There are many different ways to make notes. Some are better suited to taking notes in lectures and some to making notes from reading. Try out some of the ideas below to find the ones which suit you best.
Use two-thirds of the page for taking notes in a lecture then add questions, key words, pictures or extra information in the cue column.
If revising for exams, you can hide the main section and test your recall.
Use the bottom section as a summary, a link to other information, a 'next steps' list or anything you like...
Watch a short video about the Cornell method.
Or, download our Cornell Word template below:
Break information into topics and subtopics to make it more structured, understandable and memorable.
Watch a short video about the Outline method.
This helps you see the connections between ideas and information and is particularly useful for visual learners.
Watch a short video about mind mapping.
Divide your page into quarters, with each quarter representing 15 minutes of the lecture.
The limited space encourages you to be concise, e.g. using key words, symbols and abbreviations.
It may also help with focus and concentration.
Download the slides before the lecture and type notes in the notes pane. This keeps your notes linked with the slides and saves you having to write everything down.
Convert information into a mixture of images, words and diagrams in ways which are meaningful to you.
Fun, creative and very effective at helping you remember new information.
Rather than hand writing notes you might prefer to make notes online
According to the OU, there are advantages to making notes online.
However, you need to make notes and not just take them. Note taking is an active process so copy and pasting will not help with understanding.
welcome to sketchu frenzy in this video. I'm going to talk about the basics of visual note taking so first things first why visual not taking well it enhances your memory and retention of information mostly because you now have access to multiple cues which will help you remember what you need to know visual notetaking improves your understanding of the lessons you're supposed to learn because you're not just jotting down what the teacher or the book say but you're exercising your brain by connecting the verbal material to the visual material and of course it's way more fun compared to boring old text filed notebooks there are three things you need to remember when you're doing visual not taking there's text images and structure text and visual note taking is important because it's not merely writing the usual way one does it's writing while making use of of one's knowledge in hierarchy and distinction this means that when you write or du the words you highlight the more important terms so it'll be easier for you to identify the main point from the supporting details text can also be used as a form of visual pneumonics which is the treatment of words as images this helps you understand and remember difficult terms better and it also helps you filler out the unimportant details and places more emphasis on the words you actually need to know plus this translates everything into a language you actually speak since you call the shots with how these terms will look on your notebook images are important because turning words into pictures involves translating terms into recognizable forms from purely linguistic Concepts and descriptions to objects one can actually see think of it this way a picture is worth a thousand words and if you can save up on ink and paper by drawing just one doodle instead of writing a five paragraph description then why not stick to visual note taking structure gives your notes Direction and organizes the flow and relationships of the concepts and lessons you're trying to learn structures can be in the form of charts graphs or Maps they don't just organize your thoughts but they can also help you spot Trends illustrate patterns and they let you see an actual picture of the data you need to examine but instead of doing the usual boring way of making them you can also incorporate what's been said about images and texts this doesn't just increase the visual appeal of your notes but this process of relating words to images and pictures in words so an overall structure improves your understanding and knowledge of the lesson it makes things less complicated for you because you can do things your way and turn the teachers and the textbooks words into structures and images that make much more sense to you that's all for the basics and I hope you learned something new in this video.
