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a2640
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taking-notes
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Titre (niveau 2)
Why Do We Take Notes?
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why-do-we-take-notes
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We take notes when we want to use, remember or study information taken from another source for:

Personal Purposes

Educational Purposes

Professional Purposes

For entertainment

For an assignment

For a job interview

To preserve a memory

For an exam preparation

For training

To learn new skills

For a presentation

During meetings

To plan something

For a debate

For a presentation

Notes often contain important/useful information such as:

comparisons

dates

definitions

descriptions

examples

facts

key points

names

questions

quotations 

references 

summaries

statistics

thoughts

unfamiliar terms

vocabulary

Titre (niveau 3)
Answering The 5W
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answering-the-5-w-s
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Notes often contain information answering the main 5W information questions: who, what, where, when, why.

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5W questions.
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Titre (niveau 3)
Adapt Your Note-Taking
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adapt-your-note-taking
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Note-taking can be done before/while/after:

  • reading a text (fiction or nonfiction)

  • viewing a video or live show (movies, plays, documentaries, etc.)

  • listening to information in audio format (podcasts, interviews, radio shows, etc.)

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Première colonne
Titre (niveau 3)
Reading
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You can take your time while reading. Here are a few note-taking tips:

Tips—Taking Reading Notes

Use keywords & short phrases.

Write-down definitions of unknown words.

Note down repeated words.

Note down titles and subtitles. Use them to structure your notes.

Look for summaries at the end of chapters/sections* because they probably contain key elements worth noting down.

*Mostly found in nonfiction.

When taking notes before/while/after reading fiction or nonfiction, using reading guides is an effective strategy.

Deuxième colonne
Titre (niveau 3)
Viewing
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Viewings go fast. Here are a few note-taking tips:

Tips—Taking Viewing Notes

Use keywords, abbreviations and symbols.

Look for visual cues such as graphs, tables, charts, arrows, etc. Note down important information.

Leave space in between sections to add notes after the viewing.

Note down titles and subtitles. Use them to structure your notes.

Pay attention to non-verbal cues such as pointing and hand gestures because they might indicate important information.

Troisième colonne
Titre (niveau 3)
Listening
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Listening does not provides any visual clues. Here are a few note-taking tips:

Tips—Taking Listening Notes

Use keywords, abbreviations and symbols.

Rephrase what you hear.

Leave space in between sections to add notes after listening.

Note down repeated words.

Note down important information coming after signal words/phrases like: For example,  or there are 3 reasons why, etc.

Listen for cues like vocal emphasis on certain words as they might indicate important/useful information that you could note down.

Titre (niveau 3)
How to Take Notes?
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how-to-take-notes
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Note-taking can be done: 

  • by hand

  • digitally

Both methods have advantages.
 

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Advantages of taking notes by hand vs. digitally.
Titre (niveau 2)
Note-Taking Tools
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note-taking-tools
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Notes can be taken on a blank sheet of paper, in the margins of a text, on a note-taking app; there are many possibilities and the choice is yours.

There are many tools to facilitate and organize note-taking. 
Below are a few examples.

Titre (niveau 3)
Concept Maps
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concept-maps
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Concept maps are visual representations of information.


Concept maps often contain:

  • A main topic

  • Key concepts/ideas

  • Information connected to the key concepts/ideas

 

Here is an example of a concept map template:

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Concept map template.
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Titre (niveau 3)
Venn Diagrams
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Venn diagrams are illustrations of two overlapping circles.

They are used to visually represent the differences and similarities of two or more concepts.

 

Here is an example of a Venn diagram:

 

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Venn diagram template.
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Titre (niveau 3)
Cornell Note-Taking
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cornell-note-taking
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The Cornell note-taking system was developed to take effective notes during class.

Cornell notes are divided into 4 sections:

  1. At the top of the page, identify the title or topic and the date.

  2. In the middle, on the right side, leave a blank space to take notes during class.

  3. At the bottom, leave space to summarize your notes after class.

  4. In the middle, on the left side, after class, write down questions that you have and identify the key concepts.

 

Here is an example of a note-taking template using the Cornell method:

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Cornell note-taking template.
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Titre (niveau 3)
The 5R of Note-Taking
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the-5-r-of-note-taking
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These are the 5 main steps to go through when taking notes:

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The 5R of note-taking.
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Titre (niveau 3)
KWL Charts
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kwl-charts
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KWL charts are used before/during and after reading to note down information we know, want to know and learned about a topic.

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KWL chart template.
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Titre (niveau 2)
Effective Note-Taking Strategies
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Effective note-taking can look different from one person to another.

Notes are made to be reviewed and studied, so they need to be clearly organized and information needs to be easy to find.

Here are a few tips to help you take effective notes:

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Note-taking strategies.
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Titre (niveau 3)
Note-Taking Symbols
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Below is a list of suggested note-taking symbols, but you can always come up with your own. The important thing is that you remember what they mean when you review your notes.

Symbol

Meaning

at

and

+

and

-

minus
without

=

equals
is the same as
results in

≠ 

does not equal
is not the same as
does not result in

is similar to

<

is less than
less important than
smaller than

>

is greater than
more important than
bigger than

#

number

leads to
causes
results in 

increase

decrease

x

no
not
incorrect 

yes
proven
correct 

?

uncertain
questionable
unproven

*

important
notable

paragraph

none
no
not
never

Deuxième colonne
Titre (niveau 3)
Note-Taking Abbreviations
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Below is a list of suggested abbreviations that can be useful when taking notes,but you can always come up with your own. The important thing is that you remember what they mean when you review your notes.

Abbreviation

Meaning

approx.

approximately

b/4

before

cp.

compared to
in comparison to …

dept.

department

def.

definition

diff.

different

ed

education

ea.

each

etc.

and so on 

ex

for example

expl.

explanation

excl.

excluding

fr.

from

k

a thousand (30k = 30 000)

No.

number 

NB

important
note 

p.

page 

ppl

people

ref.

reference

sim.

similar

vs.

versus
against 

w/

with

w/o

without

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Titre (niveau 3)
Using Notes to Prepare for an Exam
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using-notes-to-prepare-for-an-exam
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Here are a few tips to help you prepare with your notes before an exam:

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List of tips to prepare before an exam.
Titre (niveau 3)
Study Guide
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study-guide
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Study guides can be helpful when preparing for an exam. 
Below is an example.

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Study guide.
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Titre (niveau 2)
See Also
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see-also
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