1. Note taking & summarizing
Welcome to the lesson on note taking & summarizing.
Zoë Mitchell, Faculty, School of Access
From Susan Hunt, Faculty, School of Access

2. Why take notes? Remember key points Organize ideas and thoughts
Write assignments in your own words
avoid plagiarism
We take notes for a variety of reasons. Perhaps we need to remember key points of a lecture we’re attending or movie we’re watching. Perhaps we’re reading a lot of text and to help us remember, we write down notes. Notes also help us organize our ideas and thoughts about a subject. In school, note taking is particularly important to help us write assignments in our own words. This will ensure we avoid plagiarism.

3. Remember key points
Note taking helps us remember important information. To understand how note taking helps, you must first understand the learning and memory process.
Step 1 - You see, hear, feel, smell sensory information and this goes into your sensory memory. This is held briefly.
Step 2 – To keep this in our memory, you need to give it attention, moving it to short term or working memory. Otherwise it fades away. Note taking helps us pay attention to the information so this learning goes into short term memory. Also it is a record for later reference.
Step 3 – Short term memory doesn’t last long unless you connect the information to what you already know. So you access your long-term memory and make connections to your previous knowledge. The interaction between short term and long-term memory builds more long-term memories. Reviewing and summarizing your notes after they’re taken on the fly helps you transfer this learning into long-term memory.

4. How to take notes 1000s of methods Main methods: Freeform notes
Handwritten or typed
Pictures
Mind mapping
Cornell note taking
There are thousands of methods of note taking; however, I will describe three main methods:
Free form, which can be words that are handwritten or typed. This is probably the method with which you’re most familiar. Some students draw pictures instead of write words.
Mind mapping, also known as concept mapping, in which you show connections between information learned
Cornell notes, which combine the free form notes with a more structured process of summarizing the main points.

5. Freeform notes – written/typed
Write in your own words
Use point form (don’t write full sentences)
Taken ‘on the fly’
With free form notes, you write the main points in your own words. Usually the notes are written in point form and often written ‘on the fly’ while listening to a presentation, reading information or watching a movie. Often the notes are messy and may be difficult to read later.
If you’re artistically inclined, you may want to draw the main points with pictures instead. My daughter, who is artistically gifted, often wrote her notes with a combination of pictures and text.

6. Mind mapping Great for visual learners Show related concepts
Hand drawn or by software
Mind mapping takes note taking to another level, because it shows connections of thoughts. Main points are drawn in circles, squares or ovals, depending upon your preference. Notes are in written in brief point form. Then connections are drawn by lines. A mind map can be hand drawn or drawn using mind mapping software. Many NSCC campuses have a mind mapping software program called Inspiration; however, there is a license fee if you choose to use it at home. There are also a variety of free mind mapping products available. Coggle and FreeMind are two examples that are available off the Internet free of charge.

7. Cornell note taking – 3 steps
Cornell note taking is very popular at high school and post-secondary level programs. It involves three steps:
1. Write free form notes on the right side of the page.
Then after the free form note taking is done, go back and consider the main ideas which you can write in point form or as questions. These are written on the left-hand side of the page.
Then write a summary of those main ideas. This summary is written at the bottom of the page. It is written in full sentences, and written in your own words.
The 2nd and 3rd steps really help you move the information from short-term to long-term memory storage.

8. Summarizing Capture key points Keep it short and sweet Use your notes
main points and/or summary section
Write in own words
Moves learning into long-term storage
Summarizing is capturing key points from something you read, watched or listened to. Then you write a brief description of what you learned. The Cornell note-taking process that I just explained uses summarizing as it’s third step.
However, whether or not you’re using Cornell notes, you’re often asked to write a summary of information you read.
First, you’ll be asked to read a lot of information and then summarize in your own words what you learned. You may take notes during the reading. However, the summary that you’ll write will be written in full sentences, but be much briefer that the information you read. Your summary will only capture the most important points from what you read.
This process of summarizing helps you remember what you learned.

9. Recap Notetaking Write notes in own words Keep brief
Use one or more methods
Free form (written or pictures)
Mind mapping
Cornell notes
Summarizing
Capture key points
So to recap this lesson, remember that your notes must be written in your own words. Keep them brief and try one or all of the methods to determine your preference. When summarizing information, write only the key points so your summary is much shorter than the original text you read.

10. References
Evanston Middle School. (n.d.). Cornell notes. [Image]. Retrieved from
University of Michigan. (2014). How do I learn? Retrieved from ulearn
University of Michigan. (2014). Learning and memory [Image]. Retrieved from ulearn
University of Michigan. (n.d.). Concept mapping [Photograph]. Retrieved from es%20for%20Success/Making%20the%20Most%20of%20Class%20Time/conceptm ap.jpg
University of Michigan (n.d.). Free form notes [Photograph]. Retrieved from
es%20for%20Success/Making%20the%20Most%20of%20Class%20Time/freeformn otes.jpg
University of Michigan. (n.d.). Getting the most from class time. Retrieved from emostfromclasstime
These are my references.

11. Thank you
Questions?
Thank you for listening and please let me know if you have any questions.