If you're in college or university, you probably take a lot of notes in class and when you read your textbooks. Then, when it's time to study for an exam, you go back over the notes you took.
You may have wondered if there was a right or wrong way to take notes. Is there a better way to take notes than another?
Since everyone's brain is so different, there is probably no one way that works best for everyone in every situation.
The main issue with the traditional way of taking notes is that it is a very passive process. Taking notes doesn't really get the brain to interact with the information much. If you can get your brain to organise the new information more actively, you'll remember it better.
If you learn best by seeing things, it can help to take notes with lots of graphs, drawings, and even cartoons. If you are good at hearing but not so good at seeing, you will do better if you record all the notes you need to remember on a tape.
The next way to take notes works especially well for people who learn best by seeing. Some people call this way of taking notes "mind-mapping" or "making a learning map."
Even though it takes some practise to use mind-mapping well, most people who do find that they can learn and remember much more with much less effort.
The learning-map (also called a "memory-map" or a "mind-map") method is simple at its core. You'll need a blank sheet of paper, and the bigger it is, the better. You will need at least one pen, and if you want to use different colours, you will need more than one.
You'll be trying to fill the whole page with your notes, so it's important to keep the size of your writing small. With more practise, you should be able to figure out what size of writing works best.
Decide what you think the main idea is as you listen to the lecturer or read the article you are studying. For example, you might be listening to a lecture and decide that "Conditions in Europe on the eve of World War II" seems to be the main point.
Or you could be listening to a talk called "Strategies plants use to make it through the winter."
Once you've decided what the main idea is, write it down in the middle of the page and draw a circle around it. Don't try to write a whole sentence or paragraph; just write down enough key words to help you remember the ideas.
Keep reading or listening and keep an eye out for the first main subtheme.
When you find the first major sub-theme, choose a spot on the page and write down a few words that describe it. Draw a circle around each sub-theme word, and then use a line to connect the sub-theme circle to the main theme circle.
When you find a new major subtheme, write down a few words that describe it and draw a circle around those words. Then, connect the circle with the sub-theme to the circle with the main idea in the middle of the page by drawing a line. You'll end up with a circle in the middle and several spokes coming out from it.
The lines or spokes don't have to be straight, and they can be any length. The "circles" don't have to be circles; they can also be squares, triangles, or oval squiggles. You can better arrange the ideas if you use different colours.
As the speaker or writer keeps talking about his ideas, you'll notice that some of the ideas he's talking about are more details that help explain or show one of the subthemes you've already found. In this case, you will write down these "sub-sub-themes" with just a few words, enclose them in a circle or squiggle, and connect them to their sub-theme with a line.
As the author or speaker keeps talking about his ideas, your sub-theme circles may have many spokes coming out of them. You will be able to see at a glance what the main points of the talk are and how the ideas are put together.
If you have any of your own ideas as you read or listen to the lecture, write them down as well. This shows that you are using your brain to think about what you are learning.
When you put all of your notes into a mind map or a learning map, you make a very visual document that is very different from the way people usually take notes for class.
Learning maps make it easy to see how main ideas, sub-ideas, and supporting facts and ideas relate to each other. This is especially helpful for people who learn best by seeing things.
Try this method and see if it is the best way for you to take notes.
