Study Skills: Note-taking 5
Branching Notes
This is a type of note taking which is especially useful when you have not been given an outline of the lecture. It enables you to develop your notes as the lecture proceeds, in a flexible way. It is also argued that this type of layout makes it easier to recapture the speaker's original message and to see the relationships between ideas more clearly. Here is a procedure which you might try to follow:
1. Have, if possible, a double-page spread of notepaper in front of you. You may find it better to have the pages spread breadthwise: i.e. with the broad part going from left to right.
2. Take notes only on one of the double pages. The blank facing pages can always be used for adding more information, or for "reconstituting" notes, i.e. re-writing your notes in a fuller or more convenient form.
3. For any kind of note-taking, always make a habit of noting the lecturer's name, the subject and date of the lecture. (Noting the lecturer's name can be useful if for any reason you wish to contact him outside the lecture room. Dating lectures helps to keep them in the correct sequence.)
4. Put the topic of the lecture in the center of the page. (If it is not made clear what the central topic of the lecture is, then put the first topic there.)
5. Relate all the other topics to it, and to one another, by lines. This technique can be best explained by an example. Read the following short article entitled "Acquiring information"
Acquiring information
What are the ways in which a student can acquire information? Firstly, he will acquire information from his tutors, in three main ways—by lecture, by tutorial and by handouts which the tutor may give him. Secondly, he may acquire information from "other experts" outside his college: principally by reading but also perhaps by listening to the radio, listening to cassette recordings, or watching educational TV programmes. Thirdly, he will get information from his fellow students: perhaps in student-led seminars, perhaps in the contributions of other students in tutorial, or perhaps just in informal conversation. Lastly, he can acquire information from himself! By thinking about his subject and linking together what he has heard and seen, he may come up with new ideas, which are his alone. Here is the information in list form:
Acquiring information
1. from tutors
(1) lecture
(2) tutorial
(3) handout
2. "other experts"
(1) reading
(2) radio
(3) cassettes
(4) TV
3. fellow students
(1) seminars
(2) tutorials
(3) conversation
4. student himself—can develop new ideas.
Now look at the following notes. You will see the same in branching form. There are no golden rules about the "correct" from of the branching. Two students may put the information down in different ways and still have good notes. PRINT your headings (i.e. write them in capital letters) if at all possible—it will make it easier to follow your notes when you are revising. Make you headings as concise as possible (this applies to list notes too, of course).
Exercises.
Outlining—the Standard Topic Outline Form
1. General Comprehension: Complete the following information according to what you hear on the tape.
(1) The benefits of the social recognition of marriage for children:
It gives them
and
.
(2) The three areas the speaker will deal with in this lecture:
a. Number of mates: three possibilities —
,
,
.
b. Locality of marriage: three possibilities —
,
,
.
c. Transfer of wealth: three possibilities —
,
,
.
2. Suggested Abbreviations.
marriage: ma.
3. Note-taking: Complete the following outline.
Title:
Ⅰ. Benefits of ma. for children
A.
B.
C.
Ⅱ. No. of mates
A.
B.
C.
Ⅲ. Locality of the marriage
A.
B.
C.
Ⅳ. Transfer of wealth
A.
form:
B.
form:
C.
form:
Study Skills: Note-taking 5
Branching Notes
This is a type of note taking which is especially useful when you have not been given an outline of the lecture. It enables you to develop your notes as the lecture proceeds, in a flexible way. It is also argued that this type of layout makes it easier to recapture the speaker's original message and to see the relationships between ideas more clearly. Here is a procedure which you might try to follow:
1. Have, if possible, a double-page spread of notepaper in front of you. You may find it better to have the pages spread breadthwise: i.e. with the broad part going from left to right.
2. Take notes only on one of the double pages. The blank facing pages can always be used for adding more information, or for "reconstituting" notes, i.e. re-writing your notes in a fuller or more convenient form.
3. For any kind of note-taking, always make a habit of noting the lecturer's name, the subject and date of the lecture. (Noting the lecturer's name can be useful if for any reason you wish to contact him outside the lecture room. Dating lectures helps to keep them in the correct sequence.)
4. Put the topic of the lecture in the center of the page. (If it is not made clear what the central topic of the lecture is, then put the first topic there.)
5. Relate all the other topics to it, and to one another, by lines. This technique can be best explained by an example. Read the following short article entitled "Acquiring information"
Acquiring information
What are the ways in which a student can acquire information? Firstly, he will acquire information from his tutors, in three main ways—by lecture, by tutorial and by handouts which the tutor may give him. Secondly, he may acquire information from "other experts" outside his college: principally by reading but also perhaps by listening to the radio, listening to cassette recordings, or watching educational TV programmes. Thirdly, he will get information from his fellow students: perhaps in student-led seminars, perhaps in the contributions of other students in tutorial, or perhaps just in informal conversation. Lastly, he can acquire information from himself! By thinking about his subject and linking together what he has heard and seen, he may come up with new ideas, which are his alone. Here is the information in list form:
Acquiring information
1. from tutors
(1) lecture
(2) tutorial
(3) handout
2. "other experts"
(1) reading
(2) radio
(3) cassettes
(4) TV
3. fellow students
(1) seminars
(2) tutorials
(3) conversation
4. student himself—can develop new ideas.
Now look at the following notes. You will see the same in branching form. There are no golden rules about the "correct" from of the branching. Two students may put the information down in different ways and still have good notes. PRINT your headings (i.e. write them in capital letters) if at all possible—it will make it easier to follow your notes when you are revising. Make you headings as concise as possible (this applies to list notes too, of course).
Exercises.
Outlining—the Standard Topic Outline Form
1. General Comprehension: Complete the following information according to what you hear on the tape.
(1) The benefits of the social recognition of marriage for children:
It gives them
and
.
(2) The three areas the speaker will deal with in this lecture:
a. Number of mates: three possibilities —
,
,
.
b. Locality of marriage: three possibilities —
,
,
.
c. Transfer of wealth: three possibilities —
,
,
.
2. Suggested Abbreviations.
marriage: ma.
3. Note-taking: Complete the following outline.
Title:
Ⅰ. Benefits of ma. for children
A.
B.
C.
Ⅱ. No. of mates
A.
B.
C.
Ⅲ. Locality of the marriage
A.
B.
C.
Ⅳ. Transfer of wealth
A.
form:
B.
form:
C.
form: