Notetaking Methods

All kinds of notes

When you’re planning a shopping trip, you make a list. When you’re telling a story, you tell it in chronological, or time, order. When you’re trying to make a point, you support your statements with examples. Your teachers do the same thing. They use different organizational schemes for presenting different kinds of material. When you’re taking notes, it helps to understand the organizational plan your teacher or textbook is using. Then you can tailor your notes to fit your needs.

Where do you stand?

How good are you at recognizing different organizational schemes? Look at the list of topics on the left. Then write the letter of the topic (on a notebook page) beside the organizational plan the presenter would probably use:

a. What is Friendship?

b. A description of my room

c. Steps in the Scientific Method

d. Why we should recycle

e. The story of my life

f. Dogs or cats as pets?

1. Listing

2. Spatial Order

3. Time Order

4. Compare and Contrast

5. Statement and Supporting Details

6. Definition1c2b3e4f5d6a

Answers: How’d you do? It is important to be able to identify

organizational schemes, because they’re one key to deciding what note-taking method will work best for you. As you’re about to find out, there are many ways to take notes. Matching your note-taking method with your teacher’s organizational scheme will help you make better sense of the presentation. When review time comes around, you’ll understand your notes better, too.

Identify Organizational Schemes While you watch television, you

can actually practice identifying oragnizational schemes and have fun, too.

Form a small group and discuss television shows you watch. Discuss the way information is presented on talk shows, news programs, situation comedies, or informational shows. For each organizational scheme, name a show that uses it:

Listing Spatial Order Time Order Compare and

Contrast Statement and

Supporting Details Definition

Practice Note-Taking

Get together with three or four classmates. Talk about different note-taking methods you

often use in your classes, such as outlines, webs, lists and diagrams.

Choose one person to be the reader. Have the reader read pages 11-12 of the red textbook aloud to the other members of the group.

The other group members should take notes in their journals, using whatever method seems best for recording the information.

When you finish reading…

Compare notes. Discuss the note-taking method each group member used. Decide whether or not one note-taking method was more suited to the material than the others.

Keep in mind individual learning styles may affect the note-taking method a person chooses.

Unlock Your Textbooks

Taking Notes From Reading

Self-Quiz

1. Do you think taking notes while you read is important? Yes/No2. Do you feel that people who take notes as they read get better

grades? Yes/No3. Do you find it difficult to take notes while you’re reading? Yes/No4. Do you ever borrow notes from someone else even though you

read the same material? Yes/No5. Do you write complete sentences when you take notes? Yes/No6. Do your notes help you when it is time to study for a test? Yes/No

Rate Yourself

If you answered Yes to questions 1, 2, and 6, you understand that taking notes from your reading will help you improve your grades.

If you answered Yes to questions 3, 4 and 5, you need some help with your note-taking strategies. That’s what you’ll find in this lesson

Save time with abbreviations:

w/ = withw/out = without+ = and@ = at/aboutb/t = betweenex = exampleP = pageAL= Abraham Lincoln

impt = importantinfo = informationdef = definitionmem = memorize thisT = testQ = quizCh = chapterassgn = assignmentpp = pages

SQ3R Method

Survey Look from the mountaintop

Question Be actively involved: Not killing daisies Generate your own questions: before, during, after

Read Settle down and read slowly and carefully

Recite Talk through what you learned, out loud. Rephrase the question to your teacher

Review After a few hours or days, go back and review your notes. Reviewing will keep

your new knowledge from fading away and allow you to really what it yours.

Review paragraph

On a sheet of paper that you’ll turn in:Summarize what you learned in this lessonNow use your summary to write a goal that

will help you become a better student