If you have a bunch of pads or notebooks filled with meeting notes that you never consult, your note-taking isn't providing the most value over time.Re-reading notes does make a difference. Because the chief value of note-taking is storing information so it could be consulted later.

Don't just take notes. Read them

There's little research into the benefits of digital note-taking over handwritten notes.But the findings underline that typing out notes improves later recall, while copy and pasting text into notes is actually detrimental to learning because it encourages wordiness.

Digital vs. handwritten note-taking

The 
most rigorously structured notes, those with hierarchal ordering and numbered 
subsections, are of the highest quality and accuracy. But although these notes are significantly more precise than freestyle note-taking, there is little difference in the ability of the note-taker to recall the material.

Structure and hierarchy

It brings visual structure to notes, usually involving writing one word in 
the center and drawing offshoots from it with related ideas and phrases.Mind-mapping is significantly more effective than just writing out notes and helps with presenting the information back with more clarity and coherence than traditional notes.

Mind-mapping

We remember things that stand out.Underlining
 something makes it stand out against other words and that makes 
recalling that word easier.

The Von Restorff effect in notes taking

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2. Paper Is Becoming Obsolete ... Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Alexandra Samuel said that if she turns up to a meeting and sees a paper notebook tucked under her colleague's arm, she's not impressed. <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/samuel/2013/01/dear-colleague-put-the-noteboo.html">Seriously not impressed</a>. Samuel is a digital note-taking extremist. She believes electronic notes are vastly superior to their analog equivalents. She dismisses the argument that having laptops and tablets in meetings tempts distraction, saying it's the meeting leader's responsibility to keep his or her audience sufficiently hooked on their every word. <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/samuel/2013/01/dear-colleague-put-the-noteboo.html#comment-773420560">Not everyone agrees with her</a>.
3. ... But Not All Digital Note-Taking Is Superior There's little research into the benefits of digital note-taking over handwritten notes. The bulk of studies focus on whether typing out notes or copying and pasting them-taking whole chunks of text from pre-prepared digital materials and pasting them into notes-is better. A team from Carnegie Mellon looked at best practices for designing note-taking technologies and found that typing out notes improves later recall, while copy and pasting text into notes is actually detrimental to learning because it encourages wordiness.
The US Air Force Academy teamed up with West Virginia University to work out the art of electronic note-taking. They were particularly curious to learn whether scaffolding notes horizontally across a row of cells, or down a column made a difference in terms of subjects' ability to recall the information. It didn't.
And if you're worried about the environment, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2011/09/green_your_notes.html">Slate weighed</a> the green implications of taking notes on an iPad. The bottom line is it's complicated, but using recycled paper is better for the world under most scenarios than buying a battery-powered gadget.
4. Be OCD About Your Notes The more OCD you are about organizing your notes, the better. The Journal of Reading compared different note-taking methods and found that the most rigorously structured-those with hierarchal ordering and numbered subsections-were of the highest quality and accuracy. A two-column method came in a close second; these notes were arranged such that the left column contained the information from the given event (i.e. the meeting, lecture or talk) and the right column was used later to fill out follow-up points and highlight key themes. Although these notes were significantly more precise than freestyle note-taking, there was little difference in the ability of the note-taker to recall the material.
5. Draw Pictures! The British Journal of Educational Technology found mind-mapping to be significantly more effective than just writing out notes. Mind-mapping brings visual structure to notes, usually involving writing one word in the center and drawing offshoots from it with related ideas and phrases. Researchers studying two groups of note-takers, those using the SmartWisdom method (a popular <a href="http://www.drewhajduk.co.uk/index.php/smart-wisdom-note-taking-made-easy/">alternative mind-mapping system</a>) and those writing traditional notes found that although there was no difference in the accuracy of the notes, the mind-mappers were able to present the information back with more clarity and coherence than their counterparts. 
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2. Paper Is Becoming Obsolete ... Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Alexandra Samuel said that if she turns up to a meeting and sees a paper notebook tucked under her colleague's arm, she's not impressed. Seriously not impressed. Samuel is a digital note-taking extremist.

How to Become a Masterful Note-Taker: 8 Lessons From Research

Don't just take notes. Read them

Digital vs. handwritten note-taking

Structure and hierarchy

Mind-mapping

The Von Restorff effect in notes taking

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