Purposeful Lecture Note-Taking

By: Mark

Efficient note-taking

• Question:Is it really important

to take down notes when in fact I can manage remembering all the informations I’ve learned each day?

• Oh... Really?! Actually...

Usual ways of taking notes in a Classroom

One who lesisurely jot down a phrase or two... One who frantically scribble away...

Usual ways of taking notes in a Classroom

One who lesisurely jot down a phrase or two... One who frantically scribble away...X

Taking down notes is a skill!!!

Guides toward developing skills in note-taking...

1. Predict lecture content and organization...

• Having an idea of what you will listen to and how this will be organized will give you a mindset already tuned in to expected content and structure.

Predict lecture content and organization...

Example:• People who have never

been to the desert often assume that it’s a place where nothing can survive. But they are wrong.

Predict lecture content and organization...

Example:• People who have never

been to the desert often assume that it’s a place where nothing can survive. But they are wrong.

• You can guess from this example that the lecture content is going to be a presentation of things that grow in the desert.

2. Evaluate as you listen to determine what is important and relevant...

• Not everything mentioned in a lecture has equal importance. Read the following transcipt of a lecture...

A. You see, in explaining fads, crazes, or even cults... Ummm we need to go back to what sociology calls... Uhm... (on board) collective behaviour. Someone, Park... let’s see... Rober E. park, if I remember correctly, was the guy who coined the term. his definition was... uh, uh... that this is the uh... behaviour of individuals under the influence of an impulse, that’s right, and impulse, common and collective,... ummmm in other words, an impulse... that is a result of social interraction. Take note, take note... by defining it this way, Park, emphasized that participants or, okay, people in crowds, fads, or other forms of collective behaviour share a common attitude or behave alike. And this is not really because of a rule or an authority... like government or police, you know oooor... not because they happen uhhhh.... as individuals to have the same attitudes at the start, but .. uhh... but because of something that most likely took place during their interaction

A. You see, in explaining fads, crazes, or even cults... Ummm we need to go back to what sociology calls... Uhm... (on board) collective behaviour. Someone, Park... let’s see... Rober E. park, if I remember correctly, was the guy who coined the term. his definition was... uh, uh... that this is the uh... behaviour of individuals under the influence of an impulse, that’s right, and impulse, common and collective,... ummmm in other words, an impulse... that is a result of social interraction. Take note, take note... by defining it this way, Park, emphasized that participants or, okay, people in crowds, fads, or other forms of collective behaviour share a common attitude or behave alike. And this is not really because of a rule or an authority... like government or police, you know oooor... not because they happen uhhhh.... as individuals to have the same attitudes at the start, but .. uhh... but because of something that most likely took place during their interaction

You see?! There are a lot of irrelevant words in the lecture... so, it is then SO

necessary to EVALUATE well the lecture...

A. You see, in explaining fads, crazes, or even cults... Ummm we need to go back to what sociology calls... Uhm... (on board) collective behaviour. Someone, Park... let’s see... Rober E. park, if I remember correctly, was the guy who coined the term. his definition was... uh, uh... that this is the uh... behaviour of individuals under the influence of an impulse, that’s right, and impulse, common and collective,... ummmm in other words, an impulse... that is a result of social interraction. Take note, take note... by defining it this way, Park, emphasized that participants or, okay, people in crowds, fads, or other forms of collective behaviour share a common attitude or behave alike. And this is not really because of a rule or an authority... like government or police, you know oooor... not because they happen uhhhh.... as individuals to have the same attitudes at the start, but .. uhh... but because of something that most likely took place during their interaction

Well... Let us examine important things in the lecture...

A. You see, in explaining fads, crazes, or even cults... Ummm we need to go back to what sociology calls... Uhm... (on board) collective behaviour. Someone, Park... let’s see... Rober E. park, if I remember correctly, was the guy who coined the term. his definition was... uh, uh... that this is the uh... behaviour of individuals under the influence of an impulse, that’s right, and impulse, common and collective,... ummmm in other words, an impulse... that is a result of social interaction. Take note, take note... by defining it this way, Park, emphasized that participants or, okay, people in crowds, fads, or other forms of collective behaviour share a common attitude or behave alike. And this is not really because of a rule or an authority... like government or police, you know oooor... not because they happen uhhhh.... as individuals to have the same attitudes at the start, but .. uhh... but because of something that most likely took place during their interaction.

Your notes will probably be like this...

• Collective behaviour explains fads, crazes, cults) – common/collective behaviour of individuals under influence of an impulse

• Not due to:a. rule of authority, e.g. government or policeb. same attitudes of crowd participants at the start

• But, due to:something that took place during interaction

3. Listen for the lecturer’s main points...

• Develop the habit of catching key words. They will help you determine what the important ideas in a lecture are. With these, you can avoid filling up your notes with extraneous details.

3. Listen for the lecturer’s main points...

Let us study the following transcipt:

A. Ok . . . Let me tell you, ahh... the composition of milk is influenced by many factors. Yeah, these factors include breed. Also.. the... uh genetic constitution of the cow.. the individual cow. Aaand, not to be overlooked... the intervals between the milkings. Since the last milk to be drawn at each milking is, uh... richer in fat than the rest, the completeness of milking additionally influences the composition of the sample. Well,.... basically, those are the main factors. But... we can add to them, uh... the age of the cow, uhmmm... also, the stage of lactation and,... should there be any... certain disiease conditions. These should be about te more common factors affecting the composition of milk. A final point, I want to make clear... is... uh, in general, the kind of feed... has only a slight effect on the composition of milk,... however, feed of poor quality and insufficient quantity, again.. poor quality feed... aand... insufficient quantity cause both low yield and insufficient percentage of nonfat solids.

A. Ok . . . Let me tell you, ahh... the composition of milk is influenced by many factors. Yeah, these factors include breed. Also.. the... uh genetic constitution of the cow.. the individual cow. Aaand, not to be overlooked... the intervals between the milkings. Since the last milk to be drawn at each milking is, uh... richer in fat than the rest, the completeness of milking additionally influences the composition of the sample. Well,.... basically, those are the main factors. But... we can add to them, uh... the age of the cow, uhmmm... also, the stage of lactation and,... should there be any... certain disiease conditions. These should be about te more common factors affecting the composition of milk. A final point, I want to make clear... is... uh, in general, the kind of feed... has only a slight effect on the composition of milk,... however, feed of poor quality and insufficient quantity, again.. poor quality feed... aand... insufficient quantity cause both low yield and insufficient percentage of nonfat solids.

The main points in the preceding lecture have been set in italics and

colored with white for you...

A. Ok . . . Let me tell you, ahh... the composition of milk is influenced by many factors. Yeah, these factors include breed. Also.. the... uh genetic constitution of the cow.. the individual cow. Aaand, not to be overlooked... the intervals between the milkings. Since the last milk to be drawn at each milking is, uh... richer in fat than the rest, the completeness of milking additionally influences the composition of the sample. Well,.... basically, those are the main factors. But... we can add to them, uh... the age of the cow, uhmmm... also, the stage of lactation and,... should there be any... certain disiease conditions. These should be about te more common factors affecting the composition of milk. A final point, I want to make clear... is... uh, in general, the kind of feed... has only a slight effect on the composition of milk,... however, feed of poor quality and insufficient quantity, again.. poor quality feed... aand... insufficient quantity cause both low yield and insufficient percentage of nonfat solids.

In addition, signal words have been underlined and also, colored with

white...

A. Ok . . . Let me tell you, ahh... the composition of milk is influenced by many factors. Yeah, these factors include breed. Also.. the... uh genetic constitution of the cow.. the individual cow. Aaand, not to be overlooked... the intervals between the milkings. Since the last milk to be drawn at each milking is, uh... richer in fat than the rest, the completeness of milking additionally influences the composition of the sample. Well,.... basically, those are the main factors. But... we can add to them, uh... the age of the cow, uhmmm... also, the stage of lactation and,... should there be any... certain disiease conditions. These should be about te more common factors affecting the composition of milk. A final point, I want to make clear... is... uh, in general, the kind of feed... has only a slight effect on the composition of milk,... however, feed of poor quality and insufficient quantity, again.. poor quality feed... aand... insufficient quantity cause both low yield and insufficient percentage of nonfat solids.

Your notes will probably be like this...

• Common factors influencing composition of milk:1. breed2. genetic const. of individual cow3. intervals bet. milikings

4. age of cow 5. lactation stage6. disease conditions

• kind of feed – only slight effect on milk comp.• poor quality feed + insufficient quan. = low yield &

insufficient % of non-fat solids

Basics

Basics

4. Make initial guesses on missed information...

• Lecturers usually repeat or paraphrase; as they do so, you can continue checking your notes for accuracy as you listen. Go over the earlier examples of lecture transcipts to see how much repetition and restatements a speaker provides.

5. Don’t take down everything...

• Devise an understandable system using abbreviations or symbols.

• Let us go back at the notes on “Composition of Milk”...

• Common factors influencing composition of milk:1. breed2. genetic const. of individual cow3. intervals bet. milikings

4. age of cow 5. lactation stage6. disease conditions

• kind of feed – only slight effect on milk comp.• poor quality feed + insufficient quan. = low yield &

insufficient % of non-fat solids

Basics

Basics

6. Rewrite or reorganize your notes as soon as possible...

• Rewrite or reorganize your notes as soon as possible whlie the lecture is still fresh in your mind.

Let us watch this following clip considering the strategies in taking down notes...