Study Skills Strategies: Note Taking

Study Skills Strategies: Note Taking

Students who are pursuing a higher education are investing a great deal of time, effort and money in the enterprise, and it just makes good sense to take advantage of whatever learning strategies are available to facilitate the process. Indeed, most students spend hundreds of hours in the classroom listening to traditional lectures and student exchanges that are important components of the learning process. One strategy that has proven efficacy in helping students record, remember and relate these classroom exchanges is developing effective note-taking skills. Not everyone knows Gregg shorthand or courtroom stenography, of course, and can reduce everything that transpires in the classroom to verbatim notes, but everyone can use some simple and straightforward techniques to improve their note-taking skills. To identify these strategies, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature together with some empirical observations concerning note-taking skills, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

The need for students to develop good note-taking skills may seem intuitive, but there remains some disagreement concerning just how important they are for academic success. In this regard, Ware and Millard (1997) report that, "Virtually all instructors have advised students who are performing poorly. Frequently, discussions center around note taking strategies. Indeed, many individuals presume that note taking skills are essential for academic success and that poor test performance is related to inadequate note taking skills" (p. 30). Indeed, students today have access to a wide range of mobile devices that allow them to record classroom proceedings verbatim. Nevertheless, at some point in time, students must reduce what takes place in class to writing in the most efficient way, and empirical observations and the guidance provided by several educators suggests that taking notes during class is absolutely essential. Simply writing down a few key words and phrases, though, will not provide the robust study tools that effective note-taking skills can provide. In this regard, Ware and Millard emphasize that, "The benefits of notes is not in taking them, but rather in having them, in that they provide information necessary for later review and elaboration. Note taking has also been described as an 'encoding' process in which the student personalizes information by putting it into his own words" (p. 30). To the extent that students simply rely on verbatim notes based on classroom lectures or exchanges will likely be the extent to which they fail to critically analyze the information so they will be able to apply it in real-world situations. As Ware and Millard conclude, "Although note taking may include transformational and elaborative processes, there is no assurance that this actually occurs. Note taking more closely mirrors verbatim transcription than the transformational and elaborative processes involved in efficient learning" (p. 30). Therefore, students must take accurate notes during class, but they must also augment these on-the-spot recordings with supplemental material based on their own interpretations and perspectives, augmented with text references or outside learning.

Some salient guidance concerning developing good note-taking skills from the literature include placing a date and the name of the class on the top of every page to make sorting class notes out later on easier. Likewise, many students with good typing skills will likely benefit from typing their notes after school, when the information is still fresh in their minds. Students can also learn how to improve their note-taking skills by reviewing the notes taken by students with known note-taking skills. For instance, according to Willis (2007), "Sharing notes is a valuable way for all students to hone their note-taking skills and gain metacognitive awareness of which content is crucial and which is not. Teachers can ask students who have clearly written notebook entries to share them verbally or post them on a bulletin board for the benefit of students who don't have adequate notes" (p. 157).

Some other guidance concerning effective note-taking skills from Snider and Schnurer (2006) include the following:

1. Never give up. If you miss something, get the next argument. Once you stop flowing in a classroom exchange, you are opting out of meaningful participation in it.

2. Try to write down everything you can. Pour your entire attention and energy into this task.

3. Ask to see the notes of your teachers and fellow students. Learn from them.

4. Try to incorporate new techniques to increase your note-taking skills.