Taking Notes

1
Chapter 4

• Taking Notes

2
P.O.W.E.R. Plan

• Prepare Considering Your Goals
• Organize Getting the Tools of Notetaking
  Together
• Work ProcessingNot Copying Information
• Evaluate Thinking Critically About Your Notes
• Rethink Activating your Memory

3
Prepare Considering Your Goals

• Identify the instructors goals and your goals
  for the courseRead the Syllabus
• Complete assignments before coming to class
• Be prepared to listen to a lectureeven if the
  instructor is not the best lecturer
• Review the previous class notes
• Choose a seat in the classroom where you can see
  and hear

4
Organize Get the Tools of Notetaking Together

• Bring the appropriate writing utensils and paper
  to class
• Choose the right type of notebook (loose-leaf
  usually preferred)
• Write on only one side of the page
• Take textbook to class
• Consider taking a laptop computer to class

5
Work ProcessingDo not Copy Information

• Active listening is different from hearing
• Listen for key ideas
• Search for the meta-message
• Listen for repetition
• Look for nonverbal signals
• Use short phrases, not sentences for notes

6
Notetaking Experiment

• Listen as I read the following and take
  abbreviated notes
• There are two kinds of job analyses used by human
  resource experts
• job or task-oriented analyses
• Worker or employee-oriented analyses
• How did you write your notes?

7
Notetaking Experiment

• Two kinds of job analyses
• Job-oriented (task-oriented)
• Worker-oriented (employee-oriented)

8
Take Notes in Outline Form

• I. Key Concept
• A. Main Idea
• 1. Supporting Idea
• 2. Supporting Idea
• a. Specific details
• b. Specific details

9
Outline a Lecture

• Listen to the following five-minute lecture and
  take notes in outline format
• After listening to the lecture
• Did you all agree on the main ideas of each
  passage?
• How are your notes different or similar?
• How can you improve your notes?

10
Outline a Lecture

• Copy information from board or overhead
• Use different notetaking techniques for class
  discussions
• Listen carefully during discussions for important
  ideas
• Pay attention to instructors summary
• Ask questions

11
Improving NotetakingGetting Over Stage Fright

• Sit in front of room
• Write down question before you ask it
• Participate early in the semester by asking
  questions
• Dont wait for someone else to ask the first
  question in class

12
Special Techniques

• How do you cope with instructors who mumble, talk
  too fast, teach less than interesting lectures?
• Ask questions
• Ask for a conference and discuss with instructor
  your difficulty in keeping up
• Meet with other students to compare notes
• Record the lecture
• Report discriminatory or harassing remarks to a
  supervisor

13
Evaluate Think Critically about Your Notes

• Do your notes represent what was covered in
  class?
• Do they reflect the emphases of the instructor?
• Are there any key points that are not clear?
• Do any points need to be clarified?

14
Rethink Activate Your Memory

• Transfer information from short- to long-term
  memory by rethinking the class lecture
• Use the 2 ½ inch column on the left-hand side of
  the page to jot down keywords, significant
  points, major concepts, controversies, and
  questions
• Create study notes that summarize key points
• Use flashcards

15
Rethink Activate Your Memory

• How many times have you said, I dont need to
  write it down, Ill remember it?
• How many times have you remembered the
  information?

16
Concept Mapping
17
Taking Notes as You Study

• Highlight, underline, circle and make notes in
  the margin of your text
• Make flash cards (online courses often include
  these cards)
• For magazines or library books, copy down key
  ideas, definitions, formulas in outline or
  concept mapping form

18
P.O.W.E.R. Plan
19
Career Connections
Taking notes effectively in meetings at work may
provide a significant career advantage.
20
Resources

• Note-Taking Make Easy by Judy Kesselman-Turkel
  and Franklynn Peterson (University of Wisconsin
  Press, 2003)

21
Web Links

• Cornell Notetaking System http//www.byu.edu/stli
  fe/cdc/learning/note-tak.php
• Concept Mapping http//www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/pro
  gram/hndouts/class1.html
• For Disabled Students http//www.stlcc.edu/fp/acc
  ess/Stu/NoteHandout.html

22
Journal Topics for 2/20/08

• What do you feel you are successful at?
• How did you accomplish that success?
• What can you apply from that experience that can
  help you with reaching your goals in college?