and for
conveying the filmmakers’ interpretations of the period in question.
Conclusion
Your college years are a time during which you will be acquiring new skills
and information at a rapid pace and it is crucial to develop and implement
effective strategies for processing, integrating, and remembering the most
important material your textbooks, instructors, and classmates impart.
Taking good notes will not only make your reading and listening more
efficient but also improve your performance on exams, papers, and other
work that you complete outside the classroom. By following the guidelines
presented in this tutorial, you will be well on your way to taking organized
and useful notes on readings, lectures, and discussions in your history
classes, and ready to implement your skills in other college courses and
your future professional roles as well.
Notes
1. Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer, “The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard:
Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking,” Psychological Science (April 23, 2014).
doi:10.1177/0956797614524581.
2. Adapted from John P. McKay et al, A History of World Societies, 11th ed. (Boston: Bedford/
St. Martin’s, 2014), 462–64.
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