1. TAKING NOTES FROM A
TEXTBOOK
World History 9
St. Anne’s-Belfield
Saturday, January 5, 13

2. NO MAGIC FORMULA
Saturday, January 5, 13

3. NO MAGIC FORMULA
• Note-taking from a text is the art of recording all of the necessary
information as QUICKLY and ORGANIZED as possible
Saturday, January 5, 13

4. NO MAGIC FORMULA
• Note-taking from a text is the art of recording all of the necessary
information as QUICKLY and ORGANIZED as possible
1. You must also learn what the instructor is going to ask about
Saturday, January 5, 13

5. NO MAGIC FORMULA
• Note-taking from a text is the art of recording all of the necessary
information as QUICKLY and ORGANIZED as possible
1. You must also learn what the instructor is going to ask about
2. You must learn to discriminate between what is important and
what is not
Saturday, January 5, 13

6. NO MAGIC FORMULA
• Note-taking from a text is the art of recording all of the necessary
information as QUICKLY and ORGANIZED as possible
1. You must also learn what the instructor is going to ask about
2. You must learn to discriminate between what is important and
what is not
3. You must learn how to record information in an efficient,
organized manner
Saturday, January 5, 13

7. NO MAGIC FORMULA
These skills come with time and PRACTICE, and
there is no magic formula
• Note-taking from a text is the art of recording all of the necessary
information as QUICKLY and ORGANIZED as possible
1. You must also learn what the instructor is going to ask about
2. You must learn to discriminate between what is important and
what is not
3. You must learn how to record information in an efficient,
organized manner
Saturday, January 5, 13

8. STEP 1. FOCUS
Saturday, January 5, 13

9. STEP 1. FOCUS
• Note-taking is an active, NOT passive activity
Saturday, January 5, 13

10. STEP 1. FOCUS
• Note-taking is an active, NOT passive activity
• The key to effective note-taking is reading carefully so that
you may...
Saturday, January 5, 13

11. STEP 1. FOCUS
• Note-taking is an active, NOT passive activity
• The key to effective note-taking is reading carefully so that
you may...
1. filter OUT irrelevant information and
2. paraphrase- this requires concentration.
Saturday, January 5, 13

12. STEP 1. FOCUS
QUIET THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD!!!!
• Note-taking is an active, NOT passive activity
• The key to effective note-taking is reading carefully so that
you may...
1. filter OUT irrelevant information and
2. paraphrase- this requires concentration.
Saturday, January 5, 13

13. STEP 1. FOCUS
QUIET THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD!!!!
• Note-taking is an active, NOT passive activity
• The key to effective note-taking is reading carefully so that
you may...
1. filter OUT irrelevant information and
2. paraphrase- this requires concentration.
Find a comfortable (NOT YOUR BED), quiet place to take
your notes where phones, TV’s, computers, stereos,
radios, iPods, Skype, friends, parents etc. won’t put voices
in your head
Saturday, January 5, 13

14. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
Saturday, January 5, 13

15. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
Saturday, January 5, 13

16. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
– What’s important...
Saturday, January 5, 13

17. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
– What’s important...
• Vocabulary (see bold and highlighted terms!)
Saturday, January 5, 13

18. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
– What’s important...
• Vocabulary (see bold and highlighted terms!)
• Rulers, how they rose, chief achievements
Saturday, January 5, 13

19. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
– What’s important...
• Vocabulary (see bold and highlighted terms!)
• Rulers, how they rose, chief achievements
• Significant places (nations, regions, geographic features, cities)
Saturday, January 5, 13

20. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
– What’s important...
• Vocabulary (see bold and highlighted terms!)
• Rulers, how they rose, chief achievements
• Significant places (nations, regions, geographic features, cities)
• Religions, religious beliefs, and religious leaders
Saturday, January 5, 13

21. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
– What’s important...
• Vocabulary (see bold and highlighted terms!)
• Rulers, how they rose, chief achievements
• Significant places (nations, regions, geographic features, cities)
• Religions, religious beliefs, and religious leaders
• Changes and innovations (FIRSTS!)
Saturday, January 5, 13

22. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
– What’s important...
• Vocabulary (see bold and highlighted terms!)
• Rulers, how they rose, chief achievements
• Significant places (nations, regions, geographic features, cities)
• Religions, religious beliefs, and religious leaders
• Changes and innovations (FIRSTS!)
2. READ THE SECTION BEFORE YOU WRITE!
Saturday, January 5, 13

23. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
– What’s important...
• Vocabulary (see bold and highlighted terms!)
• Rulers, how they rose, chief achievements
• Significant places (nations, regions, geographic features, cities)
• Religions, religious beliefs, and religious leaders
• Changes and innovations (FIRSTS!)
2. READ THE SECTION BEFORE YOU WRITE!
• Weed out what is unimportant so that you don’t have to
waste your time writing EVERYTHING down.
Saturday, January 5, 13

24. STEP 2. FILTER CRAP!
1. Voluminous notes are NOT NECESSARILY good notes
– What’s important...
• Vocabulary (see bold and highlighted terms!)
• Rulers, how they rose, chief achievements
• Significant places (nations, regions, geographic features, cities)
• Religions, religious beliefs, and religious leaders
• Changes and innovations (FIRSTS!)
2. READ THE SECTION BEFORE YOU WRITE!
• Weed out what is unimportant so that you don’t have to
waste your time writing EVERYTHING down.
• MAKE THIS AN ACTIVE EXERCISE!!!
Saturday, January 5, 13

25. STEP 3. USE SHORTHAND!
Saturday, January 5, 13

26. STEP 3. USE SHORTHAND!
• Use shorthand for words or ideas you find yourself
writing over and over again
• Shorten words
• Use abbreviations
• Use first letters for words used repeatedly
• Use symbols
Saturday, January 5, 13

27. STEP 3. USE SHORTHAND!
• Use shorthand for words or ideas you find yourself
writing over and over again • Christ= X; Christianity=Xty
• Civilization=Civ
• Shorten words
• Mesopotamia=Meso
• Use abbreviations
• Nile River=NR
• Use first letters for words used repeatedly
• Women= W; Men= M
• Use symbols • Battle= X
• King=
• Led to=
Saturday, January 5, 13

28. STEP 3. USE SHORTHAND!
• Use shorthand for words or ideas you find yourself
writing over and over again • Christ= X; Christianity=Xty
• Civilization=Civ
• Shorten words
• Mesopotamia=Meso
• Use abbreviations
• Nile River=NR
• Use first letters for words used repeatedly
• Women= W; Men= M
• Use symbols • Battle= X
• King=
• Avoid recording words whose inclusion
is unnecessary for meaning (articles, • Led to=
prepositions, verb to be, etc)
Saturday, January 5, 13

29. CHOOSE A FORMAT THAT
WORKS FOR YOU...
Saturday, January 5, 13

30. CHOOSE A FORMAT THAT
WORKS FOR YOU...
PEV
Saturday, January 5, 13

31. CHOOSE A FORMAT THAT
WORKS FOR YOU...
C-Notes
PEV
Saturday, January 5, 13

32. CHOOSE A FORMAT THAT
WORKS FOR YOU...
C-Notes
PEV
Outline
Saturday, January 5, 13

33. PEV NOTE-TAKING
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34. PEV NOTE-TAKING
• PEV note-taking is a simple, effective way to recognize,
record, and categorize important information in a history
text
Saturday, January 5, 13

35. PEV NOTE-TAKING
• PEV note-taking is a simple, effective way to recognize,
record, and categorize important information in a history
text
• While the format can vary from student to student, all
PEV notes should contain the categories:
• People
• Events
• Vocabulary
Saturday, January 5, 13

36. PEV NOTE-
• The most common format consists of drawing three columns
on a sheet of paper.
People Events Vocabulary
Sargon Sargon creates the First Empire Sumer
Mesopotamia
Empire
Builds Babylonian Empire Dynasty
Hammurabi Has laws codified Retaliation
Class
Gender
Jews held captive
Nebuchadnezzar Chaldeans destroy Ninevah Hammurabi’s Code
Assyrians Babylonian Captivity
Saturday, January 5, 13

37. CORNELL NOTE-
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38. CORNELL NOTE-
• Try the Cornell Note-taking System.
Saturday, January 5, 13

39. CORNELL NOTE-
• Try the Cornell Note-taking System.
• Briefly, this method makes it easier to
highlight and recall major ideas from a
textbook.
Saturday, January 5, 13

40. CORNELL NOTE-
• Try the Cornell Note-taking System.
• Briefly, this method makes it easier to
highlight and recall major ideas from a
textbook.
It’s ideal to study from for a test and
HIGHLY recommended!!
Saturday, January 5, 13

41. CORNELL NOTES
Saturday, January 5, 13

42. EXAMPLE - CORNELL NOTE- Subject: Note-taking
Date: 10/17/05
Main Ideas Details
Cornell -Can be used to provide an outline of the course, chapter, or lecture.
-Organized by main ideas (left column) and details (right column).
notes -Can be as detailed as necessary.
1. Divide paper into main ideas (margin) and details
-The left column is the recall column. This column is filled in after taking notes.
Procedure
-The right column is for the bulk of the information (details, definitions, etc).
2. After taking fairly detailed notes in the right column, write main ideas, terms, or
concept names in left column
3. Use sweat sheet to clarify for yourself or add additional notes on the same topic
4. Take notes as they are given by instructor or text in an orderly fashion.
C-Notes as a
study tool -C-Notes Can be used as study tool
-Define terms, or explain concepts, main ideas listed on the left side (cover right column
-Identify the concept or term based on its definition on the right side (cover left column)
Saturday, January 5, 13

43. A FEW ADDITIONAL TIPS
• Date and title every section of notes
• Number each page of the notes, e.g.-1/5, 2/5, 3/5, etc.
• At the bottom of the last page of notes, leave a space for a
summary of the notes
• In reviewing for exams, cover the right column—the bulk of
the material—and use the left column words to recall the
content.
Saturday, January 5, 13