Note-taking is always an important and necessary element when we are studying. There are lots of strategies about taking notes, such as acronyms, first letter, shortened words, and symbols are useful methods to take effective notes. I like to use the shortened words in my notes. For instance, as an economics student, we usually mention the word “government”, and I shortened it as “govern” in my note. It is convenient and easy to review. In addition, note taking is auxiliary for our to understand readings.
Here is an article tells why note-taking is important for us: http://www.rustcollege.edu/businessdivision/note_taking.pdf
The above article is published by Rust college official website (where), and the author is Richard J. Frederick who is one of the professor in the college (who). The date of publishing is 2004 (when). And it was talking about the benefits of note-taking (what) with explanation and references (why). Thus, it is a relative good resource. However, it is possible that this article is out of date to provide a enough support.
University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg mentioned some stages to take notes in the class.
Here is the link: https://www.wits.ac.za/ccdu/study-skills/note-taking-and-note-making/
A useful notes should include the elements above, but you can still have your own note-taking process.
Now, we know that note-taking is an necessary one in our study, so how we can create a good note? CrashCourse’s video tells us some skills to improve our notes:
We should not totally depend on the notes, but paying more attention to understand the materials. Thus, it is important for us to put information into our own words. Also, if we miss/do not understand somethings, making notes on it but move one. We can add a symbol –“?” next to this part, and ask for clarification after class. What’s more, after taking notes related to readings, it is worth taking the time to review our notes and then write a summary or analyzing. Also, comparing the new information and the one that you have knew helps you to update the knowledge.
There is a book called “How to take a good note: The science behind note taking”, which mentioned that notes are an important tool for learning. We don’t take notes just to record a few facts so we can review them later. Learning happens as we take notes. Taking notes the right way leads to good study practices, better performance on exams, and long-term retention of information.