Take this down: the craft of compiling notes

Note taking is one of those unsung skills that can make or break a student's research paper, exam performance and, perhaps most important, long-term retention of all that knowledge students go to school for in the first place.

For kids growing up in an era of unfettered Internet access, good old-fashioned note-taking skills may be more important than ever, some educators say. Not only does it steer students away from the copy-and-paste mentality that can lead to plagiarism, it also helps them sift through the overwhelming cascade of information they have at their fingertips.

Here are some best practices for successful note taking in middle school, high school, college and beyond — in note form, of course.

A. Before you start taking notes

a. Focus your topic and know what questions you want your research to answer so you can seek out relevant information, said Carol Gordon, co-director of the Center for International Studies in School Libraries at Rutgers University.

i This is one of the main principles of "guided inquiry," an oft-cited approach to research advocated by educator Carol Kuhlthau, mother of the Information Search Process model.

ii Check out Google's Wonder Wheel (after Googling a topic, click "show options" and then look for the Wonder Wheel link on the left-hand rail), which susses out subtopics for you and points you to the relevant links.

b. Read and think.

i Read only as much as your brain can absorb at one time — a sentence, a paragraph, a page at the most — and reflect on whether it's relevant, said Leslie Preddy, library media specialist at Perry Meridian Middle School in Indianapolis. If you think it's worth using, read it again, jotting down notes this time, Preddy said.

ii Reading from a computer screen strains the eye, so if you're doing research online, highlight the section on the screen that you are reading to make it easier for your eyes to focus, Preddy said.

B. When taking notes

a. Avoid copying and pasting from online sources. Writing down information in your own words helps you remember it and stimulates your own thoughts, ideas and epiphanies, Preddy said.

b. Pull out only critical information: main ideas, supporting facts (such as names, dates and statistics), key words, definitions, examples and quotations, said Deb Logan, a librarian at Mount Gilead middle and high schools in Mount Gilead, Ohio.

c. Don't write complete sentences. That way, you avoid using the author's original language and are forced to come up with unique sentences when the time comes to write. Preddy calls it "Caveman Talk:" Don't speak, grunt.

d. Different note-taking strategies work better for different people.

i Make bulleted lists of your notes organized according to the questions you seek to answer. Logan encourages her students to designate a page for each research question and fill that page with notes relevant to that topic. Preddy teaches her middle schoolers to use "foldables," wherein they fold a piece of paper in four and open it up to reveal four boxes, each of which is assigned a topic and filled with the relevant notes.

ii Use "graphic organizers," which are visual aids such as Venn diagrams, flow charts and timelines. Gordon pushes graphic organizers because they help students arrange information as they take notes.

iii. Use "double-entry," or two-column, journals, Gordon suggests. In one column, write important quotes from your source material with citations. In the other column, write what that information means to you and why it's important.

C. After taking notes

a. Go over your notes and color-code or use symbols to identify what's most important, Logan said. For example: Underline every main idea, put a check mark next to every date, and wherever you see a definition, draw a triangle. Write key words in the left margin.

b. Interact with your notes — this is important for retention and higher-level thinking.

i Make connections between what's being said and what you already know to be true, ask more questions, look for discrepancies among sources and look for errors in the information, Gordon said.

ii Brain research shows that people remember information better when they rehearse it in elaborate ways using multiple modalities, including visual and auditory clues, said Pat Wolfe, president of Mind Matters Inc., a Napa, Calif., company that applies brain research to the classroom.

1. Write summary sentences or draw diagrams and cartoons in the margin next to your notes, make up a song or reteach what you learned to someone else.

2. People also remember information better when it is linked to real-world examples or previously learned information, Wolfe said.

D. Note to teachers: When giving an oral lecture, pause and let the students catch up.

a. "One of the things we know about the human brain is that it cannot multitask," Wolfe said. "You cannot listen to a lecture and take notes at the same time, and expect to get all the information."

b. Teachers would help students by providing a written outline of the lecture so they know what to listen for, Wolfe said.

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A popular method of note-taking is called the Cornell Method, a six-step system developed by Cornell education professor Walter Pauk and published in his book "How to Study in College." Here's how it works:

Preparation: On a sheet of paper, draw a vertical line 2 1/2 inches from the left-hand side of the page, and a horizontal line 2 inches from the bottom. To the left is your cue column. At the bottom is your summary space.

Step 1. Record. Jot down notes from a lecture or reading in the space to the right of the vertical line.

Step 2. Question. As soon as possible after class or reading, write questions or key words in the cue column relating to the notes to the right.

Step 3. Recite. Cover your notes, and looking only at the key words in the cue column, try to recite the information contained in your notes. Check your answers.

Step 4. Reflect. Ask questions about the information and make connections to your own experiences.

Step 4. Recapitulate: Summarize your notes in the space at the bottom of the page.

Step 5. Review: Practice reciting your notes (step 3) several times a week instead of waiting to cram.