Monday 17 March 2008

note taking from readings

hi sandra - i wondered if you could help me with a quick question about notetaking, as i know this is your area of research and expertise... i struggle to make effective notes when i read an article or chapter. is it better to read the whole thing and then go back and make notes? or to annotate and then make notes from there? or write notes as you read? obviously i know a lot of this will be to do with individual style and preference but i just wondered if you could offer me any tips or strategies that i wouldn't have considered. thanks v much, beccy

2 comments:

Sandra said...

Evidence suggests that the best way is to scan intros & conclusions - check how much of it you want to read in depth - scan bits that you don't really need - then deep read the important sections - annotating the text itself (underlining, hi-liting, margin notes). Re-read your own annotations & construct your own KEY WORD notes from them. It seems time consuming, but your understanding is greatly enhanced and you only make notes that you will use. If you make notes earlier they tend to be over long, passive and not very useful.
Good luck!
Best
Sandra

Beccy said...

this is really useful and interesting - thank you sandra