These are some general hints to help you be an effective note-taker.

1. Attend all lectures and come prepared to take notes.

2. Write on only ONE side of your notebook paper. The other side is for expansion and/or
revising later.

3. Identify course, date, and lecture topic for each day’s notes.

4. Begin taking notes immediately and use short sentences.

5. Use lecturer’s words for important terms and ideas. Paraphrase where helpful.

6. Listen for clues to indicate main points, such as tone of voice or time spent on topic.

7. Listen for clues to detect the organization pattern of lecture.

8. Keep notes as simple as possible. Leave space between main ideas and/or terms. Leave
blank spaces for filling in of words/ideas missed.

9. Use some abbreviations and symbols – your own are fine as long as YOU can read them.

10. If examples are given for new or difficult terms and ideas, write them down, but make a
note that they are only examples.

11. If you have questions, examples, additional points of your own, use them; but identify
them as yours.

12. Review periodically – you can think faster than the lecturer can speak.

13. After the lecture, recite, review, and revise if necessary. Revision needs to be done within
24 hours of lecture, before you forget the information.

14. Summarize the day’s notes as an aid to memory. The summary will help make your
future review sessions more meaningful.

CENTER FOR ACADEMIC PLANNING AND SUPPORT, SUNY ULSTER, CAPS@SUNYULSTER.EDU