1. Taking Notes at ACAS

2. “Why do we have to take notes?!?!”
It might be tempting, with so much to do and so many sources of information available to you, to feel that note taking is just one extra burden to add to an already lengthy list of tasks. Learning to take good, useful notes is an essential skill simply because there is so much information you have to process. This information comes from lectures, written texts, and Compass Odyssey. Without finding some way of reducing all this information to a manageable and memorable quantity, you will become confused. The sooner you can employ good note-taking skills, the smoother your academic life will be.

3. Active Versus Passive Note Taking
The most effective note-taking is active not passive.
Active learning helps you to make meaning from what you learn.
Passive learning is allowing yourself to be an empty vessel into which knowledge is poured with no way of organizing or making meaning from it.
You are less likely to remember things you learn passively, which means more checking your notes while you are writing assignments or taking tests, and more repeated effort when you come to revise.

4. Active Versus Passive Note Taking
Passive Note-taking includes:
Underlining words.
Cutting and pasting from online documents (including compass odyssey lessons).
Trying to write everything you see or hear.
Copying slides from the scree.
Copying lots of direct quotes rather than putting the ideas into your own words.
Not evaluating or criticising the sources you use, but just accepting them as suitable evidence.
Active Note-taking includes:
Thinking about what you want to get out of your reading before you start
Looking for answers to any questions you may have about the topic
Looking for connections within the topic you’re studying and to other topics on your course.
Writing notes mostly in your own words - your own explanation of what something says or means.
Recording direct quotes only when it’s important to have the exact words that someone else has used.
when how they say something is as significant as what they say.

5. 5 Benefits of Note Taking
Concentration
Understanding
Remembering
Referral
Revision

6. 1. Concentration and Understanding
Sometimes in a dull tutorial, or when you are reading a long, complicated text, your mind may wander, especially if you are tired or pre-occupied. Taking notes definitely helps you to focus as it makes you active rather than passive and keeps you involved in learning.
When you are concentrating, you are move likely to understand what you are reading or what is being spoken about.
When you take notes, you can pay special attention to points that are important or difficult to understand.

7. 2.
Now I Remember!
How often have you written something down and found that simply writing it makes it easier to remember? You write a shopping list and find that you barely need to refer to it once you are in the store. You write a date in your calendar, and it is firmly fixed in your mind, even before you check your appointments.
Taking notes acts as a reinforcement. It means you immediately receive and store the information twice rather than once, so you have already started the process of committing something to your long-term memory. Think of how many times and actor goes over the same lines to ensure a perfect delivery!

8. 3.
Refer and Revise
If you have made good notes, they act as an excellent reference for future work to refer back to for reports, essays, projects, presentations, or any other course assignments. Above all, they make it far easier to revise when tests are lurking just around the corner. No waiting to get key texts from your Compass Odyssey lessons or frustrations as the internet goes down.
Just you, a folder of easily understood, clear, thorough notes, and a sense of calm to help you accomplish your task!

9. The Best Way to Take Notes
There really is no “best” way to take notes. It all depends on what works for you and what kind of material you are working with.
There are three main ways of taking notes:
Linear or sequential note taking
Summary note taking
Outline note taking and mind mapping.
You will also find that using different techniques makes note taking more interesting. You can find what really suits you only by trying things out!

10. Sequential Note Taking
Sequential (or linear) note taking is no more than a fancy name for what we tend to do naturally...taking down notes in our own words, on what we have been reading and listening to.
This is the most common way of taking notes. The advantage of this sort of note taking is that it is relatively easy to do and you do get an accurate record of what you have been attending to.
The disadvantage is that you can end up with a lot of detailed notes to deal with, especially when it comes to revising for tests or working on a major project.

11. Summary Notes
Making summary notes probably demands that you think a good deal more about the notes you are taking, possibly spend time reorganizing them, and writing summaries in your own words.
The advantage of this technique is that you really have to think about the ideas and concepts that you are are dealing with so that your summaries are clear and accurate. This can help you store the information you have summarized in your long-term memory.
The main disadvantage is that it can be rather time consuming to put in all this extra work on your notes.

12. Outline Notes
This is quite a popular way of taking notes. You only note the key words and phrases from lectures or reading material. There are different ways of writing your outline notes, but using numbered headings, lots of sub headings, and indentations are all characteristics of this style of note taking.
The advantage is that they are quick to take, and they are easy to read through and memorize.
The disadvantage is that you may sometimes find it difficult to fill in the detail of what seemed very obvious at the time that you took your brief outline notes.

13. Mind Maps
Mind maps are an entirely different way of taking notes - they are diagrammatic representations of the subject material you are learning about, where key concepts occupy a central position and ideas, issues, facts, and figures (whatever it happens to be), that are more peripheral are drawn further away from the center.
Many people like this way of taking notes, once they get used to it. It is a very active way of noting and learning. Advantage: Many people claim that it improves their ability to understand and retain information.
Disadvantages: it can seem daunting at first, and it doesn’t not work well for those who are not visual learners.

14. Mind Map

15. A Few Hints for Mind Mapping:
Turn your paper to landscape orientation.
Write down the title of the topic you are covering in the center of the page and draw a circle around it.
Draw a line out from the circle, in any direction, and write the first main heading for the topic on this line.
For each sub-heading, draw lines coming from the main line with the main topic heading on it so that it is obvious where the connections lie.
Use single words, short phrases, or images to capture ideas.
Try using different colors for different ideas.

16. Here are a few general hints that should be helpful, whatever methods you are using to take notes.

17. In Your Own Words
In certain situations, particularly in lectures, one of the biggest temptations is to write too much. This means all of your concentration goes into writing fast and hearing what is said, but at a superficial level, rather that listening, taking it in, and cutting it down.
Try to write brief phrases that summarize long sentences. Try paraphrasing the opening paragraphs of a few of your favorite novels, articles, or sports reports to help develop this technique.

18. Use Your Own Shorthand
While there are standard abbreviations for many words, it makes sense to invent your own shorthand, so long as you can understand it yourself.
Note those words, concepts, technical phrases, and names that are central to your subject and find quick ways of writing these. It makes sense to write a list of these so that you become familiar with them.
It is acceptable to text/instant message talk when you are taking notes. Although these notes may be part of a grade for any of your classes, these notes are for you to use in the future.
***It is NEVER acceptable to use text/instant message talk for ANY of your assignment (except note taking) in any of your classes at ACAS.

19. Now Where did I…?
Your notes are only of use to you if they are well organized and you can find them and use them easily.
Make sure you use some kind of identification:
Always label your notes at the top of the page.
You can number your pages.
Try to keep you pages in order and separate from other classes.

20. Last, but not least...
Try to use both words and diagrams as it makes your notes easier and more interesting to refer back to.
Read over your notes as soon as you can after you have made them; this is another way of committing them to memory, as well as making sure you didn’t forget anything.
If you are studying for a test, look at your notes again within 24 hours; it may seem a pain at the time, but it will really contribute to effective and successful revision.
File them and organize them well. There is nothing worse than taking excellent notes and then losing them!
Remember, good note taking is a great life skill to possess.

21. Reading Tools For Chapters!
Look over the whole article (if you can). Think of it as a preview...kind of like a movie preview.
Read the title. It tells the topic of the whole article. This should go at the top of our note-taking sheet.
Read the introduction and the headings to find out the main ideas you’re going to read about. They are clues that let you know what to expect.
Predict what you’re going to read about. Say to yourself, ”This article will be about…”
Notice the special features. Are there diagrams? Do you see a map or chart? These graphic aids illustrate what you’ve read or add new information. Don’t skip them!

22. Reading Tools For Chapters cont…
Now start to read the article. Look for helpful features in the text. Words in boldfaced type signal important vocabulary that you’ll need to write down. Pronunciations let you know how to say difficult words. Sound it out!
If you are asked to stop reading to look at a special feature (solve a problem or do an example), STOP reading and look at the graphic aid. Study it carefully and read any captions. If it’s new, important information, write it down!

23. Place your screenshot here
Let’s Do This!

24. When you are given a definition, make sure you write it down
When you are given a definition, make sure you write it down. EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU CAN REMEMBER OR ALREADY KNOW IT, to get full credit for your notes, you must write it down.

26. Place your screenshot here
If you are given an example, it is helpful to write it down in your notes, so you can remember the concept easier.
Here’s an example!

28. Place your screenshot here
Any time you are given new information, be sure to write it down!
New Information!

30. THANKS! You just earned your first grade!
Be sure to hand in your notes before you leave!
Feel free to go over it again if you feel you missed something or want to check your new skills!