Note-taking tips

Note-taking helps you remember what you've read. In fact, a good set of notes can be the foundation for your assignment. Use the tips below to help you get started.

As a general rule it's best to:

• read the text first to get the gist of it, then start taking notes on the second read
• only record information that relates to your assignment question
• use headings in your notes, so they're easier to skim through later
• use dot points instead of full sentences and keep them short – one or two sentences is fine
• use abbreviations or your own symbols for common words.

When you're taking notes:

• summarise sections of the text in a few dot points, without looking at the text
• note important dates, events, people and places and copy the spelling correctly
• collect quotes to use later
• record the bibliographical details of all the references you use in your notes
• look up any words you don't understand and record definitions in your notes.