Effective note-taking

Note-taking is a skill which you may not have developed at school but which could prove to be essential to success in your undergraduate degree. Although everyone has their own way of keeping notes (which can, at times, be indicipherable to anyone else) some basic points apply. Notes must be accurate, with it being clear what you're quoting directly - the university takes plagiarism incredibly seriously and problems can arise if you keep less than fully accurate notes. The Oxford Learning Institute recommends that you read material which you're making notes on three times - the first to identify what information it contains, the second to understand how it impacts your thought, and finally to sift through the information to determine what you wish to make notes on.

It's worth reviewing your notes briefly at the end of the day that you make them so that you can review what you have developed and how your thoughts may have progressed during the day. Learning is a continuous experience and keeping good notes means that you can remember how your thoughts developed as your understanding of a subject deepened. It's important that you keep your notes together and that you don't fall into the trap of seeing them in isolation. Notes taken on a paper over the course of a term will inform each other as you spot trends within your subject. Similarly, the different papers that you do during your years of studying also have the potential to be used in conjunction with one another. Particularly if you choose your papers carefully, information and themes which are common between them can be used to develop your understanding of a subject. Keeping brief commentaries on your notes which illustrate how they fit into your understanding of a subject can also be helpful in achieving this end. The most important point is that you use note-taking as an opportunity to develop your understanding, rather than as a passive exercise. Although it can be easy merely to make notes in order to help you get through the next essay, they should be seen as an opportunity for you to deepen your knowledge of the subject which you are studying.