Taking Good Lecture Notes

You will likely spend hours of your grad school life listening to lectures and taking notes. To be useful, you want your notes to be clear and well-organized so you can review them quickly later. Follow these tips to take good lecture notes:

• Use a separate notebook for notes in each class so you can quickly find the notes you need.
• Before you begin taking notes, write down the date and the topic of the lecture.
• Write down definitions for terms that your instructor defines. If your instructor uses a term you don't understand, write it down so you can get the definition later.
• If your instructor indicates that something is especially important, mark it with a highlighter, star, or other symbol.
• Don't write down every word the lecturer says or shows on a presentation slide. Instead, use keywords and short sentences and phrases to summarize the major points. Using your own words as much as possible will enhance your learning.
• Learn to write or type quickly. Use abbreviations, symbols, and your own shorthand to help you take notes more quickly.
• Keep your notes as neat as possible. Use white space between topics in case you need to add more information later.
• Create lists of related topics, using indentation to show relationships between ideas.
• If you miss something, leave space so you can add that information later, after asking a friend or the lecturer to fill in the blanks.
• At the end of the class, review your notes to see whether they are clear. Do you need to add any information? Are there important points you want to highlight?

By taking the time and effort to take good notes during lectures, you will have an excellent study resource for later use.