Making notes entails more than simply jotting down everything you hear or read. It is the process of reviewing, linking, and replicating ideas from your lectures or reading. Making notes allows you to stay active and engaged during lectures, reading, and revision. Comprehend what you’re learning and clarify your thoughts. Taking notes has the same goal: to direct readers’ attention to the most important information while ignoring everything else. To take good notes and provide a summary of the provided content, read it fast yet thoroughly. Making an effort to comprehend the main points and supporting details.

Advantages of note-making

  • Individualised Convenience: Each person can take notes according to his or her interpretation of the situation. This means that even if two notes come from the same source, they will be distinct since each note-maker is allowed to personalise his or her notes in whichever way he or she sees fit
  • Reversible: Just as notes aid in the creation of information, they can also aid in the creation of a descriptive account of that information. As a result, content decompression is conceivable
  • Changeable: As we go over the notes, again and again, we will be able to make modifications as we see fit
  • Quick Learning: This point is related to our previous point in that as we personalise the convenience, our notes become more and more understandable. As a result, these notes assist us in memorising the main text of the source more easily and rapidly because a text that is better understood is certainly a text that is better learned

Different Passage Types

A factual passage 

It contains information on a subject’s physical characteristics. Instructions, descriptions, and reports are all included. It aids in developing a comprehensive mental picture of a certain person, location, object, or entity by providing a detailed view of the subject.

Discursive Passage

Argumentations, interpretations, and persuasive writings are all examples of discursive writing. Opinions or feedback are included. It takes a balanced and objective approach to the topic under discussion. It assists students in concluding thinking and comprehension.

Ways for note-making

The use of dot points is something we see all the time. The main idea behind this strategy is to give a quick summary of anything in a way that will not be easily forgotten. Taking notes has the same goal: to direct readers’ attention to the most important information while ignoring everything else. Let’s take a look at each of the strategies for taking proper notes one by one:

Heading/Subheading

  •  To assign a concise and understandable header and subheading, we must look over the source information at least twice
  • To uncover the main idea or the topic’s basic outline for the first time, simply read through the full text
  • This will be our headline, and it should be as succinct as possible
  • Try to be more thorough the second time you read because we’re searching for subheadings this time. That is, you must focus on the ideas that support the core theme. The subheadings for brevity are still required

Content

Only write the most relevant content to make your notes as precise as possible. Also, don’t forget to include any essential data that you think you’ll forget later.

  • Ignore all non-essential material, such as extraneous drawings and instances
  • In terms of points, include as much information as feasible, but make sure the material is complete
  • Divide and partition the content logically, and then write the notes in the same sequence
  • Add your interpretations to the mix at any cost. You are free to rewrite the provided conclusions in your own words, but you must not include your own opinions

What should your notes include?

To take good notes and provide a summary of the provided content, read it fast yet thoroughly. Make an effort to comprehend the main points and supporting details.

  • Organise your thoughts into primary headings, subheadings, and sub-sub headings
  • Symbols and abbreviations should be freely utilised
  • Give your notes a title, but not one that is too long
  • The summary should not be more than a third of the original text’s length
  • Ascertain that the summary accurately reflects the author’s concept

Use Of Abbreviations

To help you take notes faster, consider creating a system of symbols and abbreviations. “poss.” for maybe, “esp.” for “particularly,” and “govt.” for government are common acronyms in notes, but you can make your list. More examples include dvpt for development, mngmnt for management, = equal to or are same as, + for positive, – for negative, e.g., for example, ie for that is, asap for as soon as possible, dr for a doctor, and many others.

Steps to note-making

You don’t just take notes when you’re reading or listening to a lecture. Making effective notes has three stages: before, during, and after.

  • Before you begin, find out what you need to know and what the reading or lecture’s aim is
  • During: Make a list of the major points and keywords. Find approaches that are effective for you
  • After that, reflect on and evaluate your notes before organising them

Conclusion: 

Notes-making allows you to remain active and engaged during lectures, reading, and revision. It helps you comprehend what you’re learning and clarify your thoughts. Selective thinking is required to identify key ideas.