# Effective Notetaking **Covers**:: **Source**:: [[Effective Notetaking by Fiona McPherson]] **Creator**:: [[Fiona McPherson]] # Highlights ##### ^315488642 Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=45 ###### ^315488642q Students (and indeed readers in general) are inclined to ignore Introductions. But these are usually valuable guides to how to read the text and what to expect from it. As you'll learn in later chapters, knowing what to expect is a vital factor in getting the most from both books and lecturers. ^315488642 #### 1. Introduction ##### ^315488645 Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=61 ###### ^315488645q The distinction between note-taking and active reading ... is somewhat arbitrary. Reading actively often involves taking notes; taking notes often requires you to read. ^315488645 #### 2. Making note-taking an effective strategy ##### ^315498155 Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=89 ###### ^315498155q The first distinction is that between note-taking from note-making. We take notes from a book or a lecture; we make notes as preparation for an essay or presentation or exam, or to clarify our thoughts. ^315498155 ##### Note-taking is a strategy for making information meaningful ##### ^315498157 highlight_tags:: [[blue]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=97 ###### ^315498157q the main value of note-taking is through its effect on how you encode the information in your brain. That is, the act of note-taking is more important than the result. For this reason, note-taking is effective to the extent that you paraphrase, organize and make sense of the information ^315498157 ##### ^315498158 Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=103 ###### ^315498158q a very formal, ‘dry’ text is more likely to be recorded verbatim while a more informal passage is more likely to be paraphrased — and thus more effectively recorded) ^315498158 ##### ^315498159 Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=112 ###### ^315498159q Although personal styles and abilities are something you need to take into account when considering which strategies will be most effective for you, effective strategies are effective strategies, regardless of the user. ^315498159 ##### The importance of working memory ##### ^315498161 highlight_tags:: [[orange]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=118 ###### ^315498161q Working memory capacity (the amount you can ‘hold’ in working memory) varies between people, and indeed, WMC correlates highly with fluid intelligence (fluid intelligence refers to general reasoning and problem-solving abilities, while crystallized intelligence refers to cognitive functions associated with knowledge). ^315498161 ##### ^315498162 highlight_tags:: [[pink]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=124 ###### ^315498162q inferences may require knowledge out of our memory, or may require us to make connections between statements within the text. To do this, we have to be able to hold all the relevant information in our mind at the same time — a task more difficult for those who can ‘hold’ less in working memory. Indications are that students with a low working memory capacity use less effective strategies when reading because such strategies are less demanding ^315498162 ### PART I: Selection strategies ##### ^315498181 highlight_tags:: [[pink]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=192 the original question almost feels false. Is there even a way to objectively define what information is important? Or just to define what is important to the information giver or to the information reciever ###### ^315498181q Distinguishing the important from the unimportant information is arguably the most critical skill in successful studying. It is ... I say that no-one knows how to teach the ability to select the most important information, and in the most fundamental sense that is true. But information that is expressed in writing or in speech, in textbooks and lectures, commonly contains clues to what the writer or speaker regards as important. Reading these cues is certainly something that can be taught. ^315498181 #### 3. Highlighting important information ##### ^315498167 Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=212 ###### ^315498167q When you are the one doing the highlighting, its value is mainly as an aid to focus your attention. When you’re considering whether to use highlighting in a particular situation, you need to ask yourself: will highlighting help me pick out the most important information? If there are too many important points in the text, or the ideas are too complex to be conveyed in a brief phrase, then highlighting is not an effective strategy. ^315498167 ##### ^315498168 highlight_tags:: [[blue]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=242 ###### ^315498168q For the most part, then, highlighting is only a useful strategy when the material is relatively simple. However, what constitutes ‘simple’ depends on your knowledge of a topic. ^315498168 ##### ^315498169 Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=314 This is complicated when automation is involved based off your highlights ###### ^315498169q Highlighting separates selected words from the rest of the text, and causes you to direct more attention to the selected words. Such words are more likely to be recalled1. ^315498169 ##### ^315498170 Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=316 ###### ^315498170q highlighting should be simple — using different methods (bolding, underlining, coloring text) to indicate different categories of information (such as key terms, examples, dates, key statements) doesn’t improve recall and may even harm it ^315498170 ##### ^315498171 highlight_tags:: [[blue]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=318 ###### ^315498171q you should only highlight details you don’t already know, and only when the text is long enough to benefit from it. ^315498171 ##### ^315498172 Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=333 ###### ^315498172q The main value of highlighting (as a strategy) appears to lie in its encouragement to spend more time with the material. ^315498172 #### 4. Headings highlight structure ##### ^315511805 highlight_tags:: [[blue]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=493 ###### ^315511805q The presence of headings has been found to produce better summaries1, better outlines2, and better memory for the main points of a text3. ^315511805 ##### ^315511806 highlight_tags:: [[blue]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=495 ###### ^315511806q Headings are classified as organizational signals. Other organizational signals are overviews and topical summaries ^315511806 ##### ^315511807 highlight_tags:: [[orange]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=499 ###### ^315511807q A comparison of the effects of an overview, a topical summary, and headings, found no difference in the amount of information remembered without specific prompts4 (free recall). ^315511807 ##### ^315511808 highlight_tags:: [[orange]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=533 ###### ^315511808q How easily you remember details you’ve read in a text depends heavily on the degree to which the details have been integrated with the rest of the material. Narrative texts are remembered so easily because stories (and most particularly “traditional” stories, like folk tales) are a chain of causal events: this happens, so this happens. In expository texts (texts that explain and describe), the connection between items is usually less predictable. ^315511808 ##### ^315511809 highlight_tags:: [[blue]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=548 ###### ^315511809q Most texts will belong to one of these six types: Description: the extension or clarification of main ideas through explanations, examples, or information about attributes. Collection: a list of facts or elements. Classification: where items are grouped in classes. Sequence: a connecting series of events or steps, possibly causally related. Comparison: where two or more things are compared or contrasted. Problem: discussion of a problem and its solution, or a question and its answer. ^315511809 ##### ^315511810 highlight_tags:: [[blue]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=798 ###### ^315511810q When are headings most useful? When the text has several topics and is not clearly organized. When other cues to the structure of the text and the relative importance of details aren’t available. When the reader needs assistance in understanding the organization of the text, or the relative importance of details. ^315511810 ##### ^315511811 highlight_tags:: [[blue]] Goto: https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004J35LQ2&location=800 ###### ^315511811q if you find a text confusing, with too many topics and poorly organized, then writing headings through the text is a helpful strategy. This is particularly true if you find it hard to hold all the information you need in your head, whether because you have a low working memory capacity (permanently or temporarily) or because the text holds too much detail. ^315511811