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Effective Notetaking
You can predict how well a student will do simply on the basis of their use of effective study strategies. This book is for college students who are serious about being successful in study, and teachers who want to know how best to help their students learn. Being a successful student is far more about being a smart user of effective strategies than about being 'smart'. Research has shown it is possible to predict how well a student will do simply on the basis of their use of study strategies. This workbook looks at the most important group of study strategies – how to take notes (with advice on how to read a textbook and how to prepare for a lecture). You’ll be shown how There's advice on individual differences and learning styles, and on how to choose the strategies that are right for both you and the situation. Using effective notetaking strategies will help you remember what you read. It will help you understand more, and set you on the road to becoming an expert (or at least getting good grades!). Successful studying isn’t about hours put in, it’s about spending your time wisely. You want to study smarter not harder. As always with the Mempowered books, this thorough (and fully referenced) workbook doesn't re-hash the same tired advice that's been peddled for so long. Rather, Effective notetaking builds on the latest cognitive and educational research to help you study for success. This revised edition includes review questions and advance organizers for each chapter.
276 pages, Hardcover
Published November 12, 2018
14 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 5, 2024
Books that make you smarter (promo)
Best book notes:
“Being a successful student is far more about being a smart user of effective strategies than about being ‘smart’.”
“Note-taking is probably the most common study strategy. Everyone takes notes — not everyone knows how to do it well.”
“Note-taking is a strategy for making information meaningful”
“note-taking is effective to the extent that you paraphrase, organize and make sense of the information while taking notes2 — in other words, to the extent that you put the information in your own words.”
“Working memory governs your ability to comprehend what you are reading or hearing, your ability to learn new words, your ability to reason, your ability to plan and organize yourself, and much more.”
“Working memory capacity (the amount you can ‘hold’ in working memory) varies between people, and indeed, WMC correlates highly with fluid intelligence (fluid intelligence refers to general reasoning and problem-solving abilities, while crystallized intelligence refers to cognitive functions associated with knowledge).”
“The notes of students with a high working memory capacity were fuller, with more complex propositions, more main ideas, and more words.”
“working memory is that it can only hold around seven chunks of information (between 5 and 9).”
“Actually, the situation is even worse than that. Recent research is now converging on the idea that working memory can only hold four items, of which only one is in your ‘focus of attention’ at any one time.”
““working memory” is not a single entity. It contains several functions, including the “central executive” which coordinates and manages the various tasks needed.”
“Taking notes is only effective if the student has sufficient note-taking skill to deal with the learning material.”
“Note-taking is primarily a tool to encode information effectively in your memory.”
“Highlighting refers to any way of emphasizing key words or phrases, such as underlining, framing, using bold type, using a colored marker, etc.”
“For the most part, then, highlighting is only a useful strategy when the material is relatively simple. However, what constitutes ‘simple’ depends on your knowledge of a topic.”
“highlighting should be simple — using different methods (bolding, underlining, coloring text) to indicate different categories of information (such as key terms, examples, dates, key statements) doesn’t improve recall and may even harm it2”
“Headings have the same function as summaries — to emphasize topics and the organizational structure.”
“Headings usually, but not invariably, improve recall for the information they emphasize.”
“summarizing is the heart of note-taking.”
“taking notes is about putting things in your own words”
“Divide your text into passages of around 1500 words”
“Both outlines and graphic organizers are more effective than conventional notes.”
“Multimedia summaries are useful for cause-&-effect relationships.”
“Chunking: group the information into small, manageable chunks (let the constraints of working memory guide you)”
“It is important to make your notes ‘your own’; you don’t want to solely rely on teacher handouts.”
“Another possible strategy for reducing mindwandering is meditation. There’s some evidence14 that a brief (6 minutes) period of focused meditation before the lecture reduces mindwandering. The focused meditation simply involved closing one’s eyes and counting breaths.”
“Your memory is not a junk-heap (though it might seem like it sometimes!). Memory is a database. If you don’t understand how you’ve organized it, that’s because you haven’t taken conscious control of the process.”
“The more organized you are when encoding information, the more easily it will be remembered. An effective note-taking strategy helps you organize information.”
Reading speed test (promo)
Best book notes:
“Being a successful student is far more about being a smart user of effective strategies than about being ‘smart’.”
“Note-taking is probably the most common study strategy. Everyone takes notes — not everyone knows how to do it well.”
“Note-taking is a strategy for making information meaningful”
“note-taking is effective to the extent that you paraphrase, organize and make sense of the information while taking notes2 — in other words, to the extent that you put the information in your own words.”
“Working memory governs your ability to comprehend what you are reading or hearing, your ability to learn new words, your ability to reason, your ability to plan and organize yourself, and much more.”
“Working memory capacity (the amount you can ‘hold’ in working memory) varies between people, and indeed, WMC correlates highly with fluid intelligence (fluid intelligence refers to general reasoning and problem-solving abilities, while crystallized intelligence refers to cognitive functions associated with knowledge).”
“The notes of students with a high working memory capacity were fuller, with more complex propositions, more main ideas, and more words.”
“working memory is that it can only hold around seven chunks of information (between 5 and 9).”
“Actually, the situation is even worse than that. Recent research is now converging on the idea that working memory can only hold four items, of which only one is in your ‘focus of attention’ at any one time.”
““working memory” is not a single entity. It contains several functions, including the “central executive” which coordinates and manages the various tasks needed.”
“Taking notes is only effective if the student has sufficient note-taking skill to deal with the learning material.”
“Note-taking is primarily a tool to encode information effectively in your memory.”
“Highlighting refers to any way of emphasizing key words or phrases, such as underlining, framing, using bold type, using a colored marker, etc.”
“For the most part, then, highlighting is only a useful strategy when the material is relatively simple. However, what constitutes ‘simple’ depends on your knowledge of a topic.”
“highlighting should be simple — using different methods (bolding, underlining, coloring text) to indicate different categories of information (such as key terms, examples, dates, key statements) doesn’t improve recall and may even harm it2”
“Headings have the same function as summaries — to emphasize topics and the organizational structure.”
“Headings usually, but not invariably, improve recall for the information they emphasize.”
“summarizing is the heart of note-taking.”
“taking notes is about putting things in your own words”
“Divide your text into passages of around 1500 words”
“Both outlines and graphic organizers are more effective than conventional notes.”
“Multimedia summaries are useful for cause-&-effect relationships.”
“Chunking: group the information into small, manageable chunks (let the constraints of working memory guide you)”
“It is important to make your notes ‘your own’; you don’t want to solely rely on teacher handouts.”
“Another possible strategy for reducing mindwandering is meditation. There’s some evidence14 that a brief (6 minutes) period of focused meditation before the lecture reduces mindwandering. The focused meditation simply involved closing one’s eyes and counting breaths.”
“Your memory is not a junk-heap (though it might seem like it sometimes!). Memory is a database. If you don’t understand how you’ve organized it, that’s because you haven’t taken conscious control of the process.”
“The more organized you are when encoding information, the more easily it will be remembered. An effective note-taking strategy helps you organize information.”
Reading speed test (promo)
June 14, 2023
4+ Stars for just the sections on how to write headings and properly highlight. This stuff is good for people like me who were good at skating through high school and college. Then when you realize you wish you didn't and want to start over.
I feel like a lot could be trimmed down to make it a useful quick read, but I believe it's suppose to have an academic weight behind it as well and be somewhat scholarly.
I feel like a lot could be trimmed down to make it a useful quick read, but I believe it's suppose to have an academic weight behind it as well and be somewhat scholarly.
October 29, 2023
Useful overview of different methods of taking notes, and which may be most suitable in different situations and for different purposes.
It's a beginner's book really, for those who aren't sure whether their note-taking skills are up to scratch, but may have something to offer for the more confident as well. Nothing earth-shattering, but useful all the same. You know it is, when a little voice in your head says, "Hmm... yes... I never thought of it that way!"
It's a beginner's book really, for those who aren't sure whether their note-taking skills are up to scratch, but may have something to offer for the more confident as well. Nothing earth-shattering, but useful all the same. You know it is, when a little voice in your head says, "Hmm... yes... I never thought of it that way!"
September 10, 2024
Effective Notetaking: improving how you understand and remember what you learn. McPherson’s approach is backed by research and offers practical tips for active learning and retention, making it a solid guide for anyone looking to improve their notetaking. While the section on highlighting could have been shorter, this doesn’t detract from the usability of the content and techniques McPherson offers.
April 17, 2022
Detailed review later. This is just a placeholder
July 14, 2022
The first book I deleted on my Kindle. The writing style did work for me and I could not bother to finish it.
August 25, 2022
Great for everybody still in school and / or who want to collage/ university. Low quality for adults or people with a Bachelor degree or higher
October 7, 2023
Good workbook. Main points and review questions at the end of the chapters are useful. Nothing special for intermediate or experienced note takers
January 10, 2025
Decided to read this AFTER finishing my Masters degree.
Rookie error.
Would have been very helpful. Not the most riveting, page-turning, edge-of-seat inducing book, but handy in an academic pinch.
Rookie error.
Would have been very helpful. Not the most riveting, page-turning, edge-of-seat inducing book, but handy in an academic pinch.
May 15, 2023
Great content, not well edited.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews