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Reading and notetaking

What to do with what you read

Reading for pleasure is usually passive, but reading for university must be active.  Immediately after reading a text is the right time to Do something. 

Notetaking is a way to actively engage with the reading.  However, without structure and purpose, notetaking can be ineffective. 

Notetaking is most beneficial when you:

  • Base your notes on answering the questions you designed in the Get Set stage of reading.
  • Adapt notetaking strategies based on the type of information identified when reading.
  • Keep your notes organised. Consider using a system such as the Cornell method, for instance.
  • Can use your notes to review.  Avoid going back to your textbook; your notes should be succinct but detailed. 

Write a set of notes from your readings which is separate from your notes from lectures and tutorials.  It is a good idea however, to combined these notes into one summarised overview of the topic/week’s content.  See more about study planning and strategies below.

Chose a notetaking method and make it your own

Whichever notetaking method you decide on is up to you.  The best method for you will be the one which helps you organise your notes, so think about how you learn and use a method which aligns with how you think and study.  

Notetaking methods

There are many notetaking methods. The Cornell method is very popular because it is an active form of notetaking. This video (6.15 min) provides an excellent overview of the Cornell method. 

The information is more important than the method

Critical to good notes is selecting what information to record.  You will need to carefully select what to write in your notes so they are concise and helpful but full enough to avoid returning to the larger sources.  

Let us use the PECKS strategy to identify the type of information and the most effective way use this information immediately after reading it.  

Using PECKS when taking notes

How to use practical information effectively

Remember practical information is context or processes

  • In your notes, list the steps to follow, as concisely as possible.  
  • Draw a diagram, or add a link in your notes to a video or image which shows how the process works or how the context is related to the topic.
  • For a process or a skill you need to do more than take notes.  As much as possible, practice the skill or process straight away. 
  • For contextual information, bring the situation to mind and imagine interacting with it or watch a short video about that experience.  Add the link to your notes. 
  • If you are not personally familiar with the context, do a quick internet search to better appreciate why your topic is important. Note down what you learnt.

Go to the next tab: For evidence

How to use evidence effectively

Remember evidence is support for claims

  • In your notes or in an evidence table, summarise the evidence from each section.  Where possible store all the similar points of evidence together. 
  • Use a separate evidence table to collect all the relevant details in the one place.  This is handy for topics which span multiple weeks of content or which relates to essay questions. 
  • Use a literature grid to summarise journal articles. The literature grid can contain a single article as a summary (attach this to the document if possible) or it can be used to collect multiple related articles which will help when writing a literature review or developing a rationale. 
  • When you come to develop your logical argument, perhaps for an assignment, you can sort through either of these tables and find the most compelling and relevant evidence.  
     

Useful resources

Literature Grid

When you have a research question and you need to read several journal articles it can help to collect evidence using a Literature Grid, rather than separate notes. 

  • Use this literature grid template for collecting a summary of evidence from a selection of journal articles including the details of the study which is handy when you write up the literature review. 
  • A spreadsheet is also a great way to collect and evaluate large amounts of articles – below is a spreadsheet version you can use.

Go to the next tab: For concepts

How to use concepts effectively

Remember conceptual information includes theories, models, and frameworks or anything abstract.

  • Show how concepts are connected by draw a mind map.  Mind mapping shows a visual picture of the connections. 
    • Keep building on your mind maps rather than designing new maps for each concept. By the end of the course you might have one or two visual overview showing how every topic is connected.   
  • Think of an analogy for the concept.  Analogies help you to see how a new concept is similar to a concept you already understand.  
    • When you identify an analogy, it helps to think about how the new idea is similar to the familiar idea and importantly, how they are different.  
    • You can use Generative AI to suggest an analogy if you are getting stuck. 
  • Find examples of your concept. Instead of memorising a large amount of content, pay attention to examples of what a theory represents or a real-life example that a model helps explain.
    • You can use Generative AI to suggest an example if you are getting stuck.

Useful resources 

  • You might find mind mapping software useful.
  • Use ChatGPT to suggest an analogy or example related to the concept. 

Go to the next tab: For key terms

How to use key terms effectively

Remember key terms include terms you want to define and key people

  • Develop a glossary of definitions and key people. You can also categorise these by topic or concept.  You might find it logical to place this glossary at the beginning or the end of your notes.  Another idea is to put key details like these, in the margins of your page if you are using the Cornell method.  
  • Create flash cards to test your recall of these key terms and their definitions.  There are online flash card creators which are useful too.   
  • Add these key terms and people to your mind maps to show how and where they fit into the concepts. 

Go to the next tab: For sundry

How to use and avoid sundry information effectively

The key to this kind of information is to avoid it.  It could be easy to highlight every word in your textbook but this is not effective and it will not help you to take effective notes.  General information may help to support your understanding but it usually does not help to extend your learning. Only use the sundry information which is particularly helpful to you and ignore the rest. 

Remember sundry is reference or general facts.

  • If you think it would be important to remember a general fact, try using it in an everyday conversation today.  The information should be general enough that it would be relevant to many different types of conversations, or you might like to suggest to a friend that you tell them an interesting fact you have learnt this week.   

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