How to Take Cornell Notes

The Cornell notebook method was invented by Dr. Walter Pauk of Cornell University. This method of taking notes is widely used in classes, reading, review, and memory. This method of taking notes can make your notes systematize, allowing you to participate in the creation of knowledge unknowingly. It can not only improve your learning efficiency, but also help you get the expected learning effect.

First, you need to prepare a special notebook for Cornell's notes. Regardless of whether you are using a notebook or loose-leaf book, you must first have a blank notebook. The key point of Cornell's notes is to divide each page of the notebook into different areas, and each area has a specific purpose.

Draw a horizontal line across the entire page in the notebook, about a quarter of the height below the page. The bottom of this line is for summary. Draw a vertical line on the left, approximately 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) from the left edge of the page. This area is used to review notes.

The remaining largest area is really used for taking notes. Whether you are listening to lectures, attending classes, or writing reading notes, this place is enough. If you are afraid of trouble, you can search the template of Cornell's notes directly online. If you take a lot of notes and it is troublesome to draw page by page, then you can print out those templates on the Internet. Write the course name, date, course subject/book title at the top of the page. Be sure to insist on doing this to make your notes more systematic. 

And when you want to review, you can quickly retrieve the content of the notes through the topic. Take notes on the largest area. When in class\reading\listening to lectures, only the largest area is allowed to take notes. The content of the notes should include: what the teacher wrote on the blackboard, what is in the slide, etc.

Use the content of the notes to actively listen to and read. Whenever you encounter a key point, write it down decisively. When the lecturer wants to talk about the key points, he will usually say this: The three most important meanings of X are XX. As long as you hear something similar, it means that the lecturer is about to focus on the key points. At this time, write it down decisively.

If you are listening to a lecture, the repetition and emphasis of the speaker must be the key point, so decisively write it down. The same applies to reading notes: the bolded parts of the book are usually the key points, and the graphic information in the book is generally also very important.

Take notes neatly. The principle is: your notes can be used directly as a lecture outline or teaching plan. Be quick when taking notes, and give priority to key words and key sentences, so that you can keep up with the speed of the lecturer. Don't even think about writing down all the words, using emphatic signs, symbols, codes, abbreviations, or all kinds of strange symbols that you "invent" yourself. When taking notes, keeping up with the lecturer's thinking is the most important, and the content of the record is secondary.