Notetaking - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Notetaking is the practice of recording information captured from a transient source, such as an oral discussion at a meeting, or a lecture. Notes of a meeting are usually called minutes

Minutes

Minutes, also known as protocols, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting, starting with a list of attendees, a statement of the issues considered by the participants, and related responses or decisions for the issues.Minutes may be...

. The format of the initial record may often be informal and/or unstructured. One common format for such notes is shorthand

Shorthand

Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...

, which can allow large amounts of information to be put on paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

very quickly. Notes are frequently written in notebook

Notebook

A notebook is a book or binder composed of pages of notes, often ruled, made out of paper, used for purposes including recording notes or memoranda, writing, drawing, and scrapbooking....

s, though all sorts of paper may sometimes be used: for instance, some people like to use Post-It notes. Notetaking is an important skill

Skill

A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills...

for student

Student

A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...

s, especially at the college

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

level. Many different formats are used to structure information and make it easier to find and to understand, later. Computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

s, particularly tablet PC

Tablet computer

A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...

s and personal digital assistant

Personal digital assistant

A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...

s (PDAs) are beginning to see wide use as notetaking devices. In some contexts, such as college lectures, the main purpose of taking notes may be to implant the material in the mind; the written notes themselves being of secondary importance.

Professional notetakers provide access to information for people who cannot take their own notes, in particular the deaf and hearing impaired. Manual notetaking requires pen

Pen

A pen is a device used to apply ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Historically, reed pens, quill pens, and dip pens were used, with a nib of some sort to be dipped in the ink. Ruling pens allow precise adjustment of line width, and still find a few specialized uses, but...

and paper, while Electronic Notetaking

Electronic Notetaking

Electronic notetaking , also known as computer-assisted notetaking , is a system that provides virtually simultaneous access to spoken information to people who are deaf and hard of hearing, facilitating equal participation with their |hearing colleagues, coworkers, and classmates...

(or Computer-Assisted Notetaking) requires a laptop

Laptop

A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...

, often with special notetaking software. Professional Notetakers most frequently work in colleges and universities, but are also used in workplace meetings, appointments, conferences, and training sessions. They are usually educated to degree level. In the UK they are increasingly expected to have a professional notetaking qualification, such as that offered by the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People (CACDP).

Charting

Charting involves creating a graph with symbols, or a table with rows and columns. Graphs and flow-charts are useful for documenting a process or event. Tables are useful for facts and values.

Outlining

While notes can be written freely, many people structure their writing in an outline

Outline

An outline is a list of the main features of a given topic, often used as a rough draft or summary of the content of a document. A hierarchical outline is a list arranged to show hierarchical relationships, and is a type of tree structure....

. A common system consists of heading

Heading

Heading can refer to:*Heading , a process which incorporates the extruding and upsetting processes*Headline, text at the top of a newspaper article*The direction a person or vehicle is facing, usually similar to its course...

s that use Roman numerals

Roman numerals

The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...

, letters of the alphabet

Alphabet

An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...

, and Arabic numerals

Arabic numerals

Arabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...

at different levels. A typical structure would be:

I. First main topic

A. Subtopic

1. Detail

2. Detail

B. Subtopic

II. Second main topic

A. Subtopic

However, this sort of structure has limitations in written form since it is difficult to go back and insert more information. Adaptive systems are used for paper-and-pen insertions, such as using the reverse side of the preceding page in a spiral notebook to make insertions. Or one can simply leave large spaces in between items, to enable more material to be inserted. The above method is effective for most people, but you can be creative in making your own method. (See :Category:Outliners for more about application software that supports outlining.)

Mapping

Here, ideas are written in a tree structure

Tree (graph theory)

In mathematics, more specifically graph theory, a tree is an undirected graph in which any two vertices are connected by exactly one simple path. In other words, any connected graph without cycles is a tree...

, with lines connecting them together. Mind map

Mind map

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Especially in British English, the terms spidergram and spidergraph are more common, but they can cause confusion with the term spider diagram used in mathematics...

s are commonly drawn from a central point, purpose or goal in the center of the page and then branching outward to identify all the ideas connected to that goal. Colors, small graphics and symbols are often used to help to visualize the information more easily. This notetaking method is most common among visual learners and is a core practice of many accelerated learning techniques. It is also used for planning and writing essays.

Sentence method

Every new thought is written as a new line. Speed is the most desirable attribute of this method because not much thought about formatting is needed to form the layout and create enough space for more notes.
Also, you must number each new thought.

SQ3R

SQ3R or SQRRR is a reading comprehension method named for its five steps: survey, question, read, recite, and review. The method was introduced by Francis Pleasant Robinson in his 1946 book Effective Study.....

is a method of taking notes from written material, though it might be better classed as a method of reading and gaining understanding. Material is skimmed to produce a list of headings, that are then converted into questions. These questions are then considered whilst the text is read to provide motivation for what is being covered. Notes are written under sections headed by the questions as each of the material's sections is read. One then makes a summary from memory, and reviews the notes.

Guided Notes

Sometimes lecturers may provide handouts of guided notes, which provide a "map" of the lecture content with key points or ideas missing. Students then fill in missing items as the lecture progresses. Guided notes may assist students in following lectures and identifying the most important ideas from a lecture. This format provides students with a framework, yet requires active listening (as opposed to providing copies of powerpoint slides in their entirety). Research has shown that guided notes improve students' recording of critical points in lecture as well as their quiz scores on related content.

Electronic notetaking methods

The growing ubiquity of laptops in universities and colleges has led to a rise in electronic notetaking

Electronic Notetaking

. Many students write their notes in word processor

Word processor

A word processor is a computer application used for the production of any sort of printable material....

s. Online word processor applications are receiving growing attention from students who can forward notes using email, or otherwise make use of collaborative features in these applications and can also download the texts as a file (txt, rtf...) in a local computer.

Online notetaking has created problems for teachers who must balance educational freedom with copyright and intellectual property concerns regarding course content.

External links

Taking notes on philosophical texts by Peter Suber
Peter Suber
Peter Suber is the creator of the game Nomic and a leading voice in the open access movement. He is a senior research professor of philosophy at Earlham College, the open access project director at Public Knowledge, a senior researcher at SPARC , and a Fellow at Harvard's and...

.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.