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Ideas from books, articles & podcasts.
Figure out your purpose
Ask yourself why are you reading:
- What am I trying to remember?
- How am I going to use this information? (e.g. on a test, cited in an essay, etc.)
- What do I plan to do with the notes later? Will you be studying off of them extensively? Or maybe you’re just taking notes to stay focused, and it’s highly unlikely you’ll look through them after?
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Decide whether to optimize for review or retrieval practice.
- For docs you don’t plan to extensively study, review is the obvious choice.
- For texts you need to master perfectly, the Question Book Method (for big idea) or flashcards (for details) saves time.
- Figure out your purpose.
- Choose a technique that maximizes your focus on what is most relevant for your purpose.
- Decide whether to optimize for review or retrieval practice.
- If you do need to go back into the text again and again, create clu...
- Notes extend your memories: writing can be seen as an external enhancement of your brain, allowing you to think more complicated thoughts and solve harder problems.
- Notes enhance your focus: The act of taking notes ensures your mind isn’t wandering and facilitates deep...
- Jot notes in the margin. These aren’t particularly searchable, but they allow you to reiterate the main idea.
- Keep a small notepad on the side, take breaks each section to jot down the main ideas.
- Create flashcards. In the rarer situations where memoriza...
- Digital: systems like Evernote, make note-taking easier. Although, even the simple note-taking features on Kindle can work quite well.
- Paper: you can even put little sticky tags on the book to mark passages that refer to that.
MORE LIKE THIS
It’s easier to take notes when we’re listening to content because our hands are free. But when reading a book, taking notes interrupts our reading flow.
There is a balance between taking too many notes - and reading too slowly- and too few notes which prevent us from capturing enough know...
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The Cornell note taking method helps organize class notes into easily digestible summaries.
How?
- The paper is divided into 3 sections: a 2.5” margin to the left, a 2” summary section on the bottom, and a main 6” in-class note section.
- Use the main notes ...
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If your in-class notes are messy, unorganized, and unclear at first glance, you’re not going to get much use out of them. This has nothing to do with how neat your handwriting is — it’s all about how your notes are structured.
One of the most effective ways to remember (and understand) what...
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