Good Note Taking Techniques When Reading

Why a Professional Should Care about Good Note Taking Techniques

Note taking is a skill that you'll use throughout your career. To maintain a competitive advantage at work, you MUST make ongoing learning a must and good note taking techniques can help you! This means that you have to continually learn new skills. When you read books, you cannot rely on your memory to be able to recall key information. That's one of the reasons why good note taking is a must. The other reason is that you can only connect the dots when you look back.

What does that mean? Let's say for instance that you read four books in one month, only when you review your notes can you see the connections among the books you read. Then and only then can you truly connect the dots.

Some Questions For You

• Do you have good note taking techniques?
• How much of what you read do you remember?
• Is note taking important to you?
• How important is professional development to you?

The questions are meant for you to think about good note taking techniques and what it may mean to your career.

In a hurry? CLICK HERE to buy a copy of Effective Notetaking by Fiona McPherson at Amazon!

Below are my thoughts on note taking based on research I conducted.

Good Note Taking Techniques to Remember More of What You Read

Effective Notetaking (Study Skills Book 1)Research shows that if you do not take active steps to remember what you learn, within an hour of being introduced to the new information, you forget over 50 percent. A good way to prevent the Curve of Forgetting from setting in, is to take better notes while you are reading. And you need to review them from time-to-time.

But what does it mean to take better notes? That’s a very good question, which I will try to answer. I also purchased Effective Notetaking, which deals with taking notes while reading. I will review the book for you.

Additionally, a study by two psychological scientists, Pam Mueller of Princeton and Daniel Oppenheimer of UCLA, found that when students took notes by hand they were more likely to re-frame the information. While those who used a laptop simple typed word-for-word. The result is that those who took notes by hand recalled more information. I suspect the same results would apply when you paraphrase what you are reading.

This post is the second installment of the Good Note Taking Techniques series.

Have you read?

How to Abbreviate Words for Better Note Taking
How to Improve Learning
Take Notes by Hand for Better Long-Term Comprehension 

Further Reading

Note Taking Methods for Effective Learning: 40 Best Templates

Why Note Taking Skills Are Important: 10 Reasons

1. Taking notes helps to extend your attention span and keeps you focused on reading the book.
2. Taking notes changes you from a passive learner to an active one, which makes the retention of the information more likely. It forces you to read actively.
3. The act of writing helps you to remember more of what you are reading.
4. When you sum up the book it aids your long-term memory.
5. Helps you to organize your thoughts on the information that you are learning.
6. It’s a record of important points and ideas to use later.
7. If you spend time distinguishing between essential and non-essential information, it aids your understanding of the book.
8. Reading and taking notes could help to keep your brain sharp.
9. Helps you to identify important concepts.
10. When reviewing and reflecting on the notes you have taken, you are able to evaluate the information, and even make connections that would be difficult to make while reading. It also helps you to connect ideas between different books

Cornell Note-Taking System

Create your Cornell Note-taking template based on the information in the above article titled, The Cornell Note-taking System. Please also see the diagram to your right.

I was first introduced to the Cornell Note-Taking System in Jeff Cobb’s book, 10 Ways to be a Better Learner, and I have used the system for two years now. The Cornell Note-Taking System is recognized across the globe, and is easy to create. Although there are specific dimensions for creating the template, I did my thing and you can too.

Have you read?

10 Ways to Be a Better Learner by Jeff Cobb, Book Review
The Cornell Note-taking System
You've Probably Been Taking Notes Wrong Your Entire Life

Activities to Perform Before Reading a Book and Taking Notes

• Determine why you are reading the book.
• What type of information do you need?
• What questions are you trying to answer. List them in a notebook, or print a copy of the Cornell Note-Taking template that you created, and write them in the left column.
• Look at the Table of Contents of the book to get a sense of what’s included.
• Take 20 minutes to scan the entire book.
• Spend five minutes writing down what you already know about the topic. And if you do not know anything about the topic, that’s okay too.

Active Note Taking Strategies: 11 Steps to Better Note-Taking

1. Know your purpose for reading the book.
2. Cornell Note Taking System and Livescribe Echo Smartpen:
   1. Cornell Note Taking System: In the right column of the Cornell Note-taking template, record your notes that contain key ideas from the book. In the left column, write down key words or cues, as well as any other questions you may have, insights and evaluations. At the bottom of the template, there is a third section of the template, which is where you summarize the book, reducing your notes to the most critical points.
   2. Other Note Taking System: I used to use the Cornell Note Taking System, but the problem is that after I have handwritten my notes, I have to type them up. I really dislike typing notes, so I bought the Livescribe Echo Smartpen. The pen is a computer, so I can connect it to my computer to convert my notes to text. You can also use a regular notebook. And you can even use the sketchnoting technique.

   3. Notes in Regular Notebook: These days I've been mostly taking notes in a regular notebook. Then I record my notes using otter.ai, which converts my notes to digital text. The power of artificial intelligence.

3. Think before you write any information, to make sure that you understand what you have read.
4. As you are reading, look out for the answers to your questions.
5. Develop the habit of distinguishing between essential and non-essential information. Strip away all excess information that does not contribute to understanding the book.
6. Take notes in your own words.
7. Note key words and main ideas. One of the things that I do, is to write a note to myself, if I find information that I can apply to my business.
8. Do not write complete sentences – use phrases and abbreviations (How to Abbreviate Words for Better Note-Taking). State concisely essential information for understanding.
9. Write full references if you decide to include a direct quote when using the information at a later date.
10. Note anything you wish to query in the left column of  your Cornell Note-Taking template. Or designate a place to park that information in your notebook for future reference.
11. Check over your notes as soon as you finish reading the book. You may need to add points, ask yourself questions to clarify your understanding of the book, and note anything you need to follow-up. Also look for associations or relationships in the book that you may not have noticed while reading.

You may be tempted to type your notes into the Cornell Note-taking template, but restrain yourself, and take notes by hand. Later, you can type up your notes, and that is also a way to review your notes, making you remember the important concepts that you noted. And isn't that the point of taking notes while you read? In the next installment of the Better Note-Taking series, the focus will be on taking notes while listening to a speaker. At this time pick out the big ideas from the book.

Good Note Taking Techniques: Practical Use

I host and am participating in the MoreReads Success Blueprint which is a leadership development accelerator program for professionals. The purpose of the program is to read with the intent to learn. If you take the purpose to heart, that means that when you read, you are searching for solutions to questions that you have. Questions you may have, include how you can:

1. Develop cultural awareness to compete in a global workplace?
2. Acquire the employability skills to thrive in the future?
3. Generate new ideas to improve work and life?
4. Create a side hustle to improve my financial situation?
5. Learn to work with people from different generations?

I'm sure that you have many more questions than I've listed above. But the point I'm trying to make is that you can use the reading challenge to better your work and your life. Additionally, you could be reading with the intent to learn new skills to remain employable.

Now we're getting to the really good part that involves note taking. When people participate in the MoreReads Success Blueprint, I recommend that they take detailed notes. I have already talked about  good note taking techniques.

I'd like to add, that what you read is as important as the amount of reading that you do. To expand your mind and way of thinking, you have to read broadly. This means reading about diverse topics. You could read about current events, business, history and biographies of people whom you admire and books on skills you MUST learn. But make sure that you are reading enough books to make you more valuable and marketable. Books that answer the questions listed above.

You have to think about how you can apply what you’re reading to improve your personal and professional life. And that's why an effective note taking method is key. An important element of the MoreReads Success Blueprint is about reading books to acquire new skills and to perform better at work. You're reading books to gain specialized knowledge and skill. This makes note-taking skills even more important. You have to remember the new concepts, so that you can apply them to your work.

Network Note Taking: New Generation of Note Taking Techniques

I first wrote this post in 2015 and have updated it a few times. Now I'm adding a new section. Earlier above, I wrote about the importance of connecting the dots, so you can see the connections between the notes you take when reading books. There are now web-based apps that allow you to do network note taking with bi-directional links. Think of how Wikipedia is structured with the links.

I've been experimenting with Roam Research, which is not the easiest tool to use, but if you master it, it could be a gamechanger. Although they recommend that you take notes inside the app, that doesn't work for me because I always take notes by hand before I convert them to digital text.

There are many ways you can use Roam Research, but I only want to transfer my book notes to the web-based app, so I can see connections between the books I read. I haven't transferred a lot of my book notes into the app yet. But I would say I have about 20 so far. Think of notes that you have for a book. Pick out the keywords and place them in double square brackets, which creates the bidirectional links. If you have a quote in your notes, before the quotation, you write the greater than sign (> ) and leave a space before the quote.

Recently I read and reviewed Secrets of the Master Closer: A Simpler, Easier, and Faster Way to Sell Anything to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere by Mike Kaplan. Examples of keywords in this instance are the title of the book, the subtitle, and author name. This is what my notes look like before I transfer it into Roam Research. By the way, the people at Roam Research have told me to add the double square brackets after I transfer into their app, but I do it my way.

[[Secrets of the Master Closer]]: [[A Simpler, Easier, and Faster Way to Sell Anything to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere]] by [[Mike Kaplan]]. Secrets of the Master Process provides a sales process, so whenever I mention sales process in my notes that would also be in double square brackets. After you've placed the double square brackets around the keywords in your notes, when you transfer them to Roam Research, they're now bidirectional links. The beauty is that, if Mike Kaplan has written several books, and you have your book notes in Roam Research, then the notes are linked. The image below a a graph of all my notes in Roam Research.

Have you read?

Secrets of a Master Closer by Mike Kaplan, Book Summary

If you read several sales books like I have, then you'll start to see connections in the Roam Research. The more book notes you have, the more connections you'll find. Read my book summary of Secrets of a Master Closer and choose what you think are keywords, just as an exercise.

Another network note taking app with bidirectional links is Obsidian. I have to spend some time learning how to use this tool. We have to keep up with new ways of doing things. These two web-based apps you could consider as note taking techniques.

The most accomplished people use books as problem solving tools. They carve out the time in their schedule to find solutions in the pages of a book. Let me help you to solve your own problems. Additionally, this program helps you to learn valuable career skills. Click the link MoreReads Success Blueprint Accelerator Program to buy.

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Have you read?

This Reading Challenge for Adults Locks in Future Jobs – Learn How!

Good Note Taking Techniques: Resources

 Effective Notetaking  The Sketchnote Handbook Mind Maps: Quicker Notes, Better Memory Mind Mapping for Kids Echo Smartpen and 3 Subject Notebook Bundle 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner

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UPDATE: First Published January 9, 2015.