We all need to take good notes at some point in life, and whether you’re headed back to school to pick up those few hours that you missed or you’d just like to get a little more out of your Monday morning staff meetings, these note taking tips may be helpful.
- When something is important, people tend to emphasize it. Either there is a long pause or they repeat themselves. If the person speaking has a PowerPoint presentation, you may notice the important concept is underlined. They may even take on the extra effort of writing it on the smartboard next to the presentation. At any rate, no matter how they choose to emphasize the point, if it’s important to them, it’s essential to the presentation and should be recorded in your notes.
- In many cases, presenters or teachers will give a summary of the most important concepts at the end of the session. Be sure to record these points diligently.
- During the actual note taking process, be as brief as possible. If you plan to use abbreviations, be sure that you’re consistent with these. Above all, put your notes in your own words. Using someone else’s words and phrases won’t be helpful to you when you review.
It is interesting to note that recent studies show taking pen and paper style notes as opposed to taking notes on your laptop is far more useful. With devices like laptops, those listening to a presentation tend to get distracted, and thus, cannot absorb as much information as they might be able to using older styles of note taking.
