A good strategy of note taking in class will pay off in terms of effectiveness and time savings.

The keys to good note taking are the five "R's":

Record * Reduce * Recite * Reflect * Review

You can develop your own system based on a few elementary strategies:

Get a good loose leaf notebook.
This will enable you to add, delete, and re-sequence pages and materials.

Develop an organizational system; include

1. headings, the date, even the number of the class (e.g. 3/34)

2. any guest speakers' names, including your fellow students' contributions

3. a system of "sections" to organize your notes
   Leave plenty of white space for additions

Think in terms of three main sections:

1. Lecture notes
   Identify the main points
   do not try to quote the lecturer, instead capture the main points;

2. a space for editing or annotating what you have written,
   linking information from the text or other sources,
   adding definitions

3. a "condensing" or summary section.

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