subject: Basic Tips On Note Taking For An Essay [print this page] When you start college you'll find out that class is much more different from the way you were taught in school. Whatever subject you are studying, at some point during the term you'll be expected to write an essay based on your own research and on the notes you have taken during class. During a lecture, students are expected to be actively listening, which means that you ask relevant questions and you take notes on what the lecturer has said.
You'll have a set text for most subjects, but you will also be expected to read other books and journal articles on your subject. Reading for information is different to reading for pleasure. You should have a series of questions before you begin reading and your reading should provide the answers to those questions. Keep a pen and paper near you while you are reading as you will need to take notes. Note taking is a personal thing, but there are some tips you can employ to make your note taking easier.
Use a Points System
During a lecture or when you are reading around your subject, you should take notes. Note down whatever seems important to you or whatever answers you have to your questions when you're reading. Once you have written your notes you should read through them and number them in order of importance.
File Your Notes
At the end of each day, take some time to file the notes you have. Use a separate file for each subject and keep your notes in date order. Over time you will develop your own method of taking notes, as you learn which things are important to you. When you go back to your notes later, you might have trouble remembering the context of those notes. One way of avoiding this is to put the date and the title of the lecture at the top of the page on any notes you make in class.
For your reading notes, write down the title of the book, the chapter and page number. It's a good idea to read through your notes at the end of each day and jot down anything else you think is important. As you build up each file, subsequent notes should go behind the first set so that they're in the order the lectures were given, which also helps as a memory jogger.
Mind mapping is a great way of deciding what is important in an essay and many students use a version of this for taking notes. The main idea of a lecture is written in a bubble in the middle of the page and then lines are drawn outwards so that it looks a bit like a spider. Notes are written on the lines and anything else that is relevant to that note can go on another line.
This system may not work for everyone and many students prefer to just write things down that seem important and as suggested above; you can always number the notes later. If you can make the time, it's a good idea to read through your notes at the end of each day as this helps to fix things in your mind.
Once a week you should review your notes as they are a vital part of every successful college essay.
