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Research Toolkit: Note Taking

Resources and guides for researching and referencing

Why Note-Take?

Good note-taking provides a record of key information you can integrate within your own writing OR to use for the exam revision. Taking reliable, accurate notes also reduces the risk of plagiarising. It helps you develop your critical thinking in distinguishing where your ideas came from and what you think about those ideas.

Benefits of Note Taking

  • ​It helps you remember what you've heard or read
  • It helps you listen and concentrate more effectively
  • Taking good notes provides you with the foundations for understanding a topic. Good notes will help with an assignment or to study for a test.
  • Putting information your hear or read in your own words develops your understanding of a topic and your writing skills. 

  • Notes are a useful record of key information, and the sources of that information.

  • Notes taken in classes often contain information that can’t be found elsewhere.

The Cornell Method of Note Taking

Cornell note-taking is a popular note-taking method for taking, organizing, and summarizing notes. This method typically results in better overall comprehension. It requires very little preparation which makes it ideal for note-taking in class.

Use this Cornell Note-taking template to help organise your notes.

 

How to Take Cornell Notes

The page is divided into 3 different sections:

  • One small column on the left for cues (keywords, questions, vocabulary, etc)
  • One large column on the right for notes taken during class
  • One block at the bottom of the page for a brief summary


Note Taking Tips

  • Write phrases, not full sentences. 
    Only record the key words that you need to get the idea of the point. Skip words like “the” and “a” that don’t add additional meaning to the lesson content. Retain key technical or discipline-specific terms.
  • Take notes in your own words. 
    Paraphrase what you hear so it makes sense to you—it helps you to understand and remember what you hear. Try to paraphrase everything except where information needs to be noted exactly.
  • Structure your notes with headings, subheadings and numbered lists. 
    Use headings to indicate topic areas or to include bibliographic details of the sources of information. Use outline form and/or a numbering system and indenting to help you distinguish major from minor points and as a clear way of indicating the structure of lecture information.
  • Code your notes
    Use colour and symbols to mark structure and emphasis.
  • Use colour 
    Highlight major sections, main points and diagrams. You can also use different colours to classify and link concepts or information by topic. However, don’t focus too much on colour coding when you’re in the lecture. It requires time and concentration, so it’s more useful to do most of the highlighting and underlining when you’re revising your notes later.
  • Underline, circle, star, etc. 
    Identify key information, examples, definitions, or other important materials with specific symbols. Devise your own marking code to indicate each type.
  • Leave Space if you miss something
    Write key words, skip a few spaces, and get the information later. Leave a space on the page for your own notes and comments.