How do you take notes? Do you write down lists, do you make diagrams? Have you worked out your own system with symbols and abbreviations, etc?
Do you draw mind-maps?

I bought a book about "radiant thinking", but when you're working through that book you're supposed to make 100 mind-maps to practice and I dont have time for that right now. You're supposed to use coloured filt pens and everything.

I tend to either write down what the lecturer is saying or just have a long list of key words with short explanations/examples next to them (if I'm taking notes from books or other inanimate sources). It works ok, but I think I should find a way that's more effective. I was revising for an exam in december and I produced 40 pages of notes in one sitting. It worked and whatnot but it makes my hand hurt.

I took few notes during lectures. I used to print off the lecture slides and make notes on them (or often just shove them in my bag). Then I'd do reading and make notes either on top of the lecture notes or as a side sheet. I could never just sit there in a lecture and make good notes on a piece of paper that actually made sense when I walked out, so I gave up on that.

Then I'd get an A1/A2 piece of paper, depending on the size of the topic and how far I can compress it to key sentences (sometimes I'd get in whole modules, sometimes 1/3 of a module, sometimes only a lecture or two) and make a mind map. I'd try and colour code for keywords, important names, supporting evidence and conflicting evidence.
That way I could learn the mind map, taking it with me right up to the exam room, and also it was easy to see how the topic could be branched into questions - checking I had full understanding, evidence, criticism and further reading information for each possible area.
You can do the same for essays, making sure each branch is included.

Or at least thats what I was doing towards the end. Every module I did that for, I got a good mark in.
Maybe if I'd done that for every exam instead of procrastinating/skim reading the text book I might have got a better overall grade...

I suppose its different for everyone. Thats just the way I think. I know they always give mind maps as a good method for visual learners, but I think its more of a semantic thing.

I am all over mind maps when I am revising. But its more a way of consolidating my notes rather than a way of initially making them. I am a big fan of the old random abbreviations b/w, ppl, &, a/wll etc. Mostly the filler words I chop into bits. And I use just the initials for authors/books etc.

would you recommend the book? it sounds intriguing.

i don't really take notes. it doesn't help me. i'm one of those people who learned through the implementation of concepts - "hands on".

well i major in english, so most of my "notes" are just shit i write in the margins of books. sometimes if its a complicated story, like out of chronological order (i know there's a work for that. anachronistic?) i'll try to make a timeline. or if everyone's fucking everyone's brother and someone's grandma is also their niece (this fucking happened in toni morrison's paradise) i'll try to make like a family tree.

it depends. in my math/science classes, my notes mostly consist of diagrams, graphs, equations/problems, that sort of thing.

but if i'm in a philosophy class (for example), then i pick out a few phrases during the lecture and write them down. i noticed that i continue to use science-y abbreviations in my notes in these classes as well.
= stands for 'is', rxn is reaction, soln is solution, etc. it's weird.

and i always take notes in pen, because i can write faster that way.

Welcome to the 21 century.
They should really allow you guys the use of tape/digital recorders or podcast availability. Needless waste of paper and hand cramps.

i just take down bullet points under headings, sometimes with my own thoughts. it's the quickest and most efficient way for me.

they let us at my uni but some lecturers really hate it for some reason. i personally would prefer not to because if i write something down i tend to remember it better. by the way i recycle every bit of paper i can and i never get hand cramps.

They hate it because it means they have to spend time learning how to use technology they're usually unfamiliar with

or at least that is my general impression.

I dont mind taking notes per se. I'd just like to find a better way of doing it

there have been a lot of good suggestions in this thread though, so thank you all for posting

you must also be a chemistry student

what do you mean "new technology"? the lecturers don't have to do anything but talk.

not exactly. well, your guess was close enough though. environmental science is the correct answer, but most of my classes are chemistry-based.

i have lots of abbreviations and a few symbols so if anyone else looks through my notes, they're double dutch

also, i formed a weird habit years ago that i can't break: writing certan words in german. even if the word's shorter in english, i'll be halfway through writing it before i realise what i've done.

what's a mind map?

i don't really use diagrams or anything, unless it's summat i've copied from the lecturer's ohp sheet. i suppose i am not a visionary

i wish i could, though, cos writing in longland = sometimes you'll be halfway through the sentence and you can't remember how it ends. i have so many pages of notes with blanks and look up!!!! scrawled across them but i never do

A mind map is the posh modern word for a good old fashioned spider diagram.

brainstorming!? retro

for some of the old lecturers I have/have had, recording themselves on an iPod or whatever, saving the file and then publishing it online later === new technology.

Some of them won't even publish resources online or send out emails because it's "too much hassle", so they're always like "come see me" or "you can pick up copies of this in my pigeonhole outside my office which is on the 573rd floor of the so-and-so building on campus".

well the way people do it here is they bring tape recorders into class and record the lecture. the lecturer doesn't have to do anything. it's business as usual for them. but for some reason a lot of them still hate it.

there's one particular lecturer i have who hates being recorded, but that's more to do with the fact he swears a lot and makes silly jokes. i think all people are generally wary of being recorded?

i take notes by writing in pencil, really fast, with a lot of abbreviations.

i hated taking notes but my art history texts are covered, on every page with notes. going back through them now makes me laugh, i can't believe the things i'd write.

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