Note Taking Stradegies: SU/Cornell Notes & Plug-In Notes

Sometimes, students go to class, copy the teachers notes, leave and never reviews the notes again. It is crucial for a student to review the notes because it helps to prepare for an exam and have an idea what the exam will be about. One possible reason the student doesn't look back on their notes is because their notes are UNORGANIZED.

If your notes are unorganized, your going to have trouble understanding or remembering the material that was said so you say," see you later" to those notes."Later" as in the last day before the exam. Well, the SU/Cornell Notes & the Plug-in Notes were the best note-taking strategies that helped me have better notes and they allow me to re
view my notes better! Here's how they worked for me...


Let's talk about the SU/Cornell Notes ...


What did i do ?.. (format)
Before class, i drew a vertical line 2 1/2 inch lines from the left side of the sheet of standard paper. That column is called the recall column. Then you trace the first horizontal line at the top paper. The box above will be your summary box. So you will have three boxes basically.


During class
On the right box = you record your notes


After class

Left box (Recall Column)= Put the information that you recall the most key points being used in that class or you can even put terms that were most used and define them.

On the top box(summary)= You summarize your class notes a day or 2 later, by writing a paragraph from what you read from your notes.


*you review the recall column and/or the summary box once a week.

Why I used SU/Cornell Notes for my Woman's Gender Class ?
I think that the SU/Cornell Notes allowed me to have better organized notes for a class that the teacher just talks in most of the time.
In general, i feel like the SU/Cornell Notes forces you to review your notes a couple of times but in easier,organized way. Honestly, it was not time consuming because it was really quick to do a summary of my notes. i just had to re-read it and write down what was the main idea. If you review week, you will learn the information more efficiently especially if you put the information in your own words. * I used the recall box as terms that were mostly used and i defined each. For my Woman's Gender Discussion, my teacher doesn't really put up notes so she shows a lot of video. I can use some of the information from the video in my papers so i just jot down the key terms being used and the main idea.


My likes
I like how the format of the this strategy forces me to put the information in my own words and also forces me to review more. Putting things in my own words allows me to understand the material of that day. I like how it didn't take too much of my time and i found a new way to take notes better because before i would just write down my notes and when i come back to it, i forget why did i write this and that.


My dislikes
Although it helps me organize my notes and this is a really good strategy for note taking, i feel like i can't just study off of this material. I need to study off of more material whether its book or readings that the teacher gave us. This just organizes my notes and helps me understand better but i can't study off this ALONE. I have to have more strategies involved, so in a way this is just a better NOTE - Taking Strategy and not a study one like i thought i would be.


Another Note-Taking Strategy..


Using Plug- In Notes ( hand written)
When taking down notes, you can just use the right side of the notebook to jot down your notes for the day. On the left side of your note book, you can use the space after class to put plug in note of the major source of information learned in that class. Whether it is a graphic organizer or chart, or illustration. * You use this because you are breaking down the major source of information.
You can use 4-10 plug in notes as much as you want to support that the main information. At the end of class you can create 5 questions from looking at your plug in notes that you think your professor will put on the exam.



Why i used the Plug-in Notes for my Sociology class?
I used the plug-in notes for my sociology because there is a lot of information to remember but it's most people to learn about and definitions. I created a graphic organizer that allowed me to chunk the information in a efficient way. Since i was learning about people's theory and their significance use in sociology, i created a chart that listed their name, theory, an example of the theory and their significance in Sociology. For the definitions that had a lot of information which i didn't like to read and figure what should i learn, i created a term chart for that as well. I listed the term, definition and an example of it.




Likes
what i liked about the plug in notes is that it helped me see visually what's the major source of information in a more organized way. The information is chunked down into categories where i can review everyday. I like that it forces me to review the notes so i can create questions from and i know most likely the definitions will be on the exams.


Dislikes
Doing the organizer takes a bit of my time but in the end, its worth it.