How To Take Notes:
Everyone takes notes in their own way, because of that I will not standardize how you need to take notes. I will give you some helpful guidelines on ways you can retain the information and organize your notes if you have not found a method that has worked for you. The notes you turn in on the day of your tests will be graded for thoroughness. Ideally you will have some notes for every subsection with in section assigned, this will also include major definitions. It is highly encouraged that you use your own language when taking notes, not just copying directly from the textbook.
P2R
Preview: give yourself a little advance preparation, this will give you a sense of what you know and what you don’t know going in. Start by looking at the beginning of your section. Read section titles. If no titles, read first lines of paragraphs. Read the last paragraph. Glance over charts or photos used on the pages. Read study questions or summaries that might be given at the end of the section. Now, take a moment to think about what you have just seen. What do you think will be the main topic of that section? What do you already know about it from your childhood, past courses or other readings in this current class? What is your biggest question right now--what more do you need to know?
Now, you have a sense of where you are heading. Hopefully, you are a bit curious about what you will be reading, have some questions in your mind and will be able to fit what you read into a bigger context of where it fits into the whole chapter.
Read Actively:
Do not take notes or highlight as you read; this tends to break up your flow and diminish you understanding. It also isn’t very productive, because you don’t know if the first sentence is worth taking notes on until after you have read the third sentence, which might be the real point of the paragraph. So, read at least one complete paragraph or a short section before you stop to take notes and highlight.
Your first step after you read the paragraph is to highlight a phrase or two that were the important parts that you'll need to know for future reference. Don't pick just words (too little) or whole sentences (too much). Exceptions to this might be dates or definitions. The idea is that you could re-read JUST the highlighted portion in a month and get the gist of the paragraph without having to re-read the whole paragraph.
This is also a good time to make some notes for class. At the bottom of your notes write down questions that you want to ask in class (to understand a concept or to ask how it connects to something else you've read,etc.). Write down any observations or opinions you want to share with the class. You may want to jot down page numbers and quotes that may be useful to discuss in class.
Review:
At the end of the section, take a moment and think about the section you have read in its entirety. You might want to add a small summary to the bottom of your notes. Then make some broad observations about how it connects to other things you knew or have read or any feelings you might have about what you read. The more you personalize your reading the better chance it has to stick with you over time.
Everyone takes notes in their own way, because of that I will not standardize how you need to take notes. I will give you some helpful guidelines on ways you can retain the information and organize your notes if you have not found a method that has worked for you. The notes you turn in on the day of your tests will be graded for thoroughness. Ideally you will have some notes for every subsection with in section assigned, this will also include major definitions. It is highly encouraged that you use your own language when taking notes, not just copying directly from the textbook.
P2R
- Preview
- Read Actively (includes reading, highlighting, note-taking)
- Review
Preview: give yourself a little advance preparation, this will give you a sense of what you know and what you don’t know going in. Start by looking at the beginning of your section. Read section titles. If no titles, read first lines of paragraphs. Read the last paragraph. Glance over charts or photos used on the pages. Read study questions or summaries that might be given at the end of the section. Now, take a moment to think about what you have just seen. What do you think will be the main topic of that section? What do you already know about it from your childhood, past courses or other readings in this current class? What is your biggest question right now--what more do you need to know?
Now, you have a sense of where you are heading. Hopefully, you are a bit curious about what you will be reading, have some questions in your mind and will be able to fit what you read into a bigger context of where it fits into the whole chapter.
Read Actively:
Do not take notes or highlight as you read; this tends to break up your flow and diminish you understanding. It also isn’t very productive, because you don’t know if the first sentence is worth taking notes on until after you have read the third sentence, which might be the real point of the paragraph. So, read at least one complete paragraph or a short section before you stop to take notes and highlight.
Your first step after you read the paragraph is to highlight a phrase or two that were the important parts that you'll need to know for future reference. Don't pick just words (too little) or whole sentences (too much). Exceptions to this might be dates or definitions. The idea is that you could re-read JUST the highlighted portion in a month and get the gist of the paragraph without having to re-read the whole paragraph.
This is also a good time to make some notes for class. At the bottom of your notes write down questions that you want to ask in class (to understand a concept or to ask how it connects to something else you've read,etc.). Write down any observations or opinions you want to share with the class. You may want to jot down page numbers and quotes that may be useful to discuss in class.
Review:
At the end of the section, take a moment and think about the section you have read in its entirety. You might want to add a small summary to the bottom of your notes. Then make some broad observations about how it connects to other things you knew or have read or any feelings you might have about what you read. The more you personalize your reading the better chance it has to stick with you over time.
