TOP 10 (PLUS 1) MOST IMPORTANT NOTE-TAKING TECHNIQUES FOR ACADEMIC SUCCESS

Follow up from last week’s post. Emphasis is on brevity, clarity and organization. Students need to be able to see the ‘trees through the forest’ when they are done recording notes. These are my SQ4R guidelines:

1)    INDENTATION – identify the Publisher’s Convention (use of font size, color and style) in the textbook to determine the outline of your notes before you begin recording. Save valuable marginalia space for visuals.

2)    NEVER RECORD NOTES IN COMPLETE SENTENCES – too wordy, the emphasis is on brevity and you need to eliminate all unnecessary keystrokes.

3)    ALWAYS TRANSLATE SENTENCES INTO BULLETS – this improves comprehension and saves lots of key strokes

4)    CHANGE HEADINGS TO QUESTIONS – use questions as prompts to determine what’s importance in the text and needs to be recorded

5)    NEVER RECORD NOTES VERBATIM – again, the emphasis is on brevity and it is unnecessary to record notes word-for-word

6)    USE ACRONYMS – save lots of keystrokes by using acronyms as often as you can without diminishing the effectiveness of your notes

7)    USE ABBREVIATIONS – like texting, be creative and use abbreviations like lol, brb, ttyl and others to save lots of keystrokes

8)    USE MNEMONIC METHODS – like PEMDAS, (parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction) to save heaps of keystrokes

9)    KEY WORDS – with definitions always get recorded into your notes

10)RECITE NOTES EVERY HALF PAGE – reciting is an effective learning technique used to learn songs, poems, prayers and notes

11)USE COMPUTER ATTRIBUTING – use the attributes of your computer to create brief, clear and organized notes so you can “see the trees through the forest!”

To learn more about 21^st Century Study Skills please visit our website and contact me to discuss your Staff & Student Training needs: http://www.21stcenturystudyskills.com/videos/How-to-RECORD-Notes/9