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Knowledge Notebook

Notes

Good note-taking is crucial to academic success.

First, let's debunk 5 myths about note-taking.

1. Note-taking is unnecessary when the instructor has hand-out or lecture notes for you.
2. Write down everything you could while taking notes.
3. Note-taking method or format is very important.
4. Once done it's done (after note-taking), forget all about it until exam time.
5. Paper and pen seems more "natural" or "typing does not help consolidate my thinking as much as writing".

ALL WRONG.

The truth is:

Myth 1

Instructor's hand-out or notes are simply like books in a library, the knowledge has not been transferred to you even if hand-outs are in your hand. Note-taking is "write to learn".

Myth 2

a) It's an impossible task;
b) More importantly, not every word is equal, that is, something is more important than the rest.
c) We're not passive copy machines.

Myth 3

Cornell Method is widely acknowledged as the best note-taking method, which structure-wise divides note-taking space into 3 areas with 2 columns, namely, left column for cues, right column for note body and at its bottom, a summary. It's excellent but you don't want to be rigid. And digital note-taking can produce better results if you do it right.

With regard to Outline of multi-layered structures, it may look sort of nice BUT don't let appearance fool you. If you're writing a business proposal or a legal document for others' consumption, yes, format counts but not note-taking. It is not recommended during lecture because your short memory (working memory) is limited, such complex structures impede learning (information encoding). So, let it be "flat" while not letting key ideas/concepts slip...

Myth 4

If we really have to be "lazy", at least taking good notes and immediately review the notes for important courses (immediately, meaning within 24 hours).

Myth 5

For the two most important processes of learning when it comes to note-taking, the note-taking itself and the review, for the first process, note-taking, either form does not make any difference in terms of learning outcome, but for the second important process of review, paper and pen approach is inferior for a couple of reasons:

a) hard to read
b) difficult to add substantive additional information
c) impossible to move "idea" around, that is, it's rigid.
d) hard to share your notes with peers for collaboration or offer of help.
e) extremely difficult or impossible for future re-use or reference

Having said that, for subjects/courses, for instance, engineering or math courses, that have tons of equations, diagrams, charts etc. our old friend, pen and paper is still most efficient and effective.