I. Why take notes?
*** 1. lecturers cover material that is not in textbooks; expand upon topic with own research, examples
2. to recall concepts, facts, relationships, explanations
3. to increase storage of information in long-term memory; decrease amount of forgotten material
· to increase amount of material remembered (each review increases recall by 20%)
4. review/study for exams
II. How are lectures organized?
1. basic organization: introduction, body, conclusion
2. top-down; relationships indicated by cues (signal words)
¨ main ideas (points)
· major supporting points
* further explanation (examples, details, facts, statistics, reasons,
results)
3. concrete examples: personal experience, etc.
4. digressions
III. What to take notes on?
1. important points: main ideas
2. supporting points
3. explanations
4. whatever is emphasized through changes in
· stress and intonation
· speed of delivery
5. Subject and verb carry focus; complement carries explanation
IV. What NOT to take notes on?
· digressions, personal experience
V. How many notes to take?
· better too many than too few
· use pauses, digressions to fill in missing parts
VI. How to take notes?
· not in sentence form (but in phrases)
· NOT in native language; occasional words ok
· RESTATE information in own words
· SUMMARIZE information
· drop articles, auxiliaries (be, have), unstressed words
· use abbreviations
Þ standard abbreviations (see list) + personal ones
a. first 1-2 syllables (4-5 letters)
b. drop vowels
· use symbols (see list)
VII. Note-taking format
· date, page number, title, professor
· Cornell Method: divide page into 3
- leave margin on both sides
- main topics (underlined) against left margin
- indent major supporting explanations
- indent indent supporting examples, further explanation
· use margin for summary of main points, additional comments, questions for review
VIII. How to deal with visuals (transparencies, slide shows, video clips)
info on transparencies, slides, video = important, main points
Copy the information but leave space between bullet points! Lecturers/videos always elaborate/expand on the bullet/main points.
Listen and write down additional explanations, examples, details, statistics, etc. given for the bullet points.
Note this misconception: Exams will only cover bullet points on visuals. NO! Exams will require knowledge of the supporting explanations, i.e. what the lecturer said but did not include on the visuals.
IX. How to deal with questions (by the lecturer/video/students)
Questions usually lead to main points.
Listen and take notes on the question AND, very importantly, the answer.
Important notes:
American undergraduate/graduate students are held responsible for ALL MATERIAL COVERED IN CLASS AND ASSIGNED IN READINGS. It is considered rude to show up for class unprepared or to expect the professor to review material with individual students who missed class.
Important suggestions:
· Ask questions immediately about terms/concepts mentioned in the lecture or on visuals that were not explained.
· Ask the professor after class about vocabulary/unclear concepts/additional explanations.
· Go to the professor's office during office hours regularly to clarify questions/concepts not understood in the lecture or text.
· Use a tape-recorder as back-up but never INSTEAD OF notes.
· In case you missed a lecture, borrow a classmate’s notes and copy them BY HAND in your own notebook; DO NOT EXPECT the professor to go over missed material with you.
· Ask the professor for any handouts that you did not receive.
·
MAKE AN APPOINTMENT
WITH THE PROFESSOR RIGHT AWAY to go over material you have not understood.
copyright © 2005: Christine Bauer-Ramazani; last updated: April 06, 2005