The majority of people are taking notes in a very intuitive way, usually just writing down the information. Yet, it can be rather challenging to find really crucial details or ideas if information is written down in such a way. You might be willing to optimise the way you are taking notes using one of the options from this article. Pay your attention to the facts there is no universal way of taking notes and you might be willing to use different ways depending on a particular situation.
Column method
For writing down a large number of facts and taking notes of the material in the way which will allow you to understand the pros and cons of the subject of your studies, it will be handy to use a column method. Notes taken according to this method will look like a table.
What is the exact way of using this method?
In order to get most of this method, you should think about the columns you will need for taking notes. It is crucial to keep their number between four and six and write down the most important information on the topic.
Box method
People learning about several separate terms or topic during the same class might find useful the Box method. Actually, it can be pretty handy for learning about time chronologies, historical events as well as new words from foreign languages.
A great advantage of such a method is division of the information not allowing the facts to get mixed with each other. The way of representation of information you will get by writing down the information in such a way will give you great visualisation of particular aspects of the topic you are studying.
How should you use the Box method?
In order to deploy the Box method, you should lock any particular aspect of information you have written down in a square. It is crucial not to write such information in a lean way. The boxes should be located in a chaotic way. Otherwise, the visualisation might suggest you interconnections between the boxes while you need to see them as separate pieces of information. At the same time, the information inside the boxes should have an obvious structure.
Sentence method
One of the best ways to write down the information you are learning during a long class hosted by a professor who tends to switch to different topics rather frequently is the Sentence method. This is a very simple method, however, it is really handy as you will be able to avoid situations in which you have to find space for writing more information on the aspect which has already been discussed.
How is the method used?
In order to add this method to your learning practice, you should just add indexes to any ideas you writing down. You can imagine that once the topic switches to another one and the, the professor comes back to the previous one, all you need to do is just continue taking notes adding an appropriate index.
The method of Maria Popova
Providing you are working with a large amount of literature which is used for creating your own articles, it might take a huge amount of time to take notes of everything you find useful. This is exactly why Maria Popova who is the creator of the BrainPickings method has developed her own system of taking notes.
How can you use such a method?
Actually, this way of taking notes is based on not taking notes. You just need to name the materials you are going to create in a sensible way and the key aspects of it. Then, all you need to do is to read the books you are reading and write down the pages where you can find the necessary information in a particular book. Of course, the most crucial sentences as well as quotes should be singed right in the book.