Students should have a variety of note-taking techniques and be able to choose which technique is best for a particular subject, teacher style, and personal use. The sole purpose for taking notes is for information recall later, typically on a test. These methods should make studying quicker, more efficient, less painful. Notes are taken in phrases, not complete sentences.

These notes are used when the presented material is well organized. A student who can learn to outline from lecture and/or text material will spend much less time studying and restudying because the information is already condensed and available without needing to reread, review, and recopy.

These notes are used to sequence events in a story or history. It may not always have exact dates; sometimes the purpose is to simply graph which events came before others.

1. Draw a line down the middle of the 1. This divides the notes into two

page. categories

2. Label this side with a category 2. Label this side with a category

3. List one point of information 3. List a corresponding point of information for this category

4. Include the way categories are alike 4. Include the differences.

5. For example: properties of oxygen 5. Properties of xenon

6. Antebellum North 6. Antebellum South

7. Strengths of the Green Bay Packers 7. Strengths of the Dallas Cowboys

This is a variation of compare/contrast notes. It may be used, for example, in a story like War and Peace when there are several stories happening at the same time. It may also be used to sort information by category. In history is could be used to examine the effect of the American Revolution on England, France, Spain, and the Native American Tribes.

Or story I or story II

Or England or France

Or Story III Or Story IV

Or Spain or Native American Tribes

________________________________________________________________________

These are also called, "Well, this if sort of fun." Hobbly-Cobbly notes may be used when there is no observable organization to the information. It is also colorful and highly visual, and is a favorite of students who have had a hard time with other formats. Unfortunately, these notes also must be recopied into some recognizable, organized form later. However, it does give the students a quick method for organization.

Instructions: Write the information in any order all over the paper. Remember to use phrases. It should be a mess:

When finished – Organize the information. Decide how many categories the information should be divided into. Choose a color and shape to identify each category; for example:

Category I Category II

Blue red

Category III Category IV

Green purple

Draw that color and shape around each bit of information in the original notes that goes with each category. When that has been done, recopy in outline form.

1. Category I Category III

1. Blue

II Category II Category IV

A. A.

B. 1.

2.