Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Livescribe Pen - What You Never Know About Note Taking

By Harley Hamilton

No matter what field you are in, or what kind of classes you are taking, you can bet that at least some of your academic success is going come from your ability to take notes! Taking good notes will enable you to review the material completely and the connection between hearing the speaker and writing it down will cement it in your ear. When you are looking at something that is as vital as note taking, it is important to figure out how to do it well. Check out these great tips for note-taking below, and you'll see your results go up dramatically!

You will be behind It is important to realize that when you take notes, there is a delay between hearing the words and writing them down. Some people get frustrated because they cannot write everything down as it is being said. To get the best notes out of the class session, remember that you are going to be a little bit behind. You'll find that your short term memory will help you bridge the gap and that by falling a little behind, you'll get a clearer picture.

Choosing the right tools. When you want to take the best notes ever, make sure that you are checking out the best new tools. For example, look into Livescribe Pen. Essentially, this is a pen that holds a computer and a recorder. Using the headphones that come with the pen, you can instantly play back the lecture no matter where you are. With 100 hours of audio storage available, you'll find that this can help you get a crystal-clear picture of the lecture you were just in!

Constructive listening With a bit of careful listening, you'll find that you can tell when something important and notable is going to be said. For instance, listen for phrases like, Three things that..., Most importantly... and Due to... These are phrases that will help you pinpoint when a main concept is going to be coming at you. It will help you organize your notes and it will help you study later on.

Organization helps! Keep all of your notes together. It will make referring to them a lot easier when you need them, and it will also help you keep things in perspective. Have separate notebooks or folders for different subjects, and try to keep your notes in chronological order. This can make an enormous difference when you want to get the big picture.

Draw pictures Have you ever heard that a picture is worth a thousand words? Some people find that if they can draw pictures that graphically display what is going on that their notes become much more useful. These pictures don't need to be great art, but using diagrams and arrows to keep track of things can help you out a lot!

Take some time to think about how you are taking your notes, and make sure that you are getting everything that you need out of them!

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment