17 The Importance of Note-Taking Skills
Note-Taking Strategies for Intensive Reading
In a previous page, we learned that skimming and scanning are reading techniques to be used for “speed reading”. In college, however, you are also expected to do intensive reading of academic texts to study for exams or use in source-based college papers. The information in these readings can be complex, so it is necessary to spend time on the reading and apply note-taking strategies; for example
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- Digital or handwritten annotations (highlights, underlines, and margin notes)
- Blank-sheet notes
- Double-entry notes
- Outlining.
Intensive reading of academic text is quite different than reading a novel or short story for pleasure. Your college-level courses will assign textbooks, journal publications, reports of research, and professors’ handouts; all of which should be read and understood effectively in a short time. By using a variety of note-taking strategies, you will handle this task more efficiently and become an effective reader in order to master the knowledge that these written texts contain. This knowledge will be tested by your instructors in exams and essays, so you want to be prepared.
The purposes of taking notes are significant:
- To identify essential pieces of information in the text, leaving secondary details aside.
- To think critically about the texts you are reading.
- To understand those fundamental pieces of information and reinterpret them in your own words.
- Then, to use these notes to study for exams to ease the task of re-reading these texts again and again. Soon, you will also use notes while writing college-level research papers
How to Control the Amount of Notes While Reading Articles.
Good notes can take different forms and may vary from person to person, or even from text to text. However, one of the key principles of good note-taking is that it is not necessary to identify, highlight, or copy tons of information from the text. There are reasons to prevent this to happen:
- Excessive note-taking, in any of the ways listed above, does not engage your brain and is not a strong strategy for learning and remembering content.
- Excessive note-taking also takes a lot of time and energy, and your time as a college student is very valuable.
For example, simply highlighting loads of information is easy but does not do much to actively engage the brain. Instead of copying down tons of notes or over-highlighting, aim at simplicity and effectiveness. In ESl 116, you will try the strategies listed above. These will help you decrease the amount of time and energy you spend on notes and increase your effectiveness, comprehension, and retention of information from the readings.
