The process of note-taking.

[werdna]

Since this is a hot topic on the forum at the moment, I thought I'd ask you guys what the process of note-taking for you is like?

I've had a look through some of the notes that have been posted up on the forum, and most of the ones I've seen only contain the same information and material as the textbooks, just regurgitated on a Word document..

So I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to be making notes in this way.. or whether they are even helpful, or whether I'm even doing them right.

[Menang]

I'm summarising the Essentials Textbook atm. I find that the notes I've made probably wouldn't be universally helpful to everyone - I ignore anything I know confidently but anything I'm even the slightest bit shaky on I write down. I go by exercises and title everything. All formulas are noted down as well, as well as some reminders for things I personally always forget/do wrong.

Last year, for Revs, I annotated handouts in class (best way to take notes when you're in a rush, imo) and sometimes made a weekly summary, especially if there were concepts I struggled with.

With humanities subjects, I find that your notes are almost always all over the place - there's so many different sources of notes (stacks of reading/class notes/textbook notes etc) and a lot of these sources are saying the same thing. I spent a whole weekend each term going through EVERYTHING (which takes a while) and putting it into 2 A4 pages which I used as my cheat sheets for SACs. At the end of the year, these cheat sheets were like gold for reivising fr the exam.

There's no real right way of taking notes, imo, and I changed note-taking methods so many times last year. It's just a matter of playing by ear and doing whatever works for you at that point in time.

[pi]

I'm summarising the Essentials Textbook atm.

lol, me too!

[eeps]

I agree with what Menang said, there isn't a right or wrong way/method when it comes to note-taking. Note-taking is essentially summarising key concepts. For me personally, I normally read through a chapter trying to grasp the main concepts. I'll read over the chapter a few times until I get it. Then, I'll take summary notes (i.e. dot point form/mini paragraphs) of that chapter in a separate exercise book. It's the underlying principle I use when note-taking. Find a way of note-taking that yields the results you want, and stick with it. No one way of note-taking works for every single subject, I find. Do what you feel comfortable with. Everyone is different.

[ben_ess12]

personally, i read through the textbook, A+ notes, peoples notes on this site, and internet,
i find what i udnerstand the best and then re-write it into my own words and try and use other examples from the book/internet/notes or whatever.

i try and use dots points as much as possible, and tend to only write down things i need to remember or i classify as important

[azngirl456]

I write my notes on sticky notes and stick them next to the paragraph I summarized them from.

When you first start taking notes, you might find yourself rewording the sentence or copying a condense version of it, but after a while you learn to put it in your own words. It takes practice.