Why is it important to take good notes?

While research and writing are important skills to develop as a scholar, they are both underpinned by your  skills in note taking.  And note taking – to state the obvious perhaps – has a close link to effective reading skills.

 

When you take good notes you can better understand the materials and this in turn, may help you in your research (and in class discussion too!).

When you take good notes you can:

• Better organise your ideas
• Keep a record of what you read and then be able to locate it when you need it!
• Engage with the readings and think critically about what you read.
• Be prepared for class!

 

What do I take a note of? Reviewing the author’s preface and table of contents (if it is a book or edited volume) is helpful in allowing you a quick overview of the work.

 

Unless you’d like to imagine you are a medieval monk toiling over illuminated manuscripts faithfully copying works day after day,  then it is not necessary to write down everything you read. 🙂  This isn’t a good use of your time, and may not help with your learning either.  And while highlighting key terms or sentences in a  text seems  effective,  again,  an over-highlighted page can become a very passive form of reading. (And it makes it difficult to go back and find one idea if the entire page is awash in neon yellow!)

 

One suggestion to guide. your reading is to follow the three P’s:  PURPOSE, PREVIEW and PLAN.

Purpose: what is the purpose of the reading? And, importantly, where does it fit into the context of either your course OR the essay you are writing?

Preview:  before you start reading, preview the chapter (or article or textbook) by reading through the headings and subheadings.   This should help you to engage with the work in a more active manner and give you a sense of the ‘signposting’ the author regarded as important for the reader.

Plan: read with the active question in mind. – why am I reading this work? How will I use the information? (i.e.  what is my plan for this reading?)

AND here I’d add a fourth P: Pause.  While it’s important to keep up with research and essay deadlines, wherever possible, don’t rush on to the next reading. After you read a chapter or article:  take a little time to review the key ideas and questions the reading presented for you and also of any points or ideas you think you need to investigate further…

 

Consider your purpose and plan (pause and reflect) and then this may help you decide on an appropriate form of active reading and note taking!

 

The three P’s are adapted from:  http://lsc.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Three-Ps-for-Effective-Reading-.pdf . Also derived from: https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/taking-notes-while-reading/ )