How to take notes
Master these effective note-taking techniques to enhance your study skills.
Why note-taking matters
Note-taking supports active learning. It helps you concentrate, remember key points, and process information critically.
Whether you’re in a lecture, reading a textbook, or reviewing material, taking notes ensures you can return to and apply your learning.
See also
How to take notes when listening
Taking notes while listening to lectures or tutorials is a vital skill for university study. Learn effective note-taking tips to capture key points and stay engaged.
Six good reasons to take notes
Notes are a useful record of key information, along with the sources of that information.
Writing notes helps you remember what you heard.
Taking notes helps you to concentrate and listen effectively.
Selecting what to note down increases your understanding.
Notes create a resource for exam preparation.
Notes taken in classes often contain information that can’t be found elsewhere.
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You’ll get the most out of lectures if you focus on both listening and note-taking, but don’t worry about getting everything down to the point where you miss what the lecturer is saying. Remember, actively listening and thinking are essential when learning how to take notes effectively.
Lecture slides usually serve as an outline of the lecture content. They guide your listening and help you identify key topics and concepts. Take note of what appears on them, but don’t limit your note-taking to simply copying the slides. The information is often much more limited compared to what the lecturer says, so it's more effective to listen to the lecture and take notes from that.
Most lecturers make slides available before class, so print them out and take additional notes during the lecture using the effective note-taking tips below.
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Preparation is key to mastering how to take notes in lectures. By gaining background knowledge before the session, you'll be a more effective listener and student.
Know what the lecture will be about by checking the course outline for weekly topics.
Complete any required pre-reading.
If lecture slides are available before class, download them.
Review notes from previous lectures.
Set up your notebooks or digital documents for efficient note-taking.
Arrive on time and sit near the front—clear hearing and visibility are essential for taking good notes.
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- Concentrate
- Summarise content
- Recognise what is important
Arrive prepared to actively listen, learn, and think critically. Analysing and questioning the information not only helps you focus but also enhances your ability to understand and apply effective note-taking tips.
Be selective – you don’t need to transcribe the entire lecture. Learning how to take notes effectively involves recognising key concepts and identifying relevant information. Listen for the overall argument and capture the main points and essential details.
Effective listening note-taking includes distinguishing between main points, elaborations, examples, unnecessary details (‘waffle’), and new concepts.
Pay attention to:
Introductory remarks: Lectures often begin with an overview of key ideas or themes, helping you grasp the 'big picture.'
Verbal signposts: Lecturers often signal key information with phrases like "There are four main aspects," "This is important," or "To sum up."
Repetition: Important points are often repeated, especially in introductions and conclusions.
Phonological cues: Changes in voice emphasis, volume, speed, or emotion can indicate critical information.
Final remarks: Most lectures conclude with a summary or restatement of the main ideas, often connecting the topic to future material.
Non-verbal cues: Facial expressions and hand or body signals often indicate the importance of specific points.
Visual cues: Pay attention to what appears on slides or visuals and note references to names, sources, or additional materials.
By focusing on these strategies, you can develop effective note-taking skills that ensure you capture the most valuable insights from your lectures.
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To get the most out of your notes it’s important to review and re-engage actively with them several times.
Review your notes while the lecture is fresh in your mind. Reviewing helps you remember what was said, builds up your understanding, and helps identify gaps in your knowledge.
To review:
Read through your notes. Make sure they are clear and legible. Clean them up – fix spelling errors, expand on abbreviations and tidy up handwriting (if necessary).
Fill in missing words or information and add anything extra that you may have thought of since the lecture.
Code your notes – use colour and symbols to mark structure and emphasis and highlight major sections, main points and diagrams. Use different colours to emphasise main points, classify different topics and link concepts or information.
Explain and clarify diagrams by writing a simple version of their meaning.
Identify anything that needs further clarification.
Label and file your notes along with any lecture handouts.
Tips for re-engaging with notes
Try “chunking” similar pieces of information into categories that you can remember more easily.
Transcribe key concepts in your own words.
Add your own questions to the notes to help you recall the key ideas.
Write a brief overall summary of the notes.
Reflect on the learning process itself – what do you find confusing? How did you solve problems or clarify your understanding?
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Record only the keywords needed to capture the main idea. Skip words like “the” and “a” that don’t add meaning to the lecture content. Be sure to retain key technical or discipline-specific terms.
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Paraphrase what you hear to make it meaningful to you – this is a key strategy in learning how to take notes effectively. Paraphrasing helps you understand and remember what you’ve heard. Aim to rephrase everything except information that needs to be noted verbatim.
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Organise them with headings, subheadings, and numbered lists. Use headings to indicate topics or to record bibliographic details of sources. Implement outline forms, numbering systems, and indentation to distinguish major points from minor ones and to create a clear structure for lecture content.
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Use colours and symbols to mark structure and emphasis.
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Use colour to highlight major sections, main points, and diagrams. Different colours can also classify or link concepts and topics. However, focus on colour coding primarily when revising your notes later, as it can be time-consuming during the lecture.
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Underline, circle, and star key information, such as examples, definitions, or critical points. Create a personalised marking code to quickly identify different types of information.
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Write down keywords, leave some space, and fill in the details later. Always leave a margin or space on the page for additional notes, comments, or clarifications.
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Symbols and abbreviations for frequently used words, phrases or names are useful for note-taking in lectures when speed is essential. It’s important to be consistent so you remember what they represent and can use them easily. Keep a ‘key list’ of frequently used symbols/abbreviations and their meanings so that you can refer to them in the future.
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Learning how to take notes effectively can include visual strategies like concept maps and diagrams. These tools help you organise information and simplify complex ideas. Try drawing diagrams or pictures for concepts that are hard to note quickly. For example, use a pie chart to indicate the relative strength of political parties in an election instead of writing out the details. You can always add more information to the concept map later.
Concept maps can become cluttered, so use both facing pages of an open A4 notebook to lay out your map and leave plenty of space for adding ideas and symbols.
Start in the middle of the page and add ideas on branches radiating from the central concept or other branches.
Use arrows and words to show connections between different parts of the concept map.
Incorporate colour and symbols to highlight ideas and trigger your thoughts – this is one of the most useful note-taking tips for creating engaging and memorable notes.
How to take notes when reading
To get the most out of the time you spend reading, it is essential to develop effective note-making and note-taking skills.
Learning how to take notes while reading can help you focus and better understand the material. Jotting down notes in the margins or highlighting important sections is a great start. However, as your reading becomes more extensive and purposeful, using effective note-taking tips to write clear and organised notes will save you valuable time when researching and writing.
Good note-making helps you keep a record of what you read and capture your thoughts while they are still fresh.
Good notes can help you to:
organise your ideas
keep focused while reading
keep a record of what you read so you can locate it again
keep a record of what you thought whilst you were reading
think critically about what you read
analyse a text
engage more effectively with what you read
draw links to other research
draw conclusions highlight areas that you need to develop further
How to organise effective notes for academic writing
The split-page method can be a useful way to help you organise your notes, record and collect information, and develop your thinking about what you read.
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Note down the bibliographic details of the source you are taking notes from at the top of each page. Include:
- surname and initial of the author or editor
- title of the book
- article or source
- title of the journal
- the publisher
- place of publication
- page numbers of the article and website details, including the URL.
- any library catalogue item numbers so that you can easily relocate the source if you need to. If you are focusing on a particular page, include the page number.
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First column
Use the first column for notes based on the reading. This section may include:
paraphrased information from the original text, (paraphrasing means to rewrite somebody else’s ideas in your own words)
summaries of ideas or information
quotations (reproducing the exact words of an author)
Ultimately, most of your note-making should paraphrase or summarise the key ideas of the author(s). Use quotations sparingly in assignments and only in situations where they seem to be the most appropriate way to express something. Make sure that you put quotes between quotation marks (“ “) to distinguish between the words of the author and your own words.
Make sure you record:
the page number(s) on which you found a piece of information
the paragraph number, if it is an online source with no page numbers
This is essential for two reasons. Firstly, you will need to include this information in citations. Secondly, if you need to clarify anything, you also need to be able to quickly locate the original information.
Second column
Use the second column for your comments on what you read. What you write here will depend on your purpose for reading. Your comments are vital because they can give context. If reading for an assignment, you might focus on how this information relates to the assignment task, or reflect on how or where you will use it in the assignment.
Your comments may also build on:
- what you have read and noted in the left-hand column
- reflect how you see this information about your own ideas
- simple notes clarifying why you thought an idea was useful.
- You can acknowledge similarities and differences with other authors
- identify questions you have, what you find confusing, or where your knowledge needs further developing.
This is the section that encourages you to think critically about the text, to question what the author is saying and to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s ideas. It is where you start making links between the various authors that you have read as well as consider where and how your ideas are positioned in the research, and how they may be validated or questioned.
How to take notes with electronic devices
Using electronic devices for note-taking can enhance efficiency and organisation. Discover tips for taking effective digital notes during lectures and study sessions.
Save notes from each lecture as a separate document
Label each document with the course name, lecture number, and date to keep your notes organised. Organise all documents and course materials into a folder labelled with the course code for easy access – a simple but essential step in learning how to take notes effectively.
Choose a notebook layout for digital notes.
Try note-taking apps like Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, or Google Keep to streamline your organisation.
Familiarise yourself with keyboard shortcuts to easily add formatting and save your notes while typing.
Combine handwritten notes with electronic note-taking to engage with information more effectively.
Interacting with your notes
The goal of note-taking is to process information, so make the most of the tools at your disposal:
Use lecture outlines, slides, or summaries as frameworks to structure your notes instead of skipping in-class note-taking.
Save lecture slides as PDF files and annotate them using apps like Notability, iAnnotate, PDF Pen, Evernote, or Adobe Acrobat Pro.
For Word documents, use the 'track changes' feature to add annotations and comments.
Minimise distractions
If using a laptop, close all other programs to focus on your notes. Avoid multitasking – focus on one task to maximise efficiency.
Use a website or app blocker like Self Control to avoid distractions such as email or social media during your note-taking sessions.
Typing vs writing notes: which is better?
While many students prefer typing notes, research shows that handwritten notes can improve focus, comprehension, and retention of lecture material more effectively than typing. However, typing notes makes it easier to format, save, edit, share, and review.
Typing notes can lead to transcription mode, where you record everything without actively processing the information. This diminishes the memory and cognition benefits of note-taking unless you review your notes several times. To maximise the benefits, review typed notes within 24 hours of the lecture. Using these note-taking tips will help you choose the method that works best for you.
Researching and gathering information
When researching, your initial plan should raise a series of questions and identify keywords and topic areas that you can use to guide your research for the essay. While reading informs your thinking, knowing what you need to find out will give your reading a purpose.
Be sure to examine any assigned course readings that are relevant to your essay topic.
If there was a lecture on the essay topic, did the lecturer recommend or refer to any particular author?
Is there a list of recommended readings for the course? Refer to it for sources of information. Who has written what on the topic(s)? What is essential to read?
Use the keywords and topics gleaned from your initial plan for library keyword searches.
Note-making as you read helps you record how you know something and helps you avoid plagiarism.
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