How i take notes
In chemistry class, taking notes is one of the most important and useful academic skill to have learned. Its prominence would be impossible to overstate. This year, I have greatly improved my note-taking skills. The methods I use to take notes often depends on time constraints. If I had a very limited time to take notes - a presentation, speaker, video, interview, etc. - I focused on jotting down as much information as possible in my book and disregarded legibility. When there is a moderate amount of time to take notes, I have a small system of symbols I sort of made up in order to organize my notes for me. These symbols usually represent headers, sub headers, side notes, important information, lists, categories, subcategories, and so on. The only downside to my method is that it is not a quick way to document the information. It organizes everything for me and is easy to find key points. When notes need to be taken quickly, I have noticed that I usually start out using my "symbol method," but almost always end up sloppily piling as much information as I can onto the papers.
The real issue with my secondary method is that the writing is unorganized and sometimes illegible. There is still some benefits to it as well. I quickly document a lot more information in a shorter amount of time this way. What I could do to be more organized is to find a good balance in-between my two methods of note taking. Generally when it comes to organization, I am an all-or-nothing sort of person. My work is either really orderly and neat, or completely all over the place. What I find interesting is that I usually tend to go for the messy method, even though I like being organized more. Being messy is more immediately convenient, however, it is difficult to go back and read the notes or locate files or papers, essentially rendering them useless. Being messy or clean both seem to work for me. I have a preference to be neater, but I am more often messy. Finding a balance will be a difficult, but not insurmountable task.
In my eyes, there is no wrong way to keep information organized as long as it's tailored to the person who needs it. If it works for you, that is all that matters. This year I am proud of my note-taking abilities and how well they've served me in chemistry class. This skill most prominently used in chemistry is useful when it translates to other classes and events as well. I feel that I must credit most of my success to note-taking and the methods I use.
The real issue with my secondary method is that the writing is unorganized and sometimes illegible. There is still some benefits to it as well. I quickly document a lot more information in a shorter amount of time this way. What I could do to be more organized is to find a good balance in-between my two methods of note taking. Generally when it comes to organization, I am an all-or-nothing sort of person. My work is either really orderly and neat, or completely all over the place. What I find interesting is that I usually tend to go for the messy method, even though I like being organized more. Being messy is more immediately convenient, however, it is difficult to go back and read the notes or locate files or papers, essentially rendering them useless. Being messy or clean both seem to work for me. I have a preference to be neater, but I am more often messy. Finding a balance will be a difficult, but not insurmountable task.
In my eyes, there is no wrong way to keep information organized as long as it's tailored to the person who needs it. If it works for you, that is all that matters. This year I am proud of my note-taking abilities and how well they've served me in chemistry class. This skill most prominently used in chemistry is useful when it translates to other classes and events as well. I feel that I must credit most of my success to note-taking and the methods I use.