What type of outline should you use to take notes in class?

You may have been one of those fortunate people who hasn't had to take notes for class before; that's not going to last in college. Instructors teach with an assumption that students are going to take notes, and be actively engaged with class lecture and discussions. There's far less repetition in college classes, compared to high school classes. It's not so much the faculty's job to teach as it is the students' responsibility to learn.

Taking notes serves a number of purposes, but primarily, we take notes so that we can review them later and remember what we've heard. Don't try to create a complete transcript with every Word written down. You'll get lost and fall behind. You're much better off paying attention to the lecture, and only making notes of the points that are especially important, or useful. Your notes are mostly meant to serve as a reminder of the most important points, the points that you most want to remember, and that are most likely to be useful later—especially in the context of exams. That means that you need to pay close attention to the lecture; in fact, listening closely is more important than taking notes. The notes are meant to be reminders of what you heard.

Here's a quick list of things to watch for as you take notes in class.

• Watch for clues about what's important.
• Pay particular attention to anything written on the board.
• Notice references to specific pages in the text book, or dates, and write them down.
• Notice what ideas, concepts, and Words are emphasized. Often, a teacher will say "this is important. "
• The amount of time spent on a concept is a good indication of its importance.
• Watch for key Words that enumerate points, as in "There are two things to notice about this event."