Note Taking - Keele University

Effective Note Taking

Effective Note-taking: An Essential Skill


It is imperative that you take good notes in lectures, seminars and when reading. Kenny [1] states that "it has apparently been proved by research that the average number of items a person can hold in his [sic] short-term memory is seven, plus or minus, two, and a law lecture containing less than seven points worth remembering would be most unusual." However, there are efficient and effective ways to take notes and there are notes that are of no real help whatsoever.

The first thing you need to do is to have a clear idea of why you are making notes on a text or lecture. Whatever it is that you are reading or listening to, the key is to work out what you need understand and why you need to understand it and then you will know what to make notes on.

You also need to be aware of the purpose of note-taking rather than just mindlessly making notes on everything.

Let's consider the purpose of note-taking:

  • Helps you understand how ideas interrelate
  • Reminds you of key points
  • Great for revision
  • Good for concentration
  • Highlights the key thinkers in an area

This directs the way they should be taken:

  • Helps you understand how ideas interrelate - thus they should be laid out in a way that makes this obvious.
  • Remind you of key points - so important material needs to be in your notes and highlighted in some way, and less important stuff can be minimised.
  • Great for revision - therefore you need to be able to understand them out of context, for example if you return to them during revision.
  • Directs you to the key thinkers in an area - thus you need to note further readings or things you need to research further.

The most important thing is to have the confidence not to make notes on everything – there will be certain things that you need to understand in far more depth than others. Often you will need to understand an overall argument or theory rather than get bogged down in extraneous details.

Some people do this through making pictorial notes i.e. spider diagrams or mind maps. Most people write linear notes, that is text working down the page.

Making notes in lectures and tutorials

Assessing your current note-taking methods:

  • Do you try to write everything down?
  • Are the notes illegible and difficult to understand when you look back on them later?
  • Do they provide you with greater clarity of a topic?
  • Do you actually find them useful to revise from?
  • Do you spend more time writing rather than listening and understanding what the lecturer or tutor is saying?
  • Do you listen out for cues – the lecturer stressing that something is particularly important?
  • Would someone else understand them? (if not, the chances are you won’t understand them as time goes by either!)
  • Do you write out words and cases longhand?

Improve your strategy

Be selective –

What do you need to record and what can easily be found somewhere else – textbooks, online lecture handouts on the KLE or in the reading pack?

Why do you feel it necessary to write everything down that the lecturer says – fear? (Such comfort-blanket notes are rarely helpful to your understanding of a topic)

Be active –

Listen out for cues. The lecturer will often emphasis key points with expressions such as:

  • A key issue is…
  • I would like to stress…
  • An ongoing problem has always been…
  • It is important to understand that…
  • Please note that it is…

Observing which points are stressed and making notes on these is crucial.

Also reflect on how what the lecturer says interacts with what has been explored in tutorials, lecture webpages, past examination papers, articles your lecturers have written, and what is topical at the moment.

You need to make meaningful and critical notes that you can actively interact with – perhaps later condense into spider diagrams or flash/index cards or charts; perhaps use colours and symbols to help you to remember cases and academic critiques.

You are not a passive recipient of knowledge, but an active listener and note-taker.

If you do some reading on the subject beforehand, it’ll be easier to make concise and relevant notes as you’ll be aware of the key issues.

Be critical –

  • Record your response to the lecture: what do you think?
  • Is there an opposing view
  • What is interesting and you’d like to follow up on in more detail
  • What’s confusing or unclear and you need to find out more about
  • What points has the lecturer lingered on or stressed as a key issue – no doubt these will come up in an exam, in tutorials, or in coursework questions.

Be practical -

  • Develop you own abbreviations to make note-taking quicker, but beware of “text-talk” abbreviations as they can end up creeping into exam responses and emails to staff and vocational contacts! Not very professional!
  • Storage – how are you going to store the notes? Ring binders are generally best as they allow you to reorganise the order of notes when it comes to revision.
  • Pens. Are you using a pen that you can write with easily? Is it comfortable to grip? Does the ink flow freely? Can you write neatly with it?

Tip…

As soon as you can, look at the notes and add anything you have missed, chase up any points you did not fully understand and think about the key ideas of the lecture and how it relates to what you have already learnt and what you are about to encounter.

Copying out your notes more neatly or typing them up is generally a waste of time unless you genuinely find that it helps you to process what you have learnt. Reviewing your notes as you go along is the best way to understand a topic. If you do, it will make revision for examinations much easier.

Making notes from cases, journals and books

Have a look at your module reading list or seminar handout. Why does the module leader want students to read this case or article? Do you have to answer specific questions or take part in a general discussion of an area of law? Is it to understand a point of law, or is it because the author makes a specific argument of which you need to be aware?

Are there any differences between academics’ views (a debate or argument) or case reasoning?

Knowing this will help you to determine what you’re looking for in the case or article, and therefore what you need to make more focused notes on. Do you need:

§ to know the law?

§ to know an argument?

§ to find specific information?

§ to get the general gist of it?

Have a look at the chapter, article or case you need to read. How is it organised?

Articles and chapters:

§ The introduction or abstract should give you an idea of what the article is about – its key themes and arguments. Also have a look at any sub-headings.

§ Read an article first or at least a page or section of it before starting to make notes or highlighting anything – only then will you be able to judge what you need to focus on.

§ If you’ve already read one article on this topic, just make notes on what this particular author’s key arguments are and how they differ from the arguments of other authors you have also read.

§ Don’t take notes of things you know already – just use keywords to remind you.

§ Note any key arguments using bullet points or diagrams. Don’t copy whole chunks of text.

§ Don’t highlight everything (it’s no use at all!).

§ You’ll save time in revision and feel more confident in class, if you prepare yourself a few pages of crib notes based on your reading rather than 50 odd pages of highlighted notes.

Cases:

§ Make notes of the key stages of the argument of the leading judgment.

§ Make notes on how the other judgments differ in their agreement – they might agree on the outcome of the leading judgement but for different reasons.

§ Make notes on any dissenting judgments - these are useful to give you counter-arguments to the way the law is.

§ If you need to know legal arguments, the reasoning of the judgment is the most important thing so make clear notes on this.

§ Skip the facts as stated by the judge. This will save you reading several pages. Read and make notes on the headnote summary of the facts instead. This is usually all you need to know about them.

§ What’s usually important is the principle of law (the ratio) and the key arguments either way.

General points about note-taking

  1. Whatever it is that you are reading, the key is to work out WHY you need to read it and then you will know WHAT to make notes on!
  2. Read comparatively. In other words, as you’re making notes, actively think about how the reasoning and arguments in the case or article you are reading differ to similar texts that you have read in the area.
  3. You must review your notes soon after they are made, as it’s easier to rectify anything that doesn’t make sense to you whilst the article/lecture/tutorial is still fresh in your mind.
  4. Check the accuracy of your notes against other sources, or if they are notes from a lecture or tutorial, check their accuracy against a textbook. There is nothing worse than revising from notes that are inaccurate as you’ve been half-asleep or distracted when you have written them or misunderstood a point that was being made.
  5. Decide how to store them (chronologically?) and where to store them (loose-leaf ring binders are best). What is the point of making notes if they are just haphazardly stored in a file and you can’t find the ones you’re looking for?
  6. Whether taking notes when reading or listening, remember that you are not a passive recipient of knowledge, but an active and reflective listener, reader and note-taker. Remember, these are YOUR notes to assist YOUR understanding!

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1 Kenny, P. H., Studying Law (5th edn) (London: Butterworths, 2003) pp30-31