The purpose of this article is to educate every student on how to Write Clear and Good Lectures Notes. When students read or attend lectures, note writing is the evident of the outcome of such activities and this is best done in form of Summary writing.
A summary is a short piece of writing about another piece of writing. Its purpose is to condense a long piece of writing into a concise summation of its meaning. A summary is a concise statement of the main points of an information.
It leaves out all the extraneous materials that do not advance the argument, organizes the information for clarity, and paraphrases the language used by the author. Where the original work may have been wandering, thick, or abstruse, the summary is clear and direct to the point.
It reports with or without critical assessment the claim advanced in the work and the reasons that back it up. A summary must therefore accurately represent the original work, clearly state the essential contents of the arguments, make the form of the argument clear, and omit all extraneous materials.
15 Steps To Write Clear and Good Lectures Notes
You want to acheive a good lecture notes? Follow these steps;
1 Generate a glossary of course terms and a list of abbreviations.
2 Write down as many of the keywords and thoughts as possible. If you miss something draw a line and continue to write. After class, ask a classmate or the instructor to help you “fill in the blanks.”
3 If you get lost or confused, draw a “?” and continue to write. Check with someone after class for clarification.
4 Write a one-sentence summary of your notes for each class meeting. This includes discussion classes and labs.
5 Identify the questions being answered by your notes and summarizing main points.
6 Date and title each new lecture.
7 Use questions and/or main points to generate charts, quizzes, etc.
8 Take notes, charts, quizzes etc. with you when you see an instructor or tutor.
9 Use notes to generate mock exams.
10 Use notes daily to clarify and connect reading assignments, course concepts, etc.
11 Don’t confuse note taking with learning. Recognize and accept that note taking is a way of gathering information necessary for learning.
12 Establish a note taking goal before class. Determine what type of information you need. For example, if your syllabus says the topic for the day is “factors leading to the uprising,” your goal will be to look, listen, and gather carefully any information about those factors, i.e., how many factors, their respective impacts.
13 Look for verbal and non-verbal clues as to what information the instructor perceives as important. If the instructor writes the information on the board, repeats it, leans or moves forward toward the class while stating it, raises his/her voice, asks if there are any questions about it, PUT IT IN YOUR NOTES with a note to yourself that it is important.
14 Develop a shorthand system. You can keep up with the pace of the lecture and understand what you wrote when you review the notes later.
15 Use your notes as a starting point for learning. You spent time and energy gathering the information, the raw material. Now, spend time and energy thinking about it, checking it for accuracy, expanding on it, analyzing, synthesizing and extrapolating it. Your notes are now tools for learning.
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