How to Take Notes for Learning

Original Editor - Robin Tacchetti based on the course by Michael Rowe
Top Contributors - Robin Tacchetti, Jess Bell and Kim Jackson

Introduction

We take notes for a range of reasons. They help us to learn, they improve our long-term retention of information and the enable us to record specific events or moments. Effective note taking requires learners to summarise important concepts as precisely as possible in their own words and to connect these concepts with lecture material. During the note-taking process, learners will interpret, filter and process information. This new information will be stored and retrieved at a later date when needed.

Why Take Notes?

Note taking has two main functions:

1. Encoding:
   • the listener has to actively engage with the incoming information when taking notes
   • they then need to make decisions about how to encode that material
2. Storing information:
   • note taking creates a record of information that be accessed at a later date
   • this stored information can be used for many different "post-listening activities and assignments"

Two reasons to take notes:

• notes can extend memory
• notes can enhance focus

However, it is important to remember that the most important element of note taking is the later revision of notes. "If you’re taking notes simply to capture the information that’s on the slides, or that you can read in a book, you’re not adding much value to your learning strategy because you can probably find that information somewhere else."

Types of Notes

There are many different kinds of notes, but five common types are: daily notes, temporary notes, literature notes, permanent notes and project notes.

• Daily notes
  • essentially a journal, diary or calendar
  • notes that are kept in date order to keep track of daily events
    • tasks for the day
    • reminders
    • random thoughts you might need at a later date
  • a place to record administrative aspects of learning (e.g. timetables, notes from meetings with tutors etc)
  • an extension of short-term, or working, memory
• Temporary notes
  • notes taken in the moment can be deleted once the information has been dealt with (e.g. sticky notes with phone numbers, emails etc)
• Literature notes
  • questions, comments, challenges you write to authors in the margins of books or in annotation apps when reading the Internet, or comments on social media
  • act as evidence of our critical engagement with creators
  • these notes often end up scattered everywhere
    • one solution to this is to use a resource manager like Zotero
• Permanent notes
  • the final version of notes taken during your studies
  • will use at a later date (even years in the future)
    • they are a distillation of your cognitive effort to deeply understand a concept
    • can be considered as an extension of your long-term memory
  • these notes have certain features to help them be more useful:
    • descriptive title
    • may have a short summary for longer notes
    • include relevant quotes from original sources
    • include reference list
    • digital notes may include tags for filtering and searching
  • note-taking apps like Obsidian, Notion and Logseq enable internal linking between notes
• Project notes
  • notes that are taken as part of a project/assignment
  • can be archived once the project is complete
  • tend to be a collection of notes, including administrative notes (e.g. meeting notes, to do lists), literature notes, annotations, permanent notes

Taking Notes By Hand Vs Using Technology

Mobile devices have been incorporated into the learning environment and are now used for note-taking. As Pyörälä et al. note, digital note taking enables students to retrieve information (notes / learning materials) anywhere, anytime, when studying and treating patients in the clinical practice. As mentioned above, there are a number of apps to help with note taking (e.g. Obsidian, Notion and Logseq) and some students use their phones to take photos of notes on classroom boards. The speed and convenience of these technologies have inversely affected the amount of time students spend writing.

Technology vs. Writing

There have been many studies comparing the use of technology versus pen and paper for note taking. The end result is that there are still positives and negatives to both. Advantages and disadvantages behind each technique is highlighted below:

Technology Notes	Advantages	Disadvantages
	organised	some studies report poorer academic performance
	comprehensive	can be distracting with multitasking
	more accurate capture of information
	search more quickly and accurately	less cognitive processing

Paper and Pen Notes	Advantages	Disadvantages
	studies report better academic performance with conceptual questions	no difference on factual questions
	ability to make connections between different areas on notes
	able to draw images	less words captured
	better cognitive processing
	better recall of concepts for longer periods afterwards	slower

** Overall research is showing that there is not a big difference between the two note-taking techniques, but what is important is the quality of the notes.

Sketch Note taking

One technological application that is popular with learners is sketch note taking which is also referred to as visual or graphic notes. This technique involves notes with illustrations or symbols as well as text. The combination of drawing with writing has been shown to increase memory and retention. The use of sketch notes helps create stories rather than just ideas.

Note Taking Techniques

Cornell Method

Of the more common methods of taking notes is the Cornell note system. This technique helps organise class notes into easily understandable summaries. It is practical because the main points, study cues, details and summary are all written down in one location. This method has a distinctive layout using a single sheet of paper separating divided into three columns. Each column is intended to serve a specific purpose. The three columns are categorised as cue, note-taking and summary area.

1. Cue column:
   • most important section
   • add a question for each note written; helps organise or remember the information
   • use for review of notes
   • can use vocabulary words
2. Note-taking area:
   • quick note taking
   • using during class
   • getting overall concept and important details
   • use of bullets, graphs, drawings or definitions
   • information regarding what is on the board or what professor says
3. Summary area:
   • summarises the details of the note-taking area column into a few sentences to attain the big picture
   • trying to to envelop what this particular page entails
   • key ideas that should be reflected upon

The Cornell Method is organised and easy to review. It allows the learner to extract key ideas and concepts.. This technique provides students the ability to reflect on the information and test themselves throughout the lecture and post-lecture. Students can perform mini self quizzes by covering the note-taking area and only exposing the cues. By reviewing the list of cues, the student can assess themselves on their respective notes that accompany each specific cue. Instant feedback is provided with this reciting method and provides motivation to continue. Therefore, this method of note writing uses active reflection rather that passively re-reading the material.

Watch the video below by Cornell University for ideas on how students use the Cornell Method:

Resources

• How To Focus When Learning
• Creating New Habits For Learning