Every student who attends their lectures also usually takes notes. These notes are then carefully filed away, usually until about a week before the exams, at which point the student scrabbles to remember why they wrote down “except on leap years! IMPORTANT!!”
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| A mind map |
The best practice for taking notes effectively involves being engaged with the subject before, during and after each lecture:
Before the lecture:
- review your notes from the previous lecture
- switch to a positive mindset towards listening and participating
- ask yourself: “what’s in this for me?” - even if it turns out just to be “passing my exam”
During the lecture:
- most importantly: stay alert and don’t get distracted - don’t sit next to that friend who relays his facebook friends’ updates as they happen
- write things down in your own words; don’t just copy the lecturer’s notes
- pay special attention to any clues (verbal and non-) to what is especially important
After the lecture:
- review your notes as soon as possible
There are a large number of different note taking formats, and I gave the Cornell format a try earlier this semester:
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| It started quite well. |
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| But then I started slipping |
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| More and more... |
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...until I'd reverted back
to my usual style. :/ |
Some other note taking formats are:
...to name but a few (more examples here), so there's a style to suit everyone.
I find mind mapping especially fascinating, but find it difficult to implement at lectures. I’ll keep trying, though!
have you tried mind maping software there some free ones on the internet or you could try inspration
ReplyDeleteHi Johanna, I liked where you said switch to a positive mindset before a lecture to help with taking notes. Stuart.
ReplyDelete