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Notetaking |
Assembling a good set of notes is an essential component of successful learning in college. It is not an accident that the best note takers are often the most successful college students.
Have you ever started to study for an exam and found that your notes were so obscure and meaningless that even the subject wasn’t apparent? Far too often, students have the experience of reviewing worthless notes. Unless you have an extraordinary memory, effective note taking will be very valuable to you throughout your college and professional careers.
Part of the challenge in taking good notes is that teaching styles vary from instructor to instructor--as do lecturing styles. Some instructors are well organized, and some wander; some are story tellers who leave it up to the student to determine the significance of the story. It is essential for you to determine an instructor’s lecture style and the method he or she uses to divulge important ideas. This will help you determine what information should be included in notes taken during a lecture.
When you finish this module, you will be able to:
- Listen carefully and critically to what is being communicated
- Increase your comprehension and retention of material through accurate and meaningful notes
- Create a concise and complete outline of important topics, subtopics, and supporting ideas
- Clarify ideas and embellish the material presented
- Develop excellent review and reusable resources
Activity 1: Starting a New Course or Class
Take a moment to think about the first time you attended
a new class with an unfamiliar instructor. Use the "My Notes" tool
to type your answers to the following questions:
Now, read about the basics of taking notes and complete the included activities.
Here are some additional resources and activities to help you refine your notetaking skills:
Create a Practice
Quiz in ANGEL
One way to assess how well your notetaking skills are
developing is to
create a short quiz based on your notes. . . .
Activity 15 (same as Activity 10):
Practice Taking
Notes
Select a lecture or presentation in one of your classes, or go to
a talk presented on campus or in the community. If you can,
go with a friend or involve a classmate in this activity. Apply your
active note
taking skills to this event and afterwards use your notes
to do the following
activities. . . .
Activity 16:
Notetaking Checklist
One of the things you can do to ensure that you are doing a good
job of taking notes is to work with a check list. . . .
The materials for the iStudy for Success modules were originally developed at the Jack P. Royer Center for Learning and Academic Technologies.
Additional materials were developed and assistance was provided by the University Learning Centers (ULC), University Park.
The ANGEL version of the modules is being administered by TLT. For more information about iStudy for Success modules, please contact tlt@psu.edu.
The Pennsylvania State University ©2004 All rights reserved. Please read the entire license agreement before distributing the modules, and before modifying and sharing the content of the modules. This statement MUST accompany this module and all derivative works.