Note taking

What is summarizing?

• Picking out essential details and important ideas or themes in an article, a piece of literature, or a speech, and then writing those ideas in your own words.

Notetaking and Art

• It can be helpful to practice notetaking first with pictures. Study the artwork on this slide, and jot down what is important in the picture.

Your notes may have looked like this:

• Girl outside house examining something

• Time: in the past, maybe 1800’s

• Wearing large white bonnet

The girl, intent on the object in her hands, seems to be the important focus of this picture.

Tips for Notetaking

• Use words and phrases—not complete sentences.

• Avoid copying pieces of text—try to put it in your own words.

• Try to organize the notes you take into categories as you collect your information.

• Lots of information is interesting; look for information that is important for your research.

Try it…

• Read this passage on Amelia Earhart and summarize it on a sheet of paper.

In June 1937, Amelia set out to fly around the world. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, flew from Miami, Florida, to South America, and then across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa. They continued over the Sahara desert and on to Thailand and Australia. After taking off from New Guinea, the U.S. Coast Guard lost contact with the plane. No trace of the plane or its passengers was ever found.

Note taking

• Note taking is also about scaling down the information you have. This means to pick out the important points to record in your notes.

• You want to "boil down" those notes to key facts, ideas, and themes.

• Find a passage out of a book you have, and summarize it in your own words.

Sources

• http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson322.shtml

• http://www.infoplease.com/homework/t4takingnotes.html

• http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson322.pdf