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1 Note-taking Workshop Aim and objectives Aim: To learn the basics of good note-taking. Objectives: 1. To learn how annotating text enhances active reading, focus and comprehension; 2. To learn some of the basics of note-taking; 3. To consider various note-taking methods and to think about what might suit you best; and 4. To distinguish between summarising, paraphrasing, and using direct quotations. Objective 1: annotating text1 As an "active reader," you already know that when you read textbook assignments, you should have questions in your mind. As you read, you should be looking for the answers to these questions. You should also have a pencil in hand so that you can "annotate" your text. As the word suggests, you "take notes" in your textbook. Unlike "highlighting," which is a passive activity, the process of annotating text helps you to stay focused and involved with your textbook. You'll find that the process of taking notes as you read will help you to concentrate better. It will also help you to monitor and improve your comprehension. If you come across something that you don't understand or that you need to ask you instructor about, you'll be able to quickly make note of it, and then go on with your reading. The following is a list of some techniques that you can use to annotate text: Underline important terms. Circle definitions and meanings. Write key words and definitions in the margin. Signal where important information can be found with key words or symbols in the margin. Write short summaries in the margin at the end of sub-units. Write the questions in the margin next to the section where the answer is found. Indicate steps in a process by using numbers in the margin. An example of annotated text can be found overleaf. Notes _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 1 Sources: Keeley, Meg. 2003. Annotating text. <http://www.bucks.edu/~specpop/Access/annotated.htm>. Accessed: 24 April 2003 Keeley, Meg. 2003. Example of annotated text. <http://www.bucks.edu/~specpop/annotate-ex.htm>. Accessed: 24 April 2003. 565323448 2 565323448 HOW DOES MEMORY WORK? Human memory works on two different levels: short term memory and long term memory. 3 Short term memory This includes what you focus on in the moment, what holds your attention. Most people can only hold about 7 items of information in short term memory at any given moment, although some can hold up to nine. Look at example A below. Then look away from your computer screen and try to hold it in your short term memory. A = 6593028 Most likely, you can hold it as long as you choose. Now follow the same procedure with example B. B = 573927450621 It's much more difficult, if not impossible, for most people. Short term memory is exactly what the name says: short term. To learn information so you can retain and recall it, you must transfer it from short term to long term memory. Long term memory This includes all the information that you know and can recall. In many ways, it becomes a part of you. Once information becomes a part of your long term memory, you'll have access to it for a long time. FROM SHORT TERM TO LONG TERM How do you move information into long term memory? Two of the ways are: rote learning and learning through understanding. Rote learning means learning through repetition, mechanically, with little understanding. For example, as a child you probably memorized the alphabet and the multiplication tables by rote. Learning through understanding involves learning and remembering by understanding the relationships among ideas and information. Rather than using rote memory, you use logical memory when you learn through understanding. For example, you use logical memory when you remember main ideas and supporting details from a lecture not because you repeat the ideas in your mind, but rather, because you understand them. Both types of learning and memory are useful and often are used together. For example, in history, you need to relate facts (like dates) which you memorized by rote to your understanding of historical concepts (like the Civil War). THE KEYS TO REMEMBERING You can learn to remember more effectively if you learn and use the four keys described below. Each one helps you to enter information into your long term memory. Choose to remember. Be interested. Pay attention. Want to learn and know. What you want is an important part of learning. People learn more effectively and remember more when they are interested and want to learn. How can you choose to remember? One way is to take a few moments to choose to learn before you read or listen to a lecture. Sit calmly, take a few deep breaths, and tell yourself with your inner voice: "I choose to remember what I learn today." Repeat this a few times, and then begin. Visualize or picture in your mind what you wish to remember. For many people, a mental picture or visualization is clearer and easier to remember than words. For each major concept that you want to remember, create a mental picture and then look at it carefully for a few seconds. Once you've seen it clearly, you'll probably be able to recall it. If you are not a visual learner, you may find that you need to improve the quality of your mental pictures or images by practicing. Look at a picture, object, or photograph, then close your eyes and try to see it in your mind's eye. Practice this for a few moments each day. Relate the ideas and information you wish to remember to each other and to ideas and information you already know. When you relate information to other information, you create a chain of memories which lead to one another. When you label an information chain or group of ideas, you create a kind of "file" that makes it easy to locate and remember the information. You can help yourself to relate information by using mental pictures, visual organizers, or by outlining. Repeat what you wish to learn until you overlearn it. Say it in your own words. Even though you've already learned something, go over it one more time. Research shows that the time you spend on overlearning and putting ideas into your own words will pay off by making recall easier and more complete. Objective 2: note-taking basics2 2 Sources: Boddington, Paula, and John Clanchy. 565323448 4 Why take notes? Note-taking is closely linked with reading and it helps you to Concentrate on what you’re reading Gather and evaluate information Form links between the different texts that you’ve read Draw conclusions Remember things Summarise ideas and arguments Active note-taking To take notes efficiently, keep your purpose in mind. Why are you reading? An essay question, for example, could provide the purpose for your reading. Review lecture/tutorial/background material before reading Be wary of merely underlining or highlighting a text Ask questions of the text, for example: o Why is this important? o How has the author constructed the argument? o Is the evidence persuasive? What to note? Consider context Analyse your assignment topic/purpose before you begin so you can assess what material you need Identify bibliographic material Identify relevant quotations, author’s intention, purpose, argument, evidence Your notes should reflect the demands of your assignment topic/thesis How to take notes? There’s no one formula Flexible system: use a note-book or index cards for each course/topic/chapter; develop a note-taking template; store notes on the computer or in Endnote Bibliographic information: author, date, title, place of publication, publisher, edition, pages etc Leave space for comments and reactions to the text If you copy a quotation, copy it exactly (words, punctuation etc) and record the page number Clearly identify the author’s ideas, arguments, theories, concepts from your own Review your notes at the end of the note taking process Notes _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 1999. Reading for Study and Research. South Melbourne: Longman. Ch. 5. Clanchy, John and Brigid Ballard. 1997. Essay Writing for Students: A Practical Guide. 3rd ed. South Melbourne: Longman. pp. 19-43. 565323448 5 Objective 3: note-taking methods In different cognate areas, you will want to record different information relating to your reading: 3 Humanities Bibliographic details Topic Theoretical framework/thesis Arguments Evidence Quotes and page numbers Your evaluation and comments (clearly marked as such in a different colour or part of your notes) Social sciences Bibliographic details Topic Theoretical framework Conclusion Arguments Data Case studies Experimental evidence/surveys Methodology Your evaluation and comments (clearly marked as such in a different colour or part of your notes) Sciences Bibliographic details Topic Theory tested Experimental evidence Data Case studies Methodology Inferences Your evaluation and comments (clearly marked as such in a different colour or part of your notes) Consider using a template for your note-taking. Include the various categories listed above, according to your cognate area, and don’t forget to leave space for tapping background knowledge, setting purposes and making predictions. See overleaf for an example of a two-page template that also includes pre-reading activities such as tapping background knowledge, setting purposes and making predictions. Notes _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 3 Source: Academic Skills and Learning Centre, ANU. n.d. Managing reading and note-taking at university”. Pamphlet. 565323448 6 Note-taking templates When taking notes, there are three things you need to collect: complete bibliographic information, content information, and your response to the content information. Your purpose will help you make decisions about the content material that you need to note. The subheadings used below are generic. They can be tailored to suit your purpose. For example, if your essay asks you to examine the implications of globalisation, you could have as subheadings ‘positive implications’ and ‘negative implications’. Bibliographic details: Author, title, publication date, place of publication, pages, etc. Page(s) ARGUMENT: You need to know where you got your information. Page(s) Check the introduction & conclusion. Summarise in dot points. EVIDENCE: This information pertains to the author and their argument. It is important to distinguish your ideas from the author’s. Page(s) EXAMPLES: Page(s) DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS: MY RESPONSE: both positive and negative aspects; assess the strengths and weaknesses of the argument and the supporting evidence. This is where you develop your argument or position. 565323448 7 Page 1 565323448 Page 2 8 The Cornell Method for note-taking in lectures4 Note-taking area: Record lecture as fully and as meaningfully as possible. Cue column: As you’re taking notes, keep cue column empty. Soon after the lecture, reduce your notes to concise jottings as clues for Reciting, Reviewing and Reflecting. Summaries: Sum up each page of your notes in a sentence or two. (Picture from ISS/Learning Center, University of St. Thomas (UST), St. Paul, MN) Before the lecture, rule up your page according to the model above. Write on one side of the page only. This format provides the perfect opportunity for following through with the 5 Rs of note-taking: Record During the lecture, record legibly in the Note-Taking Area as many meaningful facts and ideas as you can. Reduce As soon as possible, summarize these facts and ideas concisely in the Cue Column. Summarizing clarifies meanings and relationships, reinforces continuity, and strengthens memory. Recite Cover the note-taking area using only your jotting in the cue column, repeat over the facts and ideas of the lecture as completely as you can, not mechanically, but in your own words. You may then verify what you have said. Reflect Draw out opinions from your notes and use them as a starting point for your own reflections on the course and how it relates to your other courses. Reflection will help prevent ideas from being forgotten. Review Spend 10 minutes every day in quick review of your notes and you will retain most of what you have learned. Notes ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ 4 Source: Learning Assistance and Resource Center, West Chester University. n.d. Cornell Method. <http://www.wcupa.edu/_academics/cae.tut/TCornell.htm>. Accessed: 5 April 2004. 565323448 Objective 4: note-taking and avoiding plagiarism5 9 All the writing you do at university will be based on the reading you do, which is why taking notes from sources is an important academic skill to develop the quality of the notes you take during the reading and research process will have an impact on the quality of your research and the quality of your written work. Whether you take notes on index cards, sheets of A4 paper, or write them directly onto the computer, you need to get into the habit of taking down the author’s name, bibliographic details, and the page number of the material that you’re noting. Some note-taking strategies are better than others. Effective researchers tend to use four ways of making notes from original sources: summarising, paraphrasing, selectively quoting, and combining summaries and quotations. Excessive word-for-word copying, that is, copying verbatim large slabs of text, is not as effective as transforming the source material into your own words and reducing it to a key phrase, sentence, or dot-point, or selectively quoting material. Even when you condense someone else’s material into your own words, though, you still need to acknowledge the original source. If you take notes, but don’t take note of the source, then your notes are effectively worthless. Sloppy note-taking can lead to plagiarism. Summarising When taking notes, it may be important to summarise an author’s main argument or idea into your own words. The fewer the words used to summarise, the better. Sometimes you may reduce the ideas an author expresses in a paragraph down to one or two sentences. Sometimes it may be possible to reduce the line of reasoning in a journal article down to a couple of sentences. “Summary is most useful when you want to record the gist of an author’s idea without the background or supporting evidence” (Fowler & Aaron 679). Remember, even though it is your summary, you must acknowledge the original source. Paraphrasing A paraphrase contains a lot more detail than a summary and it also tends to “follow much more closely the author’s original presentation (Fowler & Aaron 679). In other words, a paraphrase restates the author’s ideas or line of argument. A paraphrase should differ from the original quotation in terms of “sentence structures and wording” (Fowler & Aaron 680). When paraphrasing it may be necessary to read the original text a couple of times in order to comprehend it properly. When restating the original text, “(y)ou need not put down in new words the whole passage or all the details. Select what is pertinent and restate only that” (Fowler & Aaron 680). As with summarising, a paraphrase will require a reference. Using direct quotations Fowler and Aaron (683) recommend that you use a direct quotation if it satisfies one or more of the following requirements: o “The language is unusually vivid, bold, or inventive. o The quotation cannot be paraphrased without distortion or loss of meaning. o The words themselves are at issue in your interpretation. o The quotation represents and emphasizes a body of opinion or the view of an important expert. o The quotation emphatically reinforces your own idea. o The quotation is a graph, diagram, or table.” If you choose to quote the source directly, then doing the following when note-taking can help you avoid plagiarism: o “Copy the material carefully. Take down the author’s exact wording, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. o Proofread every direct quotation at least twice. o Use big quotation marks around the quotation so that later you won’t confuse it with a paraphrase or summary. o If you want to add words for clarity or change the capitalization of letters, use brackets. o If you want to omit relevant words, use ellipsis marks, usually three spaced periods.” Combining quotation, summary, and paraphrase When writing, you will find it quote common to produce sentences that combine quotation, summary, and paraphrase. This is because as you work, you “shape the material to suit your purposes” (Fowler & Aaron 683). When doing this, quotations must be accurate and must be enclosed within quotation marks. 5 All of this material is based on H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, The Little, Brown Handbook 8th ed. (New York: Longman, 2001), pp.678-683. 565323448