Transcript Slide 1
Effective note-taking
Íde O’Sullivan and Lawrence Cleary
Regional Writing Centre, UL
www.ul.ie/rwc
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Aims
• Discover useful tips on how to take
effective notes in class.
• Enhance your reading, selecting and notetaking skills.
• Practice paraphrasing and summarising
techniques so that you are equipped with
the skills needed to distinguish between
your own words and the words of the
person you are reading.
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Reading and note-taking
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Note-taking in class
Reading (critically)
Selecting and note-taking
Reporting the work of others:
Paraphrasing, summarising, and
synthesising
• Distinguishing between your own words
and the words of the person you are
reading
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Note-taking in class
• Why takes notes in class?
• How to prepare for note-taking
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Before the course begins
Before each class
During the class
After the class
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Note-taking in class
• Before the course begins
– Be prepared!
– Familiarise yourself with the
course/syllabus outline (objectives,
topics, class schedule, assignments,
grading, exams …)
– Find out if/where the lecturer makes
the notes available.
– Team up with a with a classmate/study
group.
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Note-taking in class
• Before each class
– Be prepared!
– Familiarise yourself with the concepts
that will be covered in that class.
– Read the assigned reading.
– Check the previous week’s notes.
– Attend all lectures – your notes will be
much more valuable to you than someone
else’s.
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Note-taking in class
• During the class
– Develop a method/style that works for
you.
– Strike a balance.
– Use abbreviations and symbols.
– Identify patterns of organisation.
– Listen closely to the introduction and
conclusion.
– Identify key words and ideas (direct
statements, repetition).
– Listen carefully to the tutor’s voice for
clues.
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Note-taking in class
• During the class
– Listen carefully and summarise the main
ideas (you cannot write down word-forword everything the lecturer says).
– Decide on how much detail to include.
– Mind-mapping
• Headings, numbers, bullets, indentations
• Key words
• Link ideas with lines/diagrams/colours
– Leave space to add things later.
(Rose, 2001:120-121)
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Note-taking in class
• After the class
– Review your notes.
– Fill in the blanks shortly after the
lecture.
– Team up with a classmate if you are
missing important information.
– Make sure your notes are complete and
accurate.
– Try and make sense of the notes.
– Discuss the content with a classmate.
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Note-taking in class
• After the class
– Integrate notes with the rest of the
course material.
– Make connections between the ideas.
– Write a summary of the main points.
– Engage in further reading.
– Develop a good filing system for your
notes.
– Keep a learning journal.
– Remember: Practice makes perfect!!!!
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Managing Reading
• Surveying Titles
• Scanning
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Table of contents
Abstract/Introduction
Bibliography
Index
Reviewer’s comments
• Skimming
• Careful/purposeful reading
• Constructing meaning
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Reading
• Skim the text to get an overall impression
– Look at the heading/s - How is the text
organised?
– Look at the first and last paragraph.
– If there is a summary, read it.
• Carefully read the topic sentence of each
paragraph, then continue to read the text
• Ask yourself:
– What do I understand?
– What do I know already?
– What do I not understand?
• Read to the end.
• Take notes (concept map/mind map).
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Efficient reading
Purposeful
Flexible
Active
Interactive
– Understand the text
– Construct meaning using
• existing knowledge;
• information acquired in the text;
• making connections between this and
other texts.
• Informed reading (What to do before and
after reading.) Regional Writing Centre
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Efficient reading
• Highlight important information.
• Outline/Chart the main ideas.
• Use different colours to code
information.
• Use labels and bookmarkers.
• Speed reading
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Reading and note-taking
• Focus your reading.
• Record the author’s name, the title of the
book, chapter, article, etc., the date of
publication, the place of publication, and
the page(s) on which the borrowed
information is found.
• Read and understand the text.
• Select the relevant information and the
main ideas.
• Take notes: distinguish between your
words and the words of the author.
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Reading and note-taking
• Be brief.
– Note key words and main ideas.
– Summarise main points.
– Do not copy large chunks of texts.
• Be organised!
– Use headings, colours, numbering…
– Leave space to add more information.
• Use your own words.
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Reporting the work of others
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Making use of the ideas of other people is
one of the most important aspects of
academic writing because
it shows awareness of other people’s work;
it shows that you can use their ideas and
findings;
it shows you have read and understood the
material you are reading;
it shows where your contribution fits in;
it supports the points you are making.
(Gillet, 2005)
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Reporting the work of others
• We report another author’s ideas by using
paraphrase, summary, and quotation, and
we use introductory phrases and reporting
verbs to communicate our relationship to
the ideas that we are reporting.
• Compare, for example:
– Brown (1983: 231) claims that a far
more effective approach is ...
– Brown (1983: 231) points out that a far
more effective approach is ...
– A far more effective approach is ...
(Brown, 1983: 231)
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Reporting the work of others
• If you use another’s words, ideas, or
method of organisation, you must credit
that author by citing the source in the
text of your writing and referencing it at
the end of your essay/report. This is true
whether you quote a source, paraphrase it,
or summarise it.
• You must not use another person's words
or ideas as if they were your own: this is
Plagiarism and plagiarism is regarded as a
very serious offence (Gillet, 1995: Online).
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Reporting the work of others
• It is very important when you do this
to make sure you use your own words,
unless you are quoting. You must
make it clear when the words or
ideas that you are using are your own
and when they are taken from
another writer.
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Referencing
• Why do we document sources accurately?
• Doing so allows readers to find
materials that you’ve used.
• Doing so enhances your credibility as a
writer.
• Doing so protects you against charges of
plagiarism.
[From the Department of English,
Illinois State University, ‘Course Guide
for English 101: Language & Composition
1’, (1997: 109)]
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Quotation
• Quoting a person means writing down the
words of that person exactly as you find
them and enclosing those words between
inverted commas:
“There is no such thing as a free lunch”
(Gibbons 2008).
• The context for the quote should be part
of the introduction to the quote:
Gibbons (2008) tells us that the current
food crisis illustrates that “[t]here is no
such thing as a free lunch”.
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Direct quotation
• Direct quotation of whole sentences or
just one or two words (exact words)
• Quoted information is enclosed by doubleinverted commas (“…”).
• The text quoted is sacrosanct.
– Do not change spelling (i.e. American to
British) or punctuation.
– Do not correct spelling and punctuation.
– Sic enclosed in square brackets, [sic], is
inserted into the quote, after the error,
to indicate to the reader that the error
was not yours. Regional Writing Centre
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Paraphrase
“Paraphrasing is writing the ideas of
another person in your own words.
You need to change the words and
the structure but keep the meaning
the same” (Gillet, 1995: Online).
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Paraphrase
Example:
• Original Text:
Memory is the capacity for storing and
retrieving information.
•
Paraphrase:
Memory is the facility for keeping and
recovering data.
(Gillet, 1995: Online)
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Paraphrase
“…the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation's (FAO) high-level summit
on world food security, climate change
and bio-energy… blames weather
conditions in major grain-producing
regions (mainly Australia and Canada) for
the spike in prices. It also fingers
population growth, higher oil prices,
changing dietary habits as well as demand
for bio-fuels” (Gibbons 2008).
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Changing words
The UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation's (FAO) high-level summit
on world food security, climate change
and bio-energy… implicates changing
climactic norms in agricultural centres
(chiefly Australia and Canada) for sharp
price increases. It also identifies
increases in populations, elevations in the
price of oil, modifications in what people
eat as well as an insistence a supply of
bio-fuels be made available (Gibbons
2008).
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Summary
“A summary is a shortened version of
a text. It contains the main points in
the text and is written in your own
words. It is a mixture of reducing a
long text to a short text and
selecting relevant information. A
good summary shows that you have
understood the text” (Gillet, 1995:
Online).
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Summary
Example:
• Original text:
•
People whose professional activity lies
in the field of politics are not, on the
whole, conspicuous for their respect
for factual accuracy.
Summary:
Politicians often lie.
(Gillet, 1995: Online)
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Summarise
“…the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation's (FAO) high-level summit
on world food security, climate change
and bio-energy… blames weather
conditions in major grain-producing
regions (mainly Australia and Canada) for
the spike in prices. It also fingers
population growth, higher oil prices,
changing dietary habits as well as demand
for bio-fuels” (Gibbons 2008).
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Peer review
• Did the writer cover the main points?
• Does the summary give a good, brief
overview of what the article is about?
• Is it written in complete sentences?
• Is it accurate?
• Was it sourced? How?
• Can you introduce your summary with
one of the phrases covered earlier?
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Citing and referencing sources
• The ideas or the words of those that you
have read are generally recorded twice:
– First, in your text (a parenthetical
citation).
– Second, at the end (in a reference page,
marked References, or Works Cited).
• The parenthetical citation in your text
refers to more detailed information given
in the References page at the end of your
essay.
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Citing and referencing sources
• Example:
– Swales has recently withdrawn slightly
from his original conception of the
discourse community, arguing that "the
'true' discourse community may be
rarer and more esoteric than I once
thought” (1993, p. 695).
• Reference
– Swales, J. (1993) ‘Genre and
engagement’, Revue Belge de Philologie
et d'Histoire, 71, 687-98.
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References
• Gibbons, J. (2008) ‘Sustainable production
can end food shortages’, The Irish Times,
05 Jun, available:
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion
/2008/0605/1212602149337.html
[accessed 05 June, 2008].
• UEfAP.com (2008) ‘Academic Writing:
Citing Sources’, Using English for
Academic Purposes: A Guide for
International Students [online], available:
http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.ht
m [accessed 05 June, 2008].
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