Study Methods 2: Note-taking

Introduction to note-taking

Notes for study reading

Specific note-taking techniques

In the beginning it will be an advantage to experiment with different note-taking techniques; partly you will need several note-taking techniques throughout your studies, and partly there is often one technique that suits your way of working particularly well.

Another good piece of advice is to take notes in bursts, that is, you should wait to take notes until you have a meaningful unit. It may be a paragraph, a chapter or perhaps the whole text you have to read or hear before you take notes. That way it is easier for you to work out what is relevant and not relevant to note down.
A third piece of advice is to use your own language when you write notes. When you use your own formulations, you engage more actively with the material, and you learn and remember it better. 

It is also an advantage to make your own system of abbreviations, so as to save time and space 

Jørgensen, P. S. (2014). Notatteknik for studerende på videregående uddannelser—Lyt, læs—Notér—Og skriv (3rd edition). Samfundslitteratur. 

Here are some examples of abbreviations and symbols:

Here you can read about different note-taking techniques. Most of the techniques can be used whether you are reading, in class or watching a video.

Mini abstracts

• Read the whole text
• Put the text away and then write a short summary of it

Mini abstracts give a lot of learning in a short time, and they are especially good for exam revision.

Underlining and margin notes    

• Underline only the most important passages in the text. 
• Write thoughts, ideas and questions in the margin. Do not repeat what is already in the text.

If you are reading on the computer, use a pdf reader so you can make underlinings and margin notes directly in the pdf.

There is a greater chance of remembering what you have read if you have marked it, though not as great as if you have worked with the text in more depth.

Keyword notes     

• List and define the subject concepts you come across in the text
• Note theorists and events, and attach a few descriptive words to them

Keyword notes are especially good at the start of your programme, when you have to acquire a whole new set of subject concepts.

Mindmaps

• Start by writing the central topic or concept in the middle of the paper.
• Draw lines out to different sub-topics and sub-sub-topics
• Let the map grow outwards in width. It is easier to take in things in width than in height.
• Do use colours and symbols to emphasise the different themes and the concepts' relation to each other.

Mind maps are a good method for creating an overview of connections.

When you have finished taking notes, spend a few minutes reading them through, and consider whether you should add, delete or restructure anything. This short post-processing can both increase your learning and make your notes more usable.

At the same time, it is time well spent to make a system so that you can easily and quickly find your notes again when you need them. 

• With handwritten notes, remember to mark them clearly with subject, topic and date and store them in a system that makes sense to you. You can for example use folders with dividers and notebooks in different colours.
• With digital notes you can make a good folder system either on your computer, online in Microsoft Onedrive, or you can save them in the program Microsoft OneNote.

Did you know?

Research shows that you achieve a deeper understanding of a text if you take notes while reading. 

Bohay, M., Blakely, D. P., Tamplin, A. K., & Radvansky, G. A. (2011). Note Taking, Review, Memory, and Comprehension. The American Journal of Psychology, 124(1), 63–73.

Digital note-taking tools

If you take notes on the computer, here are examples of specific tools that can help you structure and save your notes

PDF-Reader    

With a PDF reader you can both underline in your PDF files and add comments in different places in the document. 
There are several different PDF readers. You can for example use Adobe Acrobat Reader or, for more advanced use, invest in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

OneNote

With One OneNote you can make digital notebooks and divide them into both pages and sections. You can share your OneNote notebooks with your fellow students, and in that way you can share, co-write and enrich each other's notes.

In OneNote you can integrate your notes with e.g. pdfs and PowerPoints from your teaching. If you use one OneNote for all your notes, you can search across all notes at once.

Here is an example of how a student of social education has used OneNote:

Mindview

Mindview is a program you can use to make mind maps online.

A Mindview mind map could for example look like this:

Notes in class

You should not write down everything the teacher says, but a few notes from each session can help you hold on to what is said and discussed in class. Taking notes in class can also help you keep focus and process what is being taught.

In class you can focus on and note down:

• What the teacher says at the beginning and end of the class; that is often where the most important things are said.
• What the teacher's angle and focus on the material is
• When the teacher comes to life. If the teacher suddenly speaks with a greater enthusiasm, it is often because they find it important.
• When the teacher says words like:  ”The conclusion is…”, ”An important point is…” In that way the teacher often helps to tell you when something is important.
• What reactions, associations and reflections you have yourself along the way.

Jørgensen, P. S. (2014). Notatteknik for studerende på videregående uddannelser—Lyt, læs—Notér—Og skriv (3rd edition). Samfundslitteratur. p. 35)

The better prepared you are for the class, the easier it is to focus on the most relevant things.

You can prepare by:

• Looking through the day's plan on Itslearning
• Looking through the day's texts. If you cannot manage to read them all, skim them and possibly select a single one that you read more thoroughly.
• Looking through the notes from the last session
• Asking yourself what you would like to get out of the class 

Jørgensen, P. S. (2014). Notatteknik for studerende på videregående uddannelser—Lyt, læs—Notér—Og skriv (3rd edition). Samfundslitteratur. p. 34)

It is a good idea after the class, or at least the same day, to take five minutes to tie up any loose ends there may be in your notes. If there is something you did not understand in the class, try to find out about it, either by talking to your fellow students, or perhaps you can find an article or a YouTube video about it.

If you take notes by hand, it goes a little more slowly, and you are therefore less inclined to take too many notes.

If you take notes on the computer, you can write a little faster, but perhaps you then fall into writing down too much. On the other hand, you can more easily edit the notes afterwards and structure them in folders. 

Did you know?

Research shows that students who process their notes after a lecture by, for example, restructuring them and making additions get better grades than students who do not.
Cohen, D., Kim, E., Tan, J., & Winkelmes, M.-A. (2013). A Note-Restructuring Intervention Increases Students’ Exam Scores. College Teaching, 61(3), 95–99. Academic Search Premier. 

Notes when you are on an internship

Before you start your internship, it is a good idea to consider how you want to capture your experiences. You will get many new impressions, and it can be difficult to remember details, and how you have developed professionally, if you have not written anything down along the way. Internship notes can take many different formats, and perhaps you will get something out of using more than just one of these. 

Specific note-taking techniques for internships
Internship notes can be written both while you are at the internship placement and as a reflection when you have left the day's work. Internship notes cover observations, short descriptions of everyday life and other forms of documentation of the internship. These notes can be either digital or physical notes on paper. 

Logbook 
One of the most common tools in connection with internship notes during the internship is keeping a logbook.

The purpose of writing in the logbook is to give a chronological overview of the internship period and your professional development. A logbook can contain both short summaries of meetings with your internship supervisor and descriptions of situations, projects, tasks and professional considerations. It can also contain personal considerations and reflections, joys and frustrations, which it can also be good to get written down.

Set aside time to write in the logbook every day. You can for example write on the basis of the following questions: 

• What have I done today?
• How has my professional knowledge been brought into play today?
• What went well? – and what went less well?
• What have I wondered about?
• What did I learn that was new for me? 
• What do I need to seek out more knowledge about? 

Remember also to save other internship material, such as interview guides, interviews and other material handed out by the internship placement.  

Oral notes 
You can record yourself on your smartphone. An audio recording is also a kind of notes that you can return to later. Try recording yourself talking about your topic, the day's experiences or something else, and where you want to go with it. This process can help you structure your stream of thought, either before you write your notes or as an alternative to them. 

If you produce a lot of oral notes, make sure to create a good system in the file names, so that you can easily find the relevant audio file again. 
 

Visual fieldnotes 
Photos, videos, drawings, sketches, diagrams and mind maps are also useful for capturing experiences from your internship. Visual notes can give an overview of things such as layout, the placement of people in a room, design choices and documentation of specific objects, situations or actions. The visual notes add another angle, which may bring out other experiences from the internship. 

Remember to be aware of GDPR legislation if you take photos or videos of people or have access to materials containing personal sensitive information during your internship.