Taking notes is an important part of your learning.  It will help you to remember new ideas and information long after you have finished reading.  It is easy to think that because you remember and understand at the time you will retain this information.

Filtering the information

As you take notes you are developing skills in filtering information and discarding the stuff that is not as important.

Here are some hints to help you:

• Concentrate on the main message and key arguments. Don't write everything down. Filter out the unimportant information. 

• Use key words or short sentences rather than writing sentences in full.

• Use your own words. You will understand it much more easily when you review it later. Do not quote the writer word for word.

• Keep your notes similar. Use the same styles and abbreviations each time.

• Keep the notes brief and avoid full descriptions or explanations. Include facts and formulas, but avoid examples etc. if possible.

• Review your notes the next day. Check anything that is unclear so you can understand it later. 

• Review your notes regularly. This is the best way to achieve lasting memory. 

Taking notes in class

Reviewing your notes

• Review your notes within 24 hours of writing them.

• Review your material and then explain the key concepts in your own words without looking at your notes.

• Teach the material to someone else.

• After reviewing your notes, think about how the information you’ve learned can be used in a practical way. You could write your own scenarios.

• Review the last set of notes that you wrote before writing a new set.

How good is your recall?

Some research suggests that if ākonga don’t review their class notes, recall will be almost zero after one week, unless the topic was really interesting or was presented in a way that helped them remember the material.

As well as reviewing your class notes you should be following up on your teacher’s suggestions for further reading. This helps you to make sense of the notes. You can then make a better summary of the whole topic area when you need to prepare for an assignment, test or exam.

There are quite a few different methods for taking notes. Finding the best one to suit you and your subject area will help with the organisation and retention of the information as your study.

The outlining method

The outlining method starts with the main idea bullet-pointed. Sub-topics are then indented from the main idea, and support is further indented. This is a tried and true method for taking notes. Start with big topics and add supporting points and details.

Example of an outlining structure: 

Show

Cornell note taking method

The Cornell method is another structured note taking process. Watch the video below to find out how to use this method.

Using common abbreviations while taking notes will save you time.

Here are some examples:

Other hints:                                                                                                          

Write just the beginning of the word: 
different = diff
January = Jan

Leave the vowels out of the word: 
please = pls

OneNote 

Microsoft 365 OneNote is a good tool for taking notes and is free for all ākonga. You can access it anywhere, on any computer, through your Microsoft 365 account.

In Microsoft OneNote, you can enter text via keyboard, create tables, and insert pictures. You can write anywhere on a large document window by just clicking there. Your notes are saved automatically as you go.

In OneNote:

• You can organise work into sections within notebooks
• You can embed multimedia recordings and links
• Locations of pasted information are recorded automatically
• You can share and collaboration with others.