What note-taking method do you find most effective?

Answer 1

Write down everything in a class notebook; then later rewrite and highlight in your "good" notebook so that you can memorize easily for the test.

Answer 2

Listening to the lecture: taking notes at the end of a paragraph break: studying body language and verbal cues for emphasis.

1. People lecture in paragraphs. Whether they realize it or not, the speaker will break for a moment (after a few sentences) before moving on to the next topic. Thats a non-visual paragraph break. Listen first, then jot down notes in between the break.

2. Body language is key. Paying attention hand movements or the eyebrows going up when mentioning a particular date or concept will let you know that this is important and you need to remember it, too.

3. Verbal cues: people slow down when speaking or tend to overemphasize the words or phrases they think are important. Listen for that and write it down.

Answer 3

I'm making an assumption that you are getting geared up for college, so bear with me if that isn't the case.

If you have the money, invest in a digital voice recorder and a laptop computer. When I was in school we only had the little mini-recorders with tiny cassette tapes (I'm knocking on 40) and the internet was in it's infancy, no laptops. But they are super convenient. Then you can record the whole lecture without worrying whether you get everything on paper.

Make sure that with your electronics, whatever the setting, that they are quiet and non-intrusive, that is, that they are allowed. And also make sure that they have enough battery life and recording time to get you through at least one day of classes.

When you get to your fav spot to get your notes down, if you are using a laptop, I suggest blogging your notes. That way you have your files secured and stored online with the option of sharing with study partners, just by offering a link to your classmates. If you want this to be super private, you can also restrict access, as if it were an online journal with a password. Blogs get tagged with keywords and a date and they offer chronological account of how the information is given to you. You can set up a blog for each class or project or set of notes.

So there is blogging. I suggest that you take your digital recordings, reformat them into mp3 files and store them in your laptop for a tiny file, then play the file with your blog page up and start jotting down key points from the lecture and noting any important citations, quotes, etc word for word.

If you stay ahead of your textbook reading, you can bring your questions to class with you and get them "married" into the context of your lectures.

Notetaking after the fact frees up your attention from getting everything down on paper to listening, asking questions, and watching your speaker for visual clues about what they mean.

Hope this helps.