If you’re in college or high school note taking is an essential part of your everyday life. Virtually every class requires you to take notes in some form, so why not try and make it fun? Some people prefer to take their notes on paper while others prefer to type them on a computer. Either way there are little things you can do to make the process a little less tedious! Here’s what I recommend:
For those who take their notes on paper:
My first tip for those who take their notes on paper is to find the right notebook that works for you. My personal favorite is Oxford Idea Collective Action Notebook. I refuse to use anything but college ruled paper and love how this note book has a margin on the left of the page to add in definitions, diagrams or anything else you want! The next tip I have is to date every page! I always put the date in the super right-hand corner of the page. This makes it easy to sort through and find exactly what you are looking for. Along with dating the page, make sure to title it! This can make flipping through your notes easy. The last tip I have is to utilize different colors, pens, highlighters and markers. Adding color and depth into your notes can make reading them back more enjoyable.
For those who prefer to take their notes digitally:
I take most of my notes on Microsoft Word and occasionally used Google Docs. The first thing I do it add the title of the document in the header of the document, this mimics adding a title to the top of a hand written page. I like to do this because when printed out pages can get mixed up and/or lost and this allows for easy recognition of where the pages need to be. The next thing I like to do is add a page number. Again, this helps organizationally! Lastly is utilizing different fonts and bullet points. I like to use different fonts as well as bolding, underlining and italicizing different things that need to stand out from the regular text, such as: a title, a definition or an important concept.
I know most of these tips seem like common sense but when put to use they really do make the task of note taking a lot less tedious! Happy note taking!
XOXO,
