THE CORNELL NOTE TAKING SYSTEM

Why take notes? Cornell note taking stimulates critical thinking skills. Note taking helps students remember what is said in class. A good set of notes can help students work on assignments and prepare for tests outside of the classroom.

Why take notes? Good notes allow students to help each other problem solve. Good Notes help students organize and process data and information. Helps student recall by getting them to process their notes 3 times. Writing is a great tool for learning!

Understanding How We Learn Our brain’s outer layer (the neocortex) where higher level thinking occurs, has 100 billion brain cells or neurons.

When We Learn Something New: A dendrite, a threadlike branch, grows out of each brain cell (neuron).

Learning When a dendrite from one neuron grows close enough to the dendrite of another neuron, a connection is made. Learning = growth and the connecting of dendrites.

Practice! If you practice a new skill many times, the dendrites get coated in a protein called myelin. Thinking can now occur more quickly, & you will remember the skill for a long time.

How We Forget If we only practice a skill once or twice the connection between neurons is weak. If you do not practice the skill again the dendrites wither & die. You have forgotten the new skill!

The Right Study Skill & Attitude Will Pay Off!

Step #1: Prepare Recall Column --2 Inches-- Reduce ideas after class into a few words. Record Column --6 Inches-- Record the lectures as fully as possible. Reduce Column Reduce the main points of this page of your lecture notes. --2 1/2 Inches--

Step #2: Record Record in Class During the lecture, write as many facts as you can. Use shorthand to get the full idea. Leave spaces between ideas so you can fill in more later.

Step #3: Reduce Reduce after class As soon after class as possible, summarize these ideas and facts in as few words as possible in the Reduce Column. Helps show relationships between points & strengthens memory. Prepares you for exams gradually & ahead of time.

Step #4: Recall Recalling what your wrote in your notes, write questions in the Recall column of your notes to quiz yourself on the material. Write your questions as close as possible to the beginning of the section in your notes you are quizzing yourself on. Write a question for each new idea presented in your notes.

Step #4: Recall, Continued The questions you write in the Recall column will become your best method for checking what you have learned!

Step #5: Recite Recite from the Recall Column. Cover the Record Column. Using only the words in the Recall Column, say over the facts as fully as you can in your own words! Then, uncover your notes and check what you have said against the facts. This will help transfer ideas to your long-term memory!

Step #6: Reflect Reflect on possible test questions and mark unclear points. Helps in making sense of your notes by finding relationships and order in the material. Try to put ideas in categories & tie old material to the new. Think about which points will appear on tests & highlight any unclear points so you can ask questions about them before the next lecture.

Step #7: Review Review to improve your memory. If you will spend ten (10) minutes every week or so in a quick review of these old notes, you will retain most of what you have learned and you will relate the facts and ideas to present lectures or readings.

Notetaking Tips Keep a separate notebook or binder for each course. Notes for each lecture should begin on a new page. Date your lecture notes and number all pages. Never use a sentence when you can use a phrase, or a phrase when you can use a word.

Notetaking Tips, Cont. Use indentations to distinguish between major and minor points. Put most notes in your own words. However, the following should be noted exactly: Formulas , Definitions, and Specific facts Use abbreviations and symbols wherever possible. Note down unfamiliar vocabulary and unclear areas. If you should miss something completely, leave a blank space and get it later.

Notetaking Tips, Cont. Develop a code system of note-marking to indicate questions, comments, important points, due dates of assignments, etc. Make sure you can understand what you have written and if needed, make corrections. Clear up misunderstandings or fill in missing information by consulting the lecturer, TA, classmates, the texts, or additional readings

The End! Now, go back to your metric notes from last class and put them into Cornell-style on the back side of your handout.