HOW TO TAKE UNIVERSITY NOTES // WRITING NOTES FOR LECTURES, READINGS & SEMINARS

Summary

In this video, a third-year geography and German student from the London School of Economics shares her top tips on effective university note-taking. She discusses the best devices (laptops, tablets, pen and paper), tools (Microsoft OneNote, Google Docs, Notion), and techniques to streamline the note-making process. Her main advice includes writing lecture notes before attending class, focusing on value-added information, and integrating reading notes into lecture notes. She emphasizes working smart, being selective, and actively engaging with content rather than passively highlighting. The goal is to create concise, exam-ready notes while adapting methods that work best for individual students.

Takeaways

• 📒 Writing notes effectively is key for university success, and it can vary based on individual preference.
• 🖊️ Students in STEM fields might prefer traditional pen and paper for diagrams, but social sciences students often benefit from using laptops or tablets.
• 💻 Cloud-based note systems like OneNote, Google Docs, and Notion are excellent for organizing and accessing notes from anywhere.
• 🖥️ It's not necessary to have expensive equipment; a basic laptop can perform just as well for most students.
• 📝 Preparing notes before a lecture by writing up PowerPoints or materials ahead of time can help students focus better during class.
• 🔍 Modify difficult or unfamiliar terms in the lecture slides to simpler language before attending the lecture to aid understanding.
• 🎯 During lectures, concentrate on slides or topics that are harder to understand, as it's impossible to give full attention for the entire session.
• 📚 Doing lecture notes before the readings helps frame the content and makes the readings easier to understand.
• 📝 For readings, focus on summarizing the overall message and extracting key points rather than trying to digest every word.
• 🎯 Keep your notes concise and relevant to what could be examined or useful for essays, rather than overwhelming yourself with excessive detail.

Q & A

What are the main challenges students face when taking notes at university?

Students often feel overwhelmed by the volume of information, including lectures, readings, and assignments, and struggle with finding efficient ways to take notes.

What are the different methods of note-taking mentioned in the script?

The script mentions traditional pen and paper, digital note-taking using laptops or tablets, and specific software like OneNote, Google Docs, and Notion.

Which note-taking method does the speaker recommend for social science courses?

The speaker recommends using a laptop or a tablet for social science courses because they tend to involve more text-based content rather than diagrams.

What are the advantages of using OneNote for note-taking?

OneNote acts like a digital notebook where students can search through notes and readings simultaneously, making it easier to find information. It also allows students to store readings and notes in the cloud for easy access.

Why does the speaker find Notion too complicated?

The speaker finds Notion difficult to set up and too complex for their needs, though they acknowledge that some students use it successfully.

Why does the speaker recommend writing lecture notes before attending the lecture?

Writing notes before the lecture helps the student gain an initial understanding of the material, making it easier to focus on the lecturer's additional insights during class.

How does the speaker deal with unfamiliar terms in the lecture notes?

The speaker Googles unfamiliar terms and replaces complex words with simpler ones that they understand, which helps them better follow the lecture.

What is the speaker’s opinion on the importance of reading before lectures?

The speaker suggests doing the reading after the lecture, as the lecture provides a general outline that helps frame the reading and makes it easier to understand.

How does the speaker organize reading notes to be more efficient?

The speaker advises summarizing readings as much as possible, focusing on key points and the overall message, and avoiding extensive highlighting of texts.

What is the main takeaway from the speaker's note-taking strategy?

The speaker emphasizes the importance of working smart, not hard, by organizing notes efficiently, focusing on essential content, and making the note-taking process active rather than passive.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to University Note-Taking Challenges

The speaker, Imagin, a third-year geography and German student at the London School of Economics, introduces herself and discusses a common question: how to effectively make notes in university. She acknowledges the overwhelming feeling many first-year students experience, especially with lectures and readings, and offers to share her top tips for efficient note-taking.

05:02

✍️ Choosing Your Note-Taking Device

The speaker explains the importance of selecting the right device for note-taking. Traditional pen and paper are recommended for STEM subjects with diagrams, while laptops or tablets are better for social sciences. She highlights the pros and cons of various tools, including digital pencils and tablets, emphasizing that expensive equipment isn't necessary for success. She also mentions that basic laptops with word processing software work perfectly fine.

10:03

💻 Recommended Programs for Digital Note-Taking

The speaker discusses the pros and cons of different software for taking notes, recommending OneNote, Google Docs, and Notion over Microsoft Word due to better organization and cloud-based accessibility. She briefly explains how these platforms allow students to access notes anywhere, thus making them more practical for university life. She also notes that while Notion is powerful, its complexity might make it unsuitable for everyone.

📝 Preparing Lecture Notes in Advance

The speaker's top note-taking tip is to prepare lecture notes before attending the lecture. By downloading and writing up lecture materials in advance, students can better understand the content and focus on the value-added aspects of the lecture itself. This strategy helps solidify the material and primes the student to focus on more challenging topics during the lecture.

🔍 Understanding and Simplifying Lecture Content

The speaker shares practical steps to understand complicated lecture content. She advises rewriting complex jargon in simpler terms using resources like Google. This method prepares students to engage more meaningfully with the lecture, as they are not encountering the material for the first time during class.

🎯 Active Learning and Attention Management During Lectures

The speaker emphasizes the importance of focusing on parts of the lecture that are difficult to understand, as it's unrealistic to give full attention to a two-hour lecture. She encourages 'smart' learning, focusing more on essential topics and recognizing that not all material will be equally important for exams or essays.

🎨 The Process of Layering Notes: Lecture, Then Reading

The speaker recommends taking lecture notes first, then doing readings afterward. She believes that lecture content provides a useful framework that helps students understand readings more efficiently. Doing readings beforehand can result in stress and wasted time, as students might focus too much on complex paragraphs that aren't central to the overall message.

📑 Effective Reading Notes and Summarization

The speaker advises against passive note-taking strategies like highlighting. Instead, she recommends summarizing readings and integrating them into lecture notes to make sure they are relevant. She stresses the importance of including page numbers for direct quotes to simplify essay writing later and keeping summaries concise, ideally no longer than one A4 page.

🗺️ Refining and Condensing Notes for Exams

At the end of the term, the speaker advocates for going through all notes and removing irrelevant information to create a concise, useful study guide. She gives examples from geography, such as removing maps from notes, since writing about trends is more useful than including visual elements that can’t be incorporated directly into essays.

🧠 Learning Efficiently: Work Smart, Not Hard

The speaker advises students to focus on efficient note-taking rather than writing excessively long notes. The goal is to develop a system that condenses information into manageable portions, and to tailor this system based on individual learning styles. She concludes by reassuring students that everyone’s process is different, and it's okay if it takes time to find the right approach.

👍 Final Tips and Reassurance

The speaker reassures students that it’s normal to take time to adjust to university note-taking. She encourages them not to worry if they feel behind or if their process differs from others'. She ends by inviting viewers to share their own note-taking strategies in the comments, while encouraging feedback and engagement with her video.

Keywords

💡Note-taking

Note-taking refers to the process of recording information from lectures, readings, or other educational resources. In the video, the speaker emphasizes different methods of note-taking, such as pen and paper or digital devices like laptops and tablets. The process is essential for organizing and retaining information in university studies.

💡Digital tools

Digital tools, such as laptops, tablets, and specific software programs (OneNote, Google Docs, and Notion), are highlighted as modern methods for making notes. These tools help students store notes online, access them from anywhere, and organize them more efficiently than traditional pen-and-paper methods. The speaker recommends these for students who deal with text-heavy subjects.

💡OneNote

OneNote is a Microsoft-based digital notebook program. The speaker highlights OneNote’s usefulness for students in organizing notes, searching for specific topics, and storing lecture materials and readings in a centralized, cloud-based system. It allows for more efficient management of information and is recommended for social science subjects.

💡Lecture preparation

Lecture preparation involves reviewing lecture materials, such as PowerPoint slides or PDFs, before attending class. The speaker stresses the importance of this process in building familiarity with the topic before the lecture. This preparation helps students better understand the content during the lecture and retain key information.

💡Active recall

Active recall is a study technique where students actively engage with the material they are learning, instead of passively reviewing it. In the context of the video, the speaker mentions it as a parallel process to writing notes before a lecture, reinforcing the information through repetition and deeper engagement with the subject matter.

💡Reading notes

Reading notes refer to the process of summarizing key points from academic readings and integrating them into lecture notes. The speaker advises against passive highlighting and instead suggests summarizing readings in a way that directly relates to the lecture topics, helping students connect ideas and retain useful information for essays and exams.

💡Efficient study

Efficient study focuses on working smart by identifying what is most important for learning and exams. The speaker emphasizes avoiding long-winded note-taking, focusing on key points, and using time effectively. Efficiency is crucial in university, where students often face large amounts of complex material.

💡Cloud storage

Cloud storage refers to storing digital files (like notes and readings) online, allowing students to access them from any device. The speaker encourages using programs like OneNote or Google Drive for storing notes, as this method offers flexibility and prevents losing materials if physical devices are damaged or lost.

💡Notion

Notion is a popular note-taking and project management software, known for its customization and complexity. While the speaker finds it too complicated for personal use, they acknowledge that it can be highly effective for students willing to invest time in setting it up properly. It is another option for organizing notes and tasks digitally.

💡Work smart, not hard

The phrase 'work smart, not hard' encapsulates the speaker's advice on studying efficiently by focusing on the most important aspects of learning. Instead of spending unnecessary hours on readings or taking excessive notes, the speaker recommends identifying key information and making the note-taking process more streamlined.

Highlights

Imagin, a third-year geography with German student at LSE, shares her top tips on effective note-taking for university students.

She emphasizes the importance of choosing the right device for note-taking, whether traditional pen and paper, laptop, or tablet.

For social science courses like geography, she recommends using a laptop or tablet over traditional paper as diagrams are less important.

She suggests free cloud-based programs like OneNote, Google Docs, and Notion for digital note-taking, as they allow for easy access from anywhere.

While Notion is considered one of the best, Imagin finds it too complex and prefers simpler programs like Microsoft Word, despite its inefficiencies.

Her top tip for note-taking is to prepare by writing lecture notes before the actual lecture using the provided materials like PowerPoints or PDFs.

By writing up notes in advance, she finds herself more engaged in lectures and able to focus on the lecture's added value.

She recommends typing out lecture materials manually instead of just copying and pasting, as it forces you to think about the content.

If any lecture content contains unfamiliar terms, she advises looking them up before the lecture to avoid confusion during the lecture.

Imagin stresses that students cannot give 100% all the time and should prioritize their focus on important content.

She suggests attending lectures first and doing readings afterward, which helps in framing the readings around what was taught in class.

For reading notes, she advises summarizing key points and avoiding overly long summaries, as most readings contain only a few relevant ideas.

Imagin prefers to limit reading notes to half an A4 page to a maximum of one full A4 page to ensure focus on the most important points.

At the end of the term, she condenses her notes by removing unnecessary details, such as content that cannot be used in essays or exams.

She concludes by encouraging students to develop their own note-taking system based on what works best for them, even if it takes time to refine.

Transcripts

hi everyone my name is imagin I am a

third-year geography with German student

at the London School of economics and

today I thought I would answer one of my

most asked questions that I get on here

and also in real life which is how on

Earth do you make notes for University I

know a lot of first students are feeling

very very overwhelmed by the fact that

they've started University and they're

getting lectures they've got readings

they've got all sorts going on and they

just don't know how to effectively and

efficiently make their notes so today I

thought I would address that hly I'm

going into my final year so I've had two

years of perfecting my notes and my note

taking skills so I thought I'd share my

top tips with you so when you come to

taking your notes the first thing you're

going to need to address is on what

device or how you're actually going to

take those notes are you going to opt

for the traditional pen and paper route

and I would say this is best for

students who study stem based courses or

courses where you might need to draw

diagrams so a lot of students at lsse

don't actually opt for this route unless

they're doing economics or they're doing

math or accounting because if you're

doing a more social science-based course

so something looking like geography

sociology politics international

relations where you don't have a lot of

diagrams but you have a lot of texts and

you're' going to have a lot of words in

your notes I would say your traditional

laptop is going to be better here um or

if you've got one of those tablets that

can have a keyboard that's also

fantastic however if you are going for

the pen and paper route you've obviously

got the very traditional write it on a

piece of paper um with a pen root or you

can opt for the slightly more expensive

option which is Maybe having an iPad or

a tablet with one of those digital

pencils this saves a lot of space in

your bag because obviously you're not

carrying around pen and paper you've

also got the benefits of it being backed

up however I do appreciate this is not a

financially accessible option for

everybody and these tablets and things

can be very very expensive I remember

when I first turned up to lsse I was

shocked by how many students had

MacBooks I honestly thought is this

University sponsored by Apple you do not

need the most expensive laptop I know so

many people who have got through three

years of University with a basic laptop

with word downloaded on it and they're

absolutely fine and they've still

managed to get just as good grades as

all those students who have got fancy

equipment so don't be put off by what

equipment somebody else is using for

their notes it does not necessarily mean

they're going to be better than yours in

terms of the actual program you're going

to use for making notes I will be the

first person to admit that I have not

got this sused out I am a grandma I use

Microsoft Word and it is wholly

inefficient if I was going back to first

year me I would say do not start on

Microsoft Word it's quite difficult to

switch between programs halfway through

your course and to be honest you don't

want to be doing that because you want

all your notes to be in one place so

instead of using Microsoft Word like I

have the programs that I would recommend

are if your University is on Microsoft

so I know that lsse is Microsoft based

in terms of email you can use one note

which is basically like a digital

notebook so you'll be able to search

through all of your notes at once um to

find anything on I don't know name a

topic uh gentrification in the case of

geography um and everything that is on

that will come up and you can also

download your readings literally into

the system uh if you are using onee if

they're in PDF format and then you can

search through all of your readings and

all of your notes at once which is so

useful however I know a lot of other

students use Google Docs um obviously

then you have your notes if you're doing

like week one on each document they are

separated but you can search across the

whole system the major benefit to both

of these programs is that because it is

stored online um and your notes are

actually in the cloud whatever the cloud

is um I'm such a grandma here um you are

able to access them from anywhere so if

you forget your laptop or you're going

to a friend and you suddenly need to do

some work last minute and access your

notes um you can log onto a computer and

you should be able to find your notes

online and I've forgotten to mention the

program that is considered the the

goddess of all of these which is notion

I'm going to be honest with you

personally I find it far too complicated

it is too complex to set up in the first

place and I just can't really be

bothered however I know some students

and I've seen some students use this so

successfully so if you've got a bit of

time in your hands and you're prepared

to dedicate it to setting up a really

useful system that's going to function

for you for all three years then I would

say notion is another great option it is

also free for students the same with uh

Google Drive that is free for students

and I'm not entirely sure about how

you'd go setting up your own Microsoft

account so that you can use one note um

but I believe if you have a Hotmail

account you have access to that so again

that should be a free option so all of

those three options that I've talked

through are free uh Microsoft Word

however you do actually have to pay I

think um for the like office suite so I

would say considering we're in the

digital age you can get cloud-based

systems um they're probably going to be

a much better option anyway so don't

worry about getting word downloaded on

your laptop if you don't already have it

you sorted out the Practical things of

on what device you're going to take your

notes and on what program you're going

to use but what are you actually going

to write on that document or what are

you actually going to write on that

digital notebook the one thing that I

would say and this is my top tip on note

taking and I know it's slightly

controversial not everybody does it is

if you get your lecture materials before

the lecture itself so you get your

PowerPoints released online or you get a

PDF released online with all the notes

of what you're going to cover in the

lecture write this up before you even

walk into the lecture theater the

process of writing up these notes before

I go into the lecture theater is hands

down the most useful time I will spend

on writing notes in the entire week

forget the reading forget the lecture

itself that time where I actually sit

down and focus on what my lecture is

going to cover and start thinking

through it myself really helps to

prepare me for what I'm then going to

see in the lecture and means when I go

and sit there I actually have a little

bit of background knowledge of what's

being covered so that I can actually

focus on the value added that that

lecture is giving me and it also really

helps it embed what I'm actually

learning because I'm not seeing that

content for the first time I'm actually

looking at it maybe a day or even a

couple of hours befor hand i'm then

doing something else and coming away

from it and then I'm going back and I'm

having to rethink through that content

again again it's very similar to if

you've heard about active recall as a

study technique it's very similar to

that but in terms of your lecture notes

but how does this look practically for

me about 2 hours before my lecture I

will go onto Moodle which is our online

learning platform at lsse I will

download my PDF lecture it will be in

PowerPoint but it'll be saved as PDF

form so download that put that on one

side of my screen now I want to say here

there are programs that you can use

which will turn your PDF into a Word

document with all of the notes on which

you can just copy and paste there are

also um other programs that you can use

online or other websites that you can

use to make a PDF PowerPoint into an

actual PowerPoint that you can edit and

whilst I would say these are really

beneficial the actual process of me

having to go through read what my

lecture has written and then type it out

myself I find is a really good way of

actually forcing myself to think about

that content because you can't just

mindlessly copy text from one document

to another um you actually have to

consciously think about what you're

writing whilst I'm doing this I will

also look at any words that I don't

understand because some of my lecturers

talk in absolute jargon and what I'll do

is I'll Google the word I'll say oh what

does name a word mean and it will come

up with another word that I'm actually

familiar with and I'll think well why do

we need to use this really complicated

language so then I will change any words

that I don't understand in those lecture

notes to something that I'm more

familiar with this means instead of

turning up to the lecture then

downloading the PowerPoint looking at it

whilst my lecture is talking away in

language that I just don't understand

and I'm sat there thinking I don't even

understand what the sentence on the

slide means so I don't understand what

you're actually saying about it I've

actually thought about that beforehand

I've changed it into language I

understand which means when my lecture

starts talking in my head I can be

replacing that word and actually

understanding what they're talking about

so I change any text that I don't

understand and by the end it will take

me about 20 minutes half an hour I will

have a complete set of notes and in my

head I'll also have a bit of an

understanding about what we're going to

talk about now if there's any particular

topic so if there's whole slid that I

don't understand anything about I'll

sometimes type in um the title of the

slide into Google so for example if

we're learning about something called

accumulation by dispossession I will

type into Google what is accumulation by

dispossession and I will get a sentence

about what it's about now often this

won't make a lot of sense but just that

process of having a little bit more

thought put into the topic will really

help so that when I come into the

lecture I know those are the slides that

I really need to listen on because let's

be honest you're sitting in a lecture

for 2 hours you are not going to get

100% of your attention for two whole

hours when it gets to the slides that

you do not understand the content of

that is when you need to be giving 100%

And whilst this is making me sound like

I am being a bit of a lazy student I

think what you really need to understand

is with University you cannot give 100%

all of the time you are having so much

information thrown at you all the time

and not all of it is equally important

there will be certain weeks which you

will write essays on which you need to

know everything about that topic and

there'll be other weeks which don't get

examined you're never going to know

which weeks these are going to be but at

least by working smart and getting the

overall gist of what is going on each

week you are going to have a better

understanding of the course as a whole

by the end of that module I always think

of taking your notes for University a

bit like drawing a picture before I even

go into the lecture by writing those

notes beforehand I'm drawing an outline

of that picture then when I go into the

lecture I can focus on what my lecturer

is adding to those lecture slides that's

like adding more detail to the picture

then when you go in and do your reading

that is like adding color to a picture

and that's the next thing that I want to

draw your attention to I personally will

always do lecture notes first and then

I'll go to the lecture add anything that

my lecture says that's of particular use

then I will do my reading because with

University you don't have a set syllabus

like you do for gcc's or a levels where

you can print off what you're actually

supposed to be learning instead a lot of

the time it depends on what you're

taught in the lecture and that is the

general content for the week then your

reading is there to supplement what you

are learning in the lecture now a lot of

lecturers and I know that in my first

year the message that I was always given

was do your readings before you go to

the lecture because it gives you this

base understanding but I'm going to be

honest the way that readings are often

written they are super complicated so

actually I find that going to the

lecture first listening to what the

general outline of the topic is then

helps to frame my reading so that I

really know what the message is that I'm

trying to take out of that reading and

it means I can do it so much quicker for

the first 6 months of University I used

to do my readings first and I would

spend hours literal hours reading the

same thing over and over again and I'd

be so stressed because I didn't

understand this particular paragraph in

this reading but it wasn't important it

wasn't the main focus and it didn't help

with the overall message of the reading

which is what you're really trying to

take out of it which again brings me on

to the next section which is how on

Earth you write your reading notes first

of all I do not want to see any

highlighter pens you need to be actively

looking at that reading by highlighting

half the reading you are not actually

thinking about what has been written

there you that is very very pass you

want to be adding your reading notes

into your already created lecture notes

because then you're going to be making

sure that what you're taking out of the

reading is actually directly relevant to

the points that are being made that week

and that is what's basically forming

your syllabus you also want to make sure

if you are doing direct quotes from the

reading you are writing down the page

numbers because when you want to go back

to that and you want to use that quote

in an essay you do not want to be

searching for a 28 page reading for a

particular sentence where possible you

want to be summarizing your readings as

much as you possibly can uh during first

year some of my summaries of readings

tended to be as long as the readings

themselves this is not beneficial it's

not helpful it used to take me hours to

write them um but now I try and kind of

limit myself to half an A4 page and Max

one A4 page per reading because even if

the reading is 20 30 pages long there's

not going to be that much useful content

in there you need to get the overall

message of the reading and then you need

to get four or five maybe key points

that are coming out of that reading

because when you come to talk about

about it in an essay unless the entire

essay is on one particular reading in

which case you'll need to read the text

more closely um you are just going to

need the overall message of what is

being said and then at the end of the

term I'll take my lecture notes I'll put

them all together in one big document

and then I will take out anything that I

think is irrelevant and this is where

you need to be really ruthless anything

that you don't think you're going to use

directly in an essay just take it out

and you will hopefully by this point

have developed a bit of an understanding

hopefully you'll have done some

coursework you'll have written at least

least one essay so you'll know what sort

of thing is going to be useful and what

can actually be examined because there's

going to be some content that cannot be

examined and one prime example I'm going

to give of this is Maps so in geography

a lot of the time some of our lecture

slides will literally just be a map and

how on Earth are you ever going to

include an entire map in an essay you're

not you're going to talk about the trend

that comes out of that map you'll only

need to know one sentence you don't need

to know everything that that map

possibly shows so adding it into your

notes is not particularly beneficial

because you've then not done the work of

trying to work out what the overall

trend is so hopefully by the end of the

term you'll be able to go through your

notes and anything like a map or um any

content that's like a very specific

example that clearly your lecture has

added in for your understanding but not

necessarily that would be used in an

essay or be used in your answers for an

exam you can then take that out and you

will have a more condensed and more

useful set of notes the main aim with

your notes for University really is work

smart not hard we don't want 5,000 words

on a piece of paper when 500 would be a

lot more useful and would suffice and

the last thing I want to say is I want

to just reassure you I have had two

years of developing a note system that

works for me and what works for me isn't

necessarily is going to work for you

there are going to be different ways of

taking notes which are equally as

effective and equally as useful but

hopefully by giving you a bit of an idea

of the things that I think about when

I'm writing my notes so what can be

examined what is actually going to be

useful and how can I make this an active

process rather than a passive process

will help to guide you in working out

what note system is going to work best

for you and even if you do decide to go

down the same route as me and you decide

to use this note system I again have had

time and experience to work out what is

useful and what is not and I've sped up

this process massively from where I was

in first year if you are spending hours

doing your reading and everybody else is

like oh I finished that in 20 minutes

don't worry don't be afraid to ignore

what other people are saying because

going to University can be really

daunting there are going to be people

who just get it like that and it seems

really unfair and then there's going to

be people like me who took six months to

a year to really settle into University

really work out what the style of

learning was and how I was going to make

that work for me anyway with that I'm

going to stop waffling on I hope that

you found this useful if you've got any

comments any ways that you write your

notes that you think would be useful for

other people please do leave them in the

comments section down below if you have

found this useful or reassuring give it

a big thumbs up so that I know to make

more videos like this and I will see you

next time with a new video bye