Taking Lecture Notes
Overall efficiency in study can be facilitated by taking notes in class. Good note taking is a skill that surprisingly few students have taken the time to acquire. Some instructors, by their poorly urganiz.od manner of presenting material before a class, make note taking difficult for the students, but by and large, the fault lies less with the instructor than with the student.
In taking notes, keep in mind that your main task is to organize what the instructor is offering. Do this by trying to identify the main points. Don't be led astray by an interesting illustration and an amusing anecdote. Always keep in mind the point that the illustration or story is supposed to make. Condense the teacher's dicussions into simple phrases or sentences. And to make them more meaningful to you, do the condensmg in words of your own phrasing. A good note taker is not a stenographer, who illerely records. He is a summarizer-one who evaluates material that will be useful to him in the future.
Even the best of note takers miss some salient points. They write down short phrases which seem meaningful at the time but do not make much sense later on. Therefore, notes should be reviewed after class. With the lecture freshly in mind. the missing items can usually be inserted and the meaningless ones elected or corrected. If a review of your notes shows lack of organization, it pays to rewrite the completely. The organization and review will stand you in good stead by furthering your understanding of your notes at some future time
Taking notes in most courses can be greatly facilitated by usin a system of abbreviations. If you use such a system, make it consl tent. Many students, especially in the early months of college befor abbreviations have become automatic, have found that a page set aside in the notebook for abbreviations is an aid to the mastery of th system. The use of a system of abbreviations is particularly desirable if the student is the kind who complains that he misses part of the lecture, because he gets too wrapped up in note taking. In general, the use of abbreviations and other forms of condensation helps one to listen and write at the same time.
