What note-taking strategy did you select? Why?
How will the note-taking strategy you selected help you study? How does this compare to other note-taking strategies you looked at this week?
I always take notes when studying. First of all, it helps me to remember what I read or listen and it is very convenient to look over notes when I need to recall something. Secondly, books always have much explanation and many examples – writing down only the most necessary things always helps to shorten the text or information.
In this week’s reading assignment there were 4 note-taking methods, such as lists, outlines, concept maps, and Cornell method. I liked the fact that it was also mentioned that none of these strategies can be the best for all situations and all types of students, especially because even after carefully reading about them I could not choose only one to use.
The lists method is good. I think it was the first thing I started doing to take notes since I was at school. It is easy, it helps to write the most important statements and recall everything that is connected with them. Though, as for me often lists simply cannot cover complicate information that is difficult to explain or remember. It will take too much effort, time, and paper to make explanations for these lists which turns note-taking into rewriting the textbook. Outlining is convenient and helps to organize the information. It is very easy to find something you need when you take notes this way. Though you must be very careful because if you do not understand something and only outline it, later you might lack the information when reviewing your notes. Concept maps tend to help me a lot. Because of the health problems I need to take some pills that, as a side effect, lead to difficulties in concentrating. Sometimes I need to stop reading or listening and quickly make a concept map, graph, or table to organize everything I learned, see connections between the ideas, and understand them better. The Cornell method seems to be helpful for exam preparation or checking how well you understand or remember the notes you wrote. And, as soon as all four strategies are helpful one way or another, it is very difficult to select only one.
I think that I will use all of them in different proportions and situations. I will use the lists method when I need to capture something that I need to understand and remember; outline method when I need to note only main ideas and statements; concept maps when I need to connect all the information and sort it; after reviewing all the notes I will use someone else’s cards created with Cornell method to revise and check my knowledge of the material.
References
College success. (2015). Retrieved from http://open.lib.umn.edu/collegesuccess/