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Taking Notes

General Tips & Tricks

How do you like to organize information? What makes it easier or faster for you to remember content?

It's important to make your notes your own—watch the video and read the text below to learn some new techniques you can use the next time you're taking note in class!

Note Taking 101

Watch this video for some tips to improve your notes.

Note taking 101 by The Learning Portal

Note-Taking Tips & Tricks

When you take notes, you could try the following tips and tricks:

  • Create your own shorthand: How do you shorten words to help you write down ideas faster?
    • For example, people = ppl, society, = soc, etc.
  • Underline, highlight, or capitalize: Professors often stress or draw attention to certain words or phrases while talking—create a system to highlight these words in your notes focus on while studying later.
  • Use numbers or indentation to show the relationship between major and minor points, or to capture all the steps in a process.
  • Use your own words: Try to listen to the whole point in class and then summarize it in your own words.
  • Be creative: Use drawings, doodles, arrows—whatever works to help you remember an important idea or to show the connections between key points.

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