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The document provides guidelines for taking effective lecture notes in college, emphasizing the importance of preparation, active listening, and post-class review. It outlines a three-step process: preparing before class, taking notes during class, and rewriting notes after class using the modified Cornell Note-Taking System. Key strategies include skimming materials, attending every class, marking important information, and testing oneself on the notes to enhance retention and understanding.

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8 views

scribd_upload_6

The document provides guidelines for taking effective lecture notes in college, emphasizing the importance of preparation, active listening, and post-class review. It outlines a three-step process: preparing before class, taking notes during class, and rewriting notes after class using the modified Cornell Note-Taking System. Key strategies include skimming materials, attending every class, marking important information, and testing oneself on the notes to enhance retention and understanding.

Uploaded by

morokali8
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TAKING GOOD LECTURE NOTES

College teachers expect you can take accurate, complete lecture notes. They also expect you to
understand and learn what you have written in your notes.
You'll need a 3-ring binder, 3-hole punch, writing paper, and pen. Good notes can:
• Keep you focused on what you are hearing
• Create a written record of what you are expected to learn
• Begin the remembering and learning process
• Form the beginning of study guides
Note taking is a 3-step process:

1. Before Class
Skim the assigned or related textbook material: chapter title, objectives, bold headings, vocabulary
words, graphics and illustrations, summary, outline and review questions. Also skim related course
objectives, outlines, and the syllabus.
Skimming gives you an overview of what may be covered in the lecture and helps create an
organizational structure in your mind. Skimming makes it easier to keep up with the lecturer
because you have already familiarized yourself with the topics to be covered as well as any
specialized terminology that relates to those topics.
Review previous lecture notes. Most instructors begin each class where they left off at the end of
the previous lecture. Most also ask if there are any questions from previous lecture or reading
material. Prepare ahead by writing down any questions you wish to ask in class.
Reviewing gets you warmed up for class, reinforces what you have already learned and reminds you
of what still needs to be understood and learned before the next test.

2. During Class
Attend every class. Sit where you can see and hear. Stay alert. Watch and listen actively for main
ideas.
Write down key words, information that is stressed and repeated, references to textbook pages,
change of topics, etc.
Date and number each notebook page and all handouts you receive in class.
Mark your notes if you miss something or if you need to ask the teacher about anything you do not
understand.
As the instructor changes topics, do not try to finish what you are writiing; instead, leave space in
your notes and start the new topic. Consider using a tape recorder with a counter as a backup and
writing down the counter number so you can easily listen to what you missed and fill in any gaps.
Listen for clues to what is important such as "This may be on an exam," or "You should know this."
Mark these in your notes; you'll probably see this again!
If you use abbreviations, be sure to define them somewhere in your notes.
Don't worry if these notes are messy. Don't take the time during a lecture to erase or write more
neatly than you can quickly; you'll be rewriting them soon.

NHTI – Concord’s Community College | www.NHTI.edu


Part of the Community College System of New Hampshire
3. After Class
Rewrite your notes within 24 hours or you will forget everything you learned in class and will have to
spend study time to relearn it.
Follow these steps of the modified Cornell Note-Taking System:
• Draw a line 3" from the left margin of the paper.
• Write key words, concepts, processes, and questions from your notes or the text to the left
of the line.
• Define words and concepts, explain processes and answer questions to the right of the line,
using your own words.
• As you finish writing each page, cover the right hand side and test yourself.
• Check off what you know. Mark what you need to spend more time learning. Speak with
your instructor or make an appointment in the Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) for
suggestions on how to learn and remember complex material.
• Make up note cards to quiz yourself. Practice reciting the answers out loud, without looking
at the cards.
• Reread your notes before the next lecture.
Your notes will look like this after rewriting using the modified Cornell Note-Taking System:

Date, page #

TOPIC

Vocabulary words Define Draw


Key terms
Important people

Concepts Explain Concept map


Processes Diagram

?'s from text Answer Diagram


?'s from class Draw
My questions

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