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Productivity methods and focus

Note-taking methods

The common ways to lay out notes from a class, meeting or reading, such as the Cornell, outline, mapping, charting and sentence methods.

What It Means

Note-taking methods are the different layouts people use to record what they hear or read, each suited to a different kind of material. University learning centers commonly teach five: the Cornell methodCornell notesA note-taking layout from Cornell's Walter Pauk that splits the page into a notes area, a cue column on the left and a summary at the bottom. See more, the outline method, the mapping method, the charting method and the sentence method. Choosing one that fits the material makes your notes easier to review later.

Try It: Match a Note-Taking Method to the Material

Pick what you're taking notes on and see which method the university guides suggest suits it.

Try

The outline method

Main points at the left, details indented under them.

How People Say It

  • "I take everything in outline form."
  • "Charts work better for me in history."
  • "I just write down sentences and clean them up later."

The Breakdown

Five methods side by side

MethodHow it looksSuits
CornellA notes area, a narrow cue column on the left, a summary at the bottomMaterial you'll study and review
OutlineMain points with details indented beneathOrganized lectures with clear main points
MappingA visual diagram of ideas and how they linkContent with an order or steps, and ideas that connect
ChartingTopics in columns with facts beneath eachLectures heavy on facts you need to memorize
SentenceEach new point written on its own lineFast material, when keeping up matters most

How to pick one

  1. Look at the material before the class or meeting, or in its first few minutes.
  2. Match the layout to the material: an outline for clear main points, a map for a process or a web of ideas, a chart for a pile of comparable facts.
  3. When it's moving too fast for any layout, write sentences and tidy them afterward.
  4. For anything you'll be tested on, try the Cornell layout so review questions are built in.
  5. Within a day, reread your notes and fill in gaps.

Step 5 is Buhata's own suggestion.

Short version to try today. Take your next meeting's notes in outline form, then write a two-line summary at the bottom before you leave.

Where It Comes From

The Cornell method was developed by Walter Pauk, an education professor at Cornell University, who set it out in his book How to Study in College. Outlining, mapping, charting and the sentence method are general formats taught by university learning centers, with no single inventor.

Good to Know

Your campus learning center is a good place to ask. Cornell University's Learning Strategies Center and the University of Minnesota's Effective U both publish free guides to these methods, and Cornell's center also offers study skills consults and workshops for its students. If you're enrolled somewhere, check whether your own school has a center like it.

FAQ

What is the best note-taking method?

It depends on the material. Outlines suit organized lectures, maps suit steps and connected ideas, charts suit fact-heavy topics, and the Cornell method builds in questions and a summary for review.

What is the charting method of note-taking?

You divide the page into columns, one per topic, and write the facts under each. The University of Minnesota's guide notes it helps with material full of facts to memorize.

Is it better to take notes by hand or on a laptop?

Both can work. Pick the one that lets you follow the method you've chosen, and keep your notes where you'll review them.

Do It in Buhata

Notes

Keep each class's or meeting's notes as a page in Notes (Premium) in Buhata, with the summary at the top where you'll see it first.

Open Buhata

Related Terms and Categories

  • Cornell notes

    A note-taking layout from Cornell's Walter Pauk that splits the page into a notes area, a cue column on the left and a summary at the bottom.

  • Mind map

    A diagram with one topic in the center and branches radiating out to related ideas, each labeled with a keyword, used to plan, brainstorm or study.

  • Zettelkasten

    A note system, German for "slip box", where each idea gets its own numbered note linked to related notes; made famous by sociologist Niklas Luhmann.

  • Commonplace book

    A personal notebook of passages, quotations and ideas copied from what you read, filed under topic headings so you can find and reuse them.

  • Rapid logging

    The Bullet Journal's shorthand: short entries marked with a dot for tasks, a circle for events and a dash for notes, plus symbols for priority and status.

Productivity methods and focus

Sources

University of Minnesota, Effective U, "Note-Taking Forms"; Cornell University Learning Strategies Center, "Note Taking Strategies"; Cornell University Learning Strategies Center, "The Cornell Note Taking System"; Cornell University Learning Strategies Center, "Study Skills: Consults, Workshops, Courses"

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