ITEM 11 : NOTE TAKING STRATEGIES

Item 11: Note Taking Strategies

Hi readers,

We meet again today. As usual, I want to share with you guys a very beneficial topic about note taking strategies. A lot of us might not know that there are actually strategies to take notes, right? No worries! I got your back!

Why Takes Notes

First of all, we might think what is the purpose of taking notes every time we study or during lecture class, right? I will tell you the answer.

But before that, I want to share with you an activity that I was assigned to do by my lecturer to see how good I am at taking notes. This activity is based from my textbook for this course. Check it out!

Activity 5.1 Page 116

As you all can observe from the screenshot above my total point is not bad but I still need some improvement. How about your score, then? Give it a try too so that you can see how good you are at taking notes.

Taking notes do give a lot of benefits to us. Although, developing a good skill for note taking needs practice.

Note taking promotes us active listening ability, it also provides accurate record of information, provides opportunity to interpret and so much more. Let’s just dive into them one by one.

Promotes Active Listening

It helps us to concentrate on the lecture. Sometimes, we might find out that we don’t have any idea what the lecturer is talking about. It is actually a common thing among us students. Am I right?

It is worse if we miss a lot of important information. That is why; when we take notes during lecture we can improve our concentration.

Provides Accurate Record of Information

Getting an accurate information or note is very important. We can’t say that we will remember all of the lectures. We might end up forgetting the important information during the exam day.

Accurate notes are very helpful when it comes to examination because normally the exam questions are not all from the textbook. It also comes from the lecture class. This is why taking accurate notes are very important.

Help Us Organise Information

We actually can structure the information from the lecture with our own way. The way that WE can understand best. It can be an active learning by taking the notes and organize it in our way. The more organised the information is, the easier it will be to learn back later.

Provide Additional Repetition

Taking notes also give us the repetition for the information.

That is how additional repetition happens. It makes us think about the information for times during these processes. Anytime when we go back to refer to the notes taken after the classes, we also do a repetition there.

How to Take Lecture Notes

It is true that we can learn to take notes but it still needs some practice and takes time in order to make it work effectively to us. We can improve our skills in taking lecture note and become an active listener. But sometimes, this process might not work for the others as fast as it works on you. That is why the process takes time. It’s okay because we can follow some of these tips to help us improve our note taking skills.

1.     Evaluate Note Taking Skills

·        Consider The Content

It means that we should consider the accuracy of the information jot down on the note book. We can compare our notes with our friends to check the accuracy. By doing this way, we might be able to determine how much information that we get during the lecture and how accurate the information is.

·        Consider The Organisation

Do not jot down the notes in a miserable way. Organise them neatly on the notebook so that, it will be much easier to do the revision later. It is also important to separate main point and the details. If not, we might be confused by the mixed information.

 

2.     Prepare Before Taking Notes

·        Being prepared means we are ready to face something. The same goes for taking the lecture notes. We need to be ready by reading the chapter before going to class. At least we already get the idea what the next class is about.

·        Sitting near to the lecturer may help us to be prepared to take notes. If we sit at the front row and where the lecturers can see us, we can focus on the lecture. This means that we are ready to take notes as well.

 

3.     Become An Active Listener

·        Characteristic Of Active Listener

-         Physically and mentally focused on the lecture.

-         Often sit near the front of the classroom to avoid external distraction

-         Avoid internal distractions

-         Ask question, answer question and take notes

·        Factors That Interfere with Effective Listening

-         Not attending lecture

-         Allow personal sense of propriety to interfere with the listening

Strategies to Improve Listening Skills

o   Read text assignment before lecture to get the idea of the topic

o   Review last set notes before lecture begins

o   Sit in the lecturer’s line of vision

o   Decide that we want to listen

o   Focus by making eye contact with the lecturer

o   Control emotional response

o   Listen to the main point and details and take notes

 

In conclusion, there are a lot of benefits and good things that we can get by taking lecture notes if we know the right way.

That is all from me for today. Thank you a lot for spending for time reading my post. Goodbye!

 

P/s: All of the information above is based on my study skill textbook provided by my lecturer for Study Skill (UED102) course. All of the images or pictures are just my creativity. I do not own any of them.