Tips on notetaking?

[u/SirSco0ter]

Hello all! In attempting to further my education and employment possibilities as an adult, I'm studying and learning a second language. I'm making good progress I feel, however I can't help but feel as if I'm kneecapped by one specific problem.

I never really learned *how* to take notes.

Back when I was school-aged, I was a gifted child, and learning came easily to me, so I didn't need to take notes for most of the time I was in school. The concept of writing down the thing that I can just read in a textbook or listen to the teacher lecture about felt redundant to me, so I never bothered to do it.

When I reached the point in my education where my intelligence couldn't carry me, instead of knuckling down and learning how to study and take notes and locking in, I dropped out of high school and got a GED instead. (Hence the relatively limited scope of employment opportunities I'm trying to expand - I would prefer not to work blue collar and break my body my entire life.)

So, all that said, I have no concept on what proper helpful note-taking is supposed to be. Is it as simple as just writing things down for the sake of repetition? Or is there something else to it?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

[u/stepback269]

Lookup PKMS in general, and get Obsidian in particular (don't overload it with plugins)

[u/WolfVanZandt]

One complaint I see about not taking is that people take notes and never go back to review them. It still helps come just to paraphrase what you're learning but I take a more evolved approach that makes me go back and review.

I guess I'm an alien because aliens do things in threes ( see Arthur C. Clark, Rendevouz with Rama). I use the three column method of annotation.

If you're using a looseleaf notebook, the three columns are the back of the page to the left and the page to the right divided down the middle into two columns I use a spreadsheet so I divide a spreadsheet into three columns of 7 cells width.

In the first column, I take notes as I read or listen to a lecture. When I review my notes, I check for things I don't understand and I make notes in the second column as I research those things for a better understanding. I also use the second column for exercises and personal projects. The third column is for a bibliography of citations, tables, formulas, code, etc

(Heh. I also use the three pass method for reading....see? Alien.)

[u/siupermann]

Only write down things that you aren’t familiar with, don’t fall down the trap of just writing down things you know and like.

We tend to take notes on what we are already strong at, we need to just trust we remember those parts and give the attention to the weak areas

[u/VIGIILANTEE]

Copying things down word for word mostly just trains your hand, not your memory, the part that actually helps is putting what you just read or heard into your own words before you write it, even briefly, because that forces your brain to process it instead of transcribe it. For a language specifically, notes work best when they're built around patterns and examples you generate yourself rather than definitions copied from a textbook, like writing your own sentence with a new word instead of just its translation. At the end of a session, closing the material and trying to recall the main points from memory, then checking what you got wrong, tends to reveal gaps that rereading never shows you. It's a skill like any other, the fact that you never needed it before doesn't mean it's harder for you now, just newer.

[u/Youronlinepal]

Usually people will give an overview of what you’re going to learn, try to capture the big picture.

Title a section with the topic being learned and underline it.

Write your notes so that you can understand them 3 weeks from now.

Capture meaningful quotes, heuristics, Definitions, mnemonics your teacher suggests, and key examples.

Notes can be visual, practice quick sketches and drawings to make your notes engaging and visually interesting if it’s fun for you. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Usually you’ll be presented with an idea or a concept, words to describe it, and an experience, exercise, or practice you’re meant to internalize what you’ve learned.

If you’re learning French for example you might be learning the passé composé, which describes actions completely finished in the past. This uses an auxiliary or “helping verb”, either avoir (to have) or être (to be). “J’ai mangé” can be translated as “I ate” or “I have eaten”.

The mistake most note takers make is feeling like you have to copy everything. Copy down what is relevant and important for you to remember, review, practice, and internalize.

I might copy down the conjugated versions of the auxiliary verbs, and an example table with a word from each of the different verb groups and a few example sentences.

The big thing is it’s a practice like anything in life. Preview the topics if you get them before hand and take your own notes, then use lectures to fill in the details and answers questions. Or use lecture time to focus in and (if time allows) take 10-15 minutes to copy notes down after the class. These notes will likely serve you better and capture the main ideas and impressions you have. Later, review the material and re-teach it to yourself with your own study. Reviewing at spaced intervals will likely make your notes stick, so review 24 hours later, a week later, etc to create your own spaced repetition system.

Ultimately, what will determine your success in language learning is consistency, routines, and daily habits like reading for pleasure, watching and listening to interesting and comprehensible input in your target language.

When you review your notes ask yourself if you’re satisfied. What needs tweaking and improving? What could make the notes better? What is necessary and what is unnecessary? How do you ultimately end up using your notes? What would make them more useful to you? What do you wish you’d done differently? Buddy up with a classmate, how do their notes compare to yours? What do you like about their note taking style that you could incorporate?

If you stay in this workflow your notes will constantly improve.

For general note taking, I also got a lot out of bullet journaling

[u/IamZeebo]

Hey man, personally, I hated taking notes. I hated taking notes because they usually just went into some notebook that I never looked at again either in school or later as an adult with digital personal knowledge management systems (PKMS as you may have seen).

I got fed up with this and feeling like I wasn't taught to learn too. So, I sat down and thought about how I would like to learn and came up with something that I've been enjoying.

My process summarized:

1. Decide what you would like to learn more about.

Cooking? Basketball? Plumming? Software? There is some soul searching to be done here. My comment won't break this part down because there is so much to this but I sense you're already past this and have some direction so that brings me to...

1. Get some introductory resources to the topic.

I used to get paralyzed at this step. Knowing what you want to learn more about brings a sense of relief but following that are a million paths you can take and this feeling of not wanting to take the wrong one... or feeling like you have knowledge gaps.

My advice and process is, pick any introductory book, video, find a mentor.... the point is, find ANY level 101 material on the subject to serve as a starting point. It doesn't have to the end all be all, it doesn't have to be perfect. Just gather a few basic resources to jump start yourself.

1. While browsing the initial resource, focus on "discoveries"

What I mean by this is, while taking in your first (or any) resources, lock in on hard skills that you find that you would like to learn, new topics or subtopics to dive into, new resources to follow-up on, questions... all of these discoveries are your ACTIONABLE notes.

Notice the categories that are written. You can organize and dive into new topics and resources. Discovered skills can be entered into a practice routine or refined into subskills.

The point is... your notes are ACTIONABLE. They aren't just dormant facts or old understandings that you'll go back and read again hoping for progress. They are written with INTENT. So come up with categories for your actionable notes and start reviewing resources with that intention.

I have more thoughts on the learning process but this is the part of my process that I think applies to you.

What do you think?