Introduction

I'm a huge stickler when it comes to notes. I firmly believe effective notetaking involves equal parts consideration to both content and form: getting caught up in one aspect at expense to the other can easily defeat the purpose and undermine the time someone spends taking notes.

If too much time is spent on form, i.e., the system used to take notes, notetaking can actively slow down the writer and become distracting. This is all too common in online spaces such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr where students fetishize each others' notes. These aesthetics come in many, typically major-specific, flavors such as STEM, dark and light academia (the humanities), etc. This activity is not limited to online spaces either, the drive to produce aesthetically-pleasing notes has proliferated to many academic spaces. It is all too common I will see students with 5 lb pencil cases full of highlighters, markers, and an array of pens to produce notes. These problems are almost entirely exclusive to handwritten notes though digital notes present their own problems too. It is well-known that the act of handwriting notes is better information retention than typed notes. However, digital notes systems present very appealing aspects, namely speed and invariability. Even the average Google Doc user who knows nothing about typesetting or formatting can write clean and neat notes. Digital notes can still have many of the same problems as handwriting like distracting formatting. Popular word processors, specifically Microsoft Word, are beginner-friendly enough to overload users with formatting options.

Similarly, an attraction to content can also present its own problems. It is all too common, both with handwriting but more so with digital notes, writers will write information verbatim. This neglects the meaningful processing needed to make any and all notes efffective. The processing required to make notetaking meaningful involves the simultaneous synthesis of information and organization of many interrelated ideas. To this point, unstructured notes can be nightmare. I would argue the quality of someones notes, particularly their handwritten notes, can inform you of the clarity of their own thoughts. Many notes systems attempt to accomodate this idea to varying degrees such as mind maps or exobrains that draw associations between interrelated topics or notes.

My Notes System

Designing a notes system is highly personal and involves thourough investigation of and experimentation with the writer's learning preferences, tools, subject at hand, etc. While notes systems only need to transform information (inputs) into notes (outputs) by synthesis (a process), I believe the most effective notes systems provide opportunities for reflection (feedback).

Typical Rutgers business courses are reading-intensive and largely memorization based. The effectiveness of notes for these courses and the process by which they are created is largely contingent on how notes are transformed by feedback. In instances of courses like this, I stick to the following process:

1. Course materials are read and notes are taken before lecture

   Notes are taken by hand in bullet-form in a notebook in my own words. Any notes taken verbatim from material are quoted and used at a minimum. I typically create a bullet point for each paragraph or section. If I cannot think of something to write, I reread the section or paragraph till something comes to mind.

2. Pre-reading notes are read the day of the lecture

   This is simple, I just read my notes from my notebook. Notes are typically short enough I can read them word-for-word in the time I have between lectures. Doing this allows me to pay more attention to what the professor is saying rather than whatever is going on on the board.

3. Lecture revisions are made

   I match topics to real-world examples and ask questions if I genuinely have any.

4. Notes are typed

   Once I have the time, I will write my handwritten notes to a digital medium. I use Micrsoft Word with a notes template I created before the semester that includes custom formatting and keyboard shortcuts that make this process as quick as possible. I refrain from copying my notes, instead I will try to rewrite the notes more succinctly.

5. I read the digital notes when I have the time, either on weekends or when I have nothing else pressing to do
6. Process is repeated

This process is laborious and works best for non-STEM subjects. If there is homework, I will typically do it after typing the notes in a Word Doc. This process works for me because, even between my seven courses, part-time job, going to the gym, and music, I still find I have plenty of time for it.