Handwritten notes can make us smarter. Scientists from Princeton University came to this conclusion . If you write notes by hand, you will physically not be able to write down everything the lecturer says or everything that is stated in the textbook. But handwritten notes require active brain function, which means you'll remember almost everything you write down. Notes taken on a computer or tablet are also good, but less effective. How long has it been since you took notes when studying something? What about when learning programming? In this text, at the request of our users, we will outline the basic note-taking methods that have worked well, and also recall several note-taking applications.
Rules for useful notes
To begin with, here are a few rules for taking notes. They will be useful regardless of the note-taking method you choose:
Write down only the essentials: details that are not important can be excluded.
Use hierarchy in the text: headings, subheadings, lists.
Try to express what you have learned in your own words.
Abbreviate the most common words (to do this, you need to develop a system of abbreviations that will be clear to you and that you will not forget in a day).
What are the different note-taking methods?
Cornell method
It is a note-taking system developed in the 1940s by Walter Pock, a professor at Cornell University.
The student divides the page into two columns: the column for notes (usually on the right) occupies 2/3 of the page, and the column for questions and keywords occupies 1/3 on the left. At the bottom of the page you need to leave five to seven lines or about 5-6 centimeters.
Notes made during a lecture or working with a text are written in the column on the right. These are usually the main ideas of a text or lecture.
Questions on the topic, keywords or plan are written in the left column. You can also write down questions that are not answered in the textbook or during the lecture.
The bottom of the page is used to summarize and summarize the topic. As a rule, this requires several sentences, unless the topic is very extensive.
What's good about this method?
The Cornell method helps you structure information and quickly find it in your notes.
Schematic method
The structure of the outline with this method is a list with several levels of nesting. At the top is the main one, below in the structure is the branching from topics to subtopics. Thus, we get a branched “tree” of lists. Be careful: do not overdo it with the number of levels, otherwise you yourself will get confused in your notes.
What's good about this method?
Even before recording, you will analyze the topic of the summary and highlight what is more and less important. Determining the level of importance helps you better understand new information.
Sentence method
It can show that this is an ordinary note: information is written down one by one depending on what is heard and read. But there is a difference: each new sentence is written on a new line and numbered. Although linear, it allows connections to be made between different parts of the text. Numbering is needed in order to quickly refer to part of the outline without rewriting, simply indicating the sentence number.
What's good about this method?
This method is suitable for taking notes in textbooks and texts. In addition, it helps to highlight only the most important things: after all, simply rewriting a book can take a very long time (and who needs that?).
Mind map method
The peculiarity of this method is the presentation of information in the form of a tree diagram. The roots of a tree are the main idea, theory, theme. Branches extend from the roots - terms, concepts, details of the main topic.
What's good about this method?
This method is especially suitable for those who perceive information visually: thanks to memorable maps, new information will be better remembered and the relationship between concepts and elements of the topic will be more clear.
Flow (or flow) method
This is a note-taking method formulated by coach Scott Young . It is based on the following idea: listening to a lecture is not a passive process; to truly benefit from a lecture, you need to think and develop your own ideas. Therefore, in a note prepared in this way, you should write down only the key points of the lecture and give free rein to your comments. This is the most creative method of note-taking, because information can be written down in any form: in the form of mind maps, abstracts, lists, or all at once. Anything that will help you understand and remember the information is welcome here.
What's good about this method?
An excellent method for understanding and remembering information immediately (rather than writing it down to learn later). But it will not be suitable in cases where you need to write down and remember all the details of what is stated. It is not always possible to take handwritten notes. Plus, the advantage of digital notes is that they are easy to share with other people. And, in general, you may simply prefer electronic notes because they are convenient. The next section of the article is for those who want to take notes on a computer, tablet or phone.
Note-taking tools
If you decide not to take handwritten notes, there are many tools and apps to help you.
Issues of design may be secondary, but they may allow you to systematize what is written and better remember the content of the lecture. To do this, you can use the note maker from Canva. The service contains more than 20 professional types of charts and templates developed by professional designers that will simplify your work. This service, like other offerings from Canva, is free but requires registration.
An application that allows you to process notes in almost any format. You can add text notes, audio, images, PDF documents, scanned handwritten pages, Slack conversations, emails, websites. Evernote is designed to make it easy for you to sort and organize your notes. Your notes are automatically synced across all your devices. You can also create tasks in the app so you don't miss anything important on your to-do list. Tasks can be placed in context—along with ideas, meeting notes, and important documents—or they can be collected together in a starter note and sorted later.
An application that provides components such as databases, kanban boards, wikis, calendars, and reminders. Users can connect these components to create their own knowledge management, note-taking, data management, project management, and more. These components and systems can be used individually or in conjunction with others.
The OneNote workspace is a blank sheet of paper, anywhere on which you can make text and handwritten notes, drawings, and record voice comments. You can also drag and drop information in OneNote from the browser window. This program does not have a “Save” icon, since the entered data is saved automatically. Sheets are combined into sections, and sections are combined into notebooks. The list of sheets in a section is to the right of the current sheet, the list of sections is at the top, and the list of open notebooks is to the left. Notes taken can be sent via email either in HTML format or as a OneNote attachment. Do you take notes on programming theory? Does it help you understand or remember the material better? Share your opinion in the comments.
This is the most creative method of note-taking, because information can be written down in any form: in the form of mind maps, abstracts, lists, or all at once. Anything that will help you understand and remember the information is welcome here.
GO TO FULL VERSION