Top Proven Benefits of Note-taking – Note-taking is a skill that extends beyond school and university. It also seeps into the working world itself. It may go without notice to most people that they could sharpen their note-taking skills. Contrary to popular belief, note-taking has not disappeared, nor is it an outdated concept. We should recognise it as a significant part of the learning process. Today’s blog will highlight the top eight best tips on being a more efficient note-taker and how note-taking can benefit you. These tips can apply to taking notes from a verbal presentation or written text.

Top Proven Benefits of Note-taking

Do not write every word

The most important thing to keep in mind is that prisonersamongus.com every word is not as important as you think. The key to note-taking is to be able to summarise information in a shorter form. Spend your time trying to capture every word of a presentation, lecture or book. You’ll surely end up missing the critical information presented to you.

Decide what is essential

You can always go back and fill in any gaps and define words. Keep open ears and eyes out for key phrases such as “to sum up”, “a major reason why”, or “there are three reasons why”, etc. These key phrases could even include names and dates. Introductory and closing remarks are common indicators that usually highlights the main ideas of the topic. Repeated words or concepts also sometimes are of some importance, even non-verbal cues such as pointing. The author/lecturer will have their style and phrases that you should look out for, so try to familiarise yourself with their signposts.

Stay Focused

It goes without saying that it’s essential to be positivemomdiary.com an active listener/reader. It can be too easy to lose focus and miss out on the crucial information that is being to you. Here is a video to help you maintain your concentration to improve your note-taking.

Use symbols and abbreviations

There isn’t enough time to write down complete sentences when the information is coming at you rather quickly. Some common ones are “+” or “&” for, and other common examples are w/ for with and so on. To help increase your writing speed trying writing shorthand. There are three methods to writing shorthand, so it’s best to find out which works best for you.

Revise your notes as soon as possible

Once you have taken your notes, please don’t put them away and forget about them. It’s easier for you to edit them while the information is fresh to your memory. You can fill in the missing blanks, rewrite them or even reorder them based on how you’d like to use your notes. Reordering them will also help you use them effectively, and it stays in your memory a lot longer.

Be conscious of your handwriting.

It’s easy to get so immersed in your writing that you forget to pay attention to your handwriting. It’s important to write or type legibly despite your hand aching. For more information about the benefits of handwriting check out our previous blog post.