Taking Lecture Notes

Taking notes in lectures is one of the most challenging aspects of university study. There seems to be so much information and not enough time to write it all down. Some students may ask themselves Why is note-taking important? You need to know the answer to this question if you are to establish your own effective Guidelines for note-taking.

It is also important to understand that Planning for note-taking requires more than simply attending lectures or even Taping lectures.

Good Note-taking techniques will help you to become a more organized and efficient learner.

One of the secrets to becoming a confident and effective note-taker is to be an active listener. In other words, understanding how a lecturer is Structuring information in their lecture gives the listener clues about the importance of the information. Some lecturers may make Supplementary lecture notes available to students so that in the lecture you can focus on gaining an understanding of the information.

Once you have gained confidence in your ability to take lecture notes, you may wish to compare your techniques with our Checklist for note-taking.

If you have a disability which may affect your ability to take effective notes, please contact the Disability Adviser on your campus to discuss support services which may be available to you.

Why is note-taking important?

Notes:

• guide your study and review for exams
• assist comprehension and later recall of content
• act as a check for understanding
• assist you to improve your active listening skills.

Guidelines for note-taking

• Begin a new page for each lecture and tutorial
• Keep lecture notes separate for each unit you are studying
• Note the lecture title, topic and date on the first page of your notes
• Number the pages
• Leave extra space for additional notes
• Make use of cardboard dividers and A4 plastic envelopes to assist in organising information and for including additional reading material.

Planning for note-taking

Note-taking does not begin when you sit down at the start of a lecture or end when you walk out of the room. It is one stage in the process of studying that is connected with study time both before and after the lecture.

Before the lecture

• To gain some background knowledge:
  • Skim and scan the suggested textbook chapter
  • Read over the PowerPoint slides if they are available
  • If English is not your first language, make a list of some of the new terms and their definitions
• Ask yourself questions:
  • What is the topic mainly about?
  • How does this fit into the previous work?
  • What do I think the focus of the lecture will be about?
• Do not read intensively or make detailed summaries before the lecture

During the lecture

• Sit where you will maintain attention throughout the whole lecture
• Watch and listen for verbal and non-verbal cues from the lecturer
• Use effective note-taking techniques:
  • Listen and note key points and supporting details
  • Become familiar with the organisational pattern of the lecturer
  • Focus on understanding key ideas
  • Do not try to take down every word

After the lecture, in the same week:

• Revise your lecture notes
• Read through the suggested reading material for the topic
• Make additional notes and summaries of important ideas
• Prepare tutorial material
• Ask questions in tutorials about information not understood 
• Find opportunities to talk about the subject with other students
• Go and see the tutor in consultation times for clarification

Taping lectures

It is easy to understand why some students might feel that taping lectures will assist them to understand and remember the material covered by the lecturer; however, there are some points worth considering.

If you do want to tape your lectures:

• You must seek permission from the lecturer prior to recording the lecture.
• It can be time-consuming. For every lecture you attend and record, you will need to spend at least one extra hour of your study time, listening and taking notes from the recording.
• You may miss valuable non-verbal cues and visual presentations by relying only on a taped lecture.
• You may miss the opportunity to improve your ability to comprehend English within the lecture format (if English is not your first language).

Taking lecture notes is an important academic skill which does take practice but becomes easier with time.

Note-taking techniques

Most students use a combination of techniques to suit the purpose of their note-taking and the lecture material.

1. Outline method

• Focus on main ideas
• Indent details, less important ideas
• Some students use a numbering system

2. Mapping techniques

• Visually show the connections between main ideas and supporting information

Example:

3. Divided page method

• Divide page into two columns
• Left Column - main idea, key terms
• Right Column - definitions, examples, supporting details
• Often used for vocabulary lists

Example:
ENCEPHALITIS

Shortcuts

Develop a system to:

1. Show importance of ideas

• Large or UPPER CASE LETTERS
• underline key words
• highlight for emphasis

2. Show connections between ideas

• arrows
• circles

3. Identify information you did not understand

4. Condense notes and make note-taking more efficient

• words/phrases rather than complete sentences
• accepted abbreviations in general use and for specific subject areas

  e.g.	for example	i.e.	that is
  def	Definition	w/o	without
  >	Increase	=	equal
  << />	Decrease	&	and

• devise your own abbreviations for commonly used words/phrases

  dept	Department	strtg	strategy
  ref	References	diff	difference

Structuring information

1. Discover the organisational pattern for the lecture:

"Listen to how lecturers say what they say"

• Does the lecturer:
  Begin with a review of the previous lecture?
  Use an introduction to outline this lecture's material?
  Use main points to structure the body of the lecture?
  Give examples to illustrate ideas?
  Summarize the main ideas of the lecture in the conclusion?
  Give a list of references for additional information?

2. Listen for language signals to show:

• important points
  This is central ...
  The most significant aspect ...
• examples
  This is illustrated by ...
  An example of this is ...
• reasons
  This is because ...
• consequences
  Therefore, As a result ...
• changes to a new topic
  Let's move to another concern of educators ...

3. Watch for non-verbal cues used to emphasize main points

• facial expressions
• hand gestures

4. Be alert to changes in pitch and tone

Supplementary lecture notes

Some lecturers may make lecture outlines or PowerPoint presentations available for students to access before/after the lecture.

These resources are useful; however, in general, summaries or PowerPoint notes may only cover some of the main ideas and may not include as many lengthy explanations or examples as given during the lecture.  

Checklist for Notetaking

If you have answered "Yes" to most of these questions, your notes are most likely to be well organised and a valuable aid to your study.

If you answered "No" to most of the questions you probably need to do some work on your note-taking skills to maximize the benefit of the time you spend note-taking.

Contact an Academic Skills Adviser for more information about developing effective note-taking skills.

The benefit of effective note-taking is in the confidence it gives you to feel more in control of your study.

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