Content

---

Note-taking

There is probably little controversy in stating that note-taking is one of the most important study skills. Taking notes properly and efficiently is a crucial activity when reading – as the proverbial advice goes, you should never read without a pencil in your hand. Taking notes, however, can be time-consuming and labour-intensive. In this chapter, you will learn some basic note-taking techniques to make your reading more fruitful and less frustrating.

At this point, you know that before plunging into a detailed reading of a text, it is a good idea to go through an exploratory stage: scanning, skimming, in other words, taking the measure of the text.

This early exploratory stage of reading should also include you noting the bibliographic information and the points that seem relevant and interesting.

In order to take notes efficiently and effectively, you have to do three things:

• Recognize what is important
• Reduce the important points to note form
• Show how the important points are linked

In the following, we will explore the individual points in more detail.