NOTE TAKING, LISTENING AND
NOTE MAKING
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• Note taking is an individual process comprised
of a series of complex activities.
• It is not a passive act of simply writing down
words.
• It is a way to record and arrange thought and
material to help you remember information
• Where do we take notes: in classroom (during
lectures), in meetings, workshops, field and in
similar occasions
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Why take notes?
• Notes make you concentrate on what you are
learning
• Notes make you put ideas into your own
words and so aid understanding since Personal
notes are easier to remember than the text.
• Notes help you remember things better
• The lecture or the meeting may contain
information that is not available elsewhere.
• To accurate record information
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• Lecture is the only place where you learn what your
instructor deems is important as exam are made out
of the lecture and class assignments are usually given
in a lecture.
• Organized notes will help you to identify the most
important ideas
• It is only possible to make sense of the organisation
and purpose of the lecture through note taking.
• To become actual part of listening. I.e. force you to
listen carefully and test your understanding of the
material.
• To enhance learning
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What to write?
• Definitions of new ideas and examples.
• Formula
• Specific facts
• Material written on the board or presented on
an overhead.
• Repetition (repeated words)
• Reviews given at the beginning of class
• Summaries given at the end of the class.
• Reference to other sources
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• Emphasized points
a) - Emphasis can be judged by tone of voice and
gesture
b) - The amount of time the instructor spends on
points
c) - The number of examples he/she uses.
• Word signals and cues such as;
“There are three main causes of…”
“For example…”
“On the other hand…”
“Generally accepted…” or “a controversial view…”
N.B: Poor notes can confuse or mislead
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Why to write on your own words?
• The speed of the speaking is much grater than
of writing
• If you try to write everything, you will miss
gestures and facial expressions
• Using your own words helps to interpret the
concepts for yourself
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The context of note taker?
• Physical context: note-taker has no control over
social or geographical situation in which he has to
take notes. E.g. temperature, ventilation, sitting
space etc
• Speaker: sometime we have no choose on whom to
listen, e.g. we can face difficulties on speaker’s
personality or his manner. No control over the
speaker’s pace/speed of speech, unfinished
sentence.
QN: How can we overcome barriers to effective note
taking?
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Note taking techniques
• Conventional symbols and signs. There are some symbols
that are almost common to many writers and readers
such as =, <, >, +, -, &, @, x
• Use of arrows to show direction
• Omission of vowels e.g. btw, ktk, b/se, plz
• Abbreviation and short-cuts e.g. sugg, stnd, ltd
• Use different color
• Use capitals
• Omit words that does not carry meaning or content
• Identify cues and signal words e.g. in addition, in contrary,
therefore etc.
QN: write down 10 standard abbreviations
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Note
Taking
Four Areas
Note of Effective Note
Reflecting Note Making
Taking
Note
Interacting
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Note taking system
1. Outline system
Effective strategies for note taking (title)
A. The traditional outline for note taking (main point)
1. Advantages (supporting ideas)
a) Occupies your attention totally (detailed points under
supporting ideas)
b) organizes ideas as well as records them
2. Disadvantages
a) Too structured for right-brain person
b) Time consuming
B. The mapping system for note taking
1. Advantages
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2. Mind map
Location
Language
population
food
Country
Economic
government culture
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3. Cornell system
Lecture: October 20
Topic: Note taking
What is the • To accurately record information
purpose of note • To become actual part of listening
• To enhance learning
taking
• Formal outline
Different system • Cornell method
of note taking • Mind map
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Bloom’s Taxonomy – 6 levels of cognitive domain
- These range from simple fact recall to complex evaluation of data
- question yourself depend on these levels
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Listening skills
• Before you can be an effective note taker, you
must become an effective listener
• Listening is an active decision to be fully
attentive and to understand the intent of the
speaker. It is a consuming activity that requires
physical and mental attention energy,
concentration and discipline
• hearing is a natural physiological process of
dictating/receiving the sound waves. It’s the
voluntary action.
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Reason for improving listening
• Encourage others
• Possession of all the information
• Improve relationships
• Resolution of the problems
• Better understanding of people
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Types of listening
• Appreciative listening
Is the listening that doesn’t focus in the primary
message but focus in the attitude of listening to the
speaker i.e. to enjoy what the speaker says. E.g. the
way of organising the message, voice etc.
• Discriminative listening
Is a listening that is mainly interested in the conclusion
given out by the speaker in order for the listener to
judge the speaker stands on the given topic
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• Therapeutic listening
Is the type that needs the emotional support, psychological
satisfaction. Example when want to give some one advise
concerning his problem
• Listening for comprehension
It’s the type of listening that involve getting the main point,
ask for clarification, questions and identify the key issues
• Critical listening
Is the type of listening that allows debate. Critical listening
asks questions such as why, how, when, who and where and
therefore it deepest our understanding. It is mainly used in
academic context
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Barriers to good listening skills
• Passive listening (not interested in listening)
• Drifting thoughts/control emotions
• Intrusion of the past
• Past experience about the speaker
• Some problems caused by the speaker e.g.
speed – if the speaker move faster, accent of
the speaker and the choice of diction
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Note making
• Note taking is when you are hearing
something for the first time and you are trying
to jot down the key information so you can
use it later
while
note making is when you return those notes and
make notes on them. This means you annotate
them, put things into your words or summarise
them and highlight key points.
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Importance of note making
• Get more information from text book.
• Help to train a critical mind.
• Help in providing record of essential point.
• Help in once memory
• Used as preliminary to write in critical research
and enable to draw conclusion from the
research.
• Help to organise your ideas and highlight areas
that you need to develop further.
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Summary writing
• A summary is a shortened version of an
original text. It includes the thesis and major
supporting points, and should reveal the
relationship between the major points and the
thesis.
• Summary is the significant reduction
of the original
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Example of summary
• The article quotes John A. Challenger, a chief
executive officer for an outsourcing firm, on
his views about tattoos and other body art.
He believes that times have changed and that
companies will have to become more
accepting of body art if they want to hire
young people. However, he recommends that
job seekers find out about a future employer’s
acceptance of body art when interviewing for
a position. (USA Today, April 2006, page 10)
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Summary writing techniques
1. Paraphrasing
To paraphrase means to completely and correctly express
other people’s ideas in one’s own words. E.g. let’s try
paraphrasing the following paragraph;
A decade ago, most search authorities would have said
showing off tattoos and body piercings is a surefire way
to get resume placed in the “No Ways” pile. However,
times have changed with some surveys indicating that
more than one-third of young people now sport tattoos
and other forms of body art.
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Just 10 years ago, people in charge of hiring
would have placed resumes of people with
visible tattoos and body piercings in the
discard pile. Today, that policy has changed.
A significant percentage of younger
generation employees have tattoos or other
body marks. (USA Today, April 2006, page 10).
N.B: Consider the original article as a whole, not
in isolated sentences.
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Importance of paraphrase
• It helps us understand the original better.
• It helps us grasp the central idea and the main
points.
• It helps us write summaries that are brief and
to the point, and in our own words.
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2. Grasping the central ideas – the topic or
general subject matter of the material
3. Identify the topic sentence - the author’s
major assertion, comment or position on the
topic
4. Supporting ideas (look for major supporting
ideas and relationships among these ideas)
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Direct quotation
You must use quotation marks if you are taking
something directly (word for word) from the
information source. Quotations must be
attributed to the original author.
For example, from the article, you like the
sentence that says “However, body art is going
mainstream and growing in popularity,
particularly among young people.”
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Tattoos and body piercings are becoming more
and more commonplace. In fact, if you are
standing on a city corner in any city in the United
States, you are likely to see a lot of tattoos and
body piercings on people walking by. According
to an article found in the USA Today Magazine,
“…body art is going mainstream and growing in
popularity, especially among young people.”
(USA Today Magazine, April 2006, page 10).
• Notice that quotation marks are used around
the sentence that was directly borrowed from
the article and the reader was told where the
quote was found.
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