J. Kelly Robison
Regular attendance usually improves your grade. By attending classes you will gain a sense of the instructor's approach to the subject and you will acquire insights about what is most important and what may be on the exams.
The primary goal of taking lecture notes is to record important interpretative and factual material while distinguishing the main ideas of the lecture from subordinate ones. Here are a few suggestions on taking lecture notes.
1. Pay attention. Listen careful. Do not talk, sleep, stare out the window, doodle, or daydream. There is no point to attending classes that you paid for if you waste your time.
2. Read the assigned materials before going to class, doing so allows you to concentrate on new or different points of information or interpretation raised in the lectures .
3. Identify the main points of each lecture. Make sure that you understand the theme and the arguments presented by the instructor.
4. Note interpretations and generalizations that differ from the approach in the readings.
5. Ask questions about problems you have had with the readings or with the lecture.
6. Take only as many notes as you need to remember the main points and appropriate examples from the lecture. Do not try to write down everything the lecturer says.
7. Organize your notes in outline form. If you have a computer, use the outline function on your word processor.
8. Write legibly and indicate the date and subject of the lecture.
9. Leave a wide margin on at least one side of the page to allow you to add material later or write marginal comments when rereading your notes or studying for an exam
10. Review you notes after each class to improve your retention of the content of the lecture and to identify problems.
11. Summarize the lecture into one or two paragraphs which state the main conclusions and outline the important parts of the lecture.
Good notes are organized. Your lecture notes should provide you with an outline of the material covered in the lecture, with emphasis on interpretations, important facts and examples that the readings may not have covered. Good lecture notes should make studying for exams easier.