Spider diagrams are on one page and are good for showing structure and organising your ideas. Leave plenty of SPACE - for adding detail and for easy reading.Use abbreviations - and don't worry about using full sentences.You can use numbering to keep yourself organised.Use subheadings for points within those ideas.Use loads of HEADINGS for main ideas and concepts.Here are some suggestions for making linear notes more useful. They should have plenty of room for detail. They are written down a page with headings and subheadings. Linear notes are what most people are used to doing. These two forms of note-taking are useful for different things. when how they say something is as significant as what they say) recording direct quotes only when it's important to have the exact words that someone else has used (i.e.writing notes mostly in your own words - your own explanation of what something says or means.looking for connections within the topic you're studying, and to other topics on your course.looking for answers to any questions you may have about the topic.thinking about what you want to get out of your research before you start.not evaluating or criticising the sources you use, but just accepting them as suitable evidence.writing notes on everything you read, because you're not sure what will turn out to be important.copying lots of direct quotes rather than putting the ideas in your own words.trying to write everything you hear in a lecture.cutting and pasting from online documents.Active learning helps you to make meaning from what you learn: passive learning is allowing yourself to be an empty vessel into which knowledge is poured with no way of organising or making meaning from it. You are less likely to remember things you learn passively, which means more checking your notes while you're writing assignments, and more repeated effort when you come to revise.

The most effective note-taking is active not passive. if you are making notes from a website, keep a note of the URL (website address) and the date that you accessed it - you will need these for referencing if you photocopy an article or chapter, make sure you include the page numbers as you will need them for referencing - write them in if they fall off the edge of the photocopy (at least the first page so you can count forward) having a clear system so that you know which of your notes are paraphrases of someone else's ideas direct quotes your own ideas. Don't wait till you've finished reading - you may forget, or misplace the text. always recording the necessary details for any source you use as soon as you start taking notes. The two key principles are to be meticulous and accurate, and to be active rather than passive.īeing meticulous and accurate about recording sources and direct quotations is an important part of academic discipline, as well as helping to avoid accidental plagiarism. This means: you can end up with so many notes that you have to spend twice the amount of time going through them again to find out the important points!ĭeveloping more effective note-making practices will help you to avoid these problems, and make your studying less stressful and time-consuming.note-making can put additional stress on those who do not write naturally.note-making can distract you from listening to lectures.provides a personal record of what you've learnt (more useful than your lecturer's or friends' notes) and records your questions and ideas.helps you to structure the assignments you're researching.helps you to understand and remember material, and make connections.helps you to focus on what is important in what you are reading or hearing.enables you to avoid unintentional plagiarism.

But note-making is also a learning process in itself, helping you to process and understand the information you receive. You have a lot of new knowledge and you need to develop reliable mechanisms for recording and retrieving it when necessary. Effective note-making is an important practice to master at university.

Best way to annotate an article