Listening
and Notetaking 2
Listening is a skill that should be taught since eighty
percent of what you know is learned by listening. This packet contains specific recommendations to
help you listen to a lecture more efficiently. Efficient notetaking is necessary for students to have a
record of lectures for future study and review. This packet gives a variety of techniques to improve
notetaking skills including mapping. This information has been adapted from a variety of Study
Skills textbooks. The last page of this packet is a bibliography of these
textbooks.
Listening Tips
You must learn to listen effectively because eighty percent
of what you know is acquired through listening. Listening is a skill that
requires the constant application of certain principles until they become
habitual.
Here are some suggestions:
- Be prepared to listen by keeping up to date with your textbook
reading. Read the chapter before the lecture!
- Determine the main idea and all important details that were
given in connection with it.
- Learn to recognize that the speaker is making an important
point by:
- pausing
- giving examples
- repeating what has been said
- repeating the textbook
- increasing volume or changing pitch of voice
- taking more time on one area
- adding class activities or worksheets
- using body language (facial expression, gestures, posture,
pace)
- writing on the chalkboard
- using direct statements (this is very important) or signal
words
(examples: significant, most)
Listening
and Notetaking 2
Ten Ways to Improve Listening
- Find area of interest - maintain eye contact even if the
subject appears boring. There will be some information that will be useful.
- Judge the content, not delivery. Find out what the speaker
knows, not how he presents it.
- Withhold evaluation until comprehension is complete – don’t
become preoccupied with rebuttal before idea is completely presented. Don’t
listen defensively.
- Listen for ideas - main ideas, central facts, organizational
patterns.
- Be flexible in notetaking.
- Work at listening - spend energy to give conscious
attention.
- Resist distractions - a matter of concentration.
- Exercise your mind - develop an appetite for hearing a
variety of presentations difficult enough to challenge your mental capacities.
- Keep your mind open - be careful of emotional impact of
certain words - don’t listen defensively composing a rebuttal.
- Capitalize on thought speed.
- Speech speed - 100-200 words per minute
- Thought speed - 400-500 or more words per minute.
Take advantage of differential - do not allow distractions
during this time.
Ten Questions to Ask Yourself While Listening
- What is he saying; what does it really mean?
- How does that relate to what he said before?
- Where is he going; what’s the point he’s trying to make?
- How is that helpful; how can I use this?
- Does this make any sense?
- Am I getting the whole story?
- How does this relate to what I already know?
- Is he leaving anything out?
- How does this relate to what I already know?
- Do I understand what he’s saying or should I ask for
clarification?
Listening and Notetaking 3.
Ten BAD Listening Habits, by Ralph G. Nichols
- Finding the subject uninteresting
- Judging delivery, not content.
- Allowing excessive emotional involvement
- Listening for details, not central ideas
- Using non-flexible notetaking
- Paying poor attention to the speaker
- Being easily distracted
- Avoiding difficult material
- Refusing to accept new ideas
- Thinking about irrelevant topics
How To Take Good Lecture Notes
A good set of lecture notes is one of your most important
assets in getting ready for an examination. If you have the facts in readable form, you are
well equipped to do the necessary
reviewing. Many students take notes in a very haphazard style claiming
that they will copy them later. This is a poor policy for two reasons:
- usually the notes don’t get copied and the originals are not
much use after a few days or weeks have gone by, and
- if the notes are copied, it is a waste of time because they
can just as well be done correctly in the first place.
Three important findings from studies concerned with
notetaking:
- Notetaking helps you listen; it does not interfere with
listening and comprehension.
- Students who study their notes using the recitation method
remember one and a half times more after six weeks than students who do
not review.
- Students who take no notes or do not study their notes
forget approximately 80% of the lectures by the end of two weeks.
Listening and Notetaking 4.
Good lecture notes must:
- present a neat, attractive appearance.
- indicate the main points of the lecture.
- show the relationship of the details to the main points.
- include enough illustrative detail to enrich notes and
content.
SUGGESTIONS FOR TAKING NOTES:
- USE INK! Notes in pencil will smear
and are hard to read anyway. Be sure to use a large notebook.
- Date your notes for reference in test
preparation.
- Leave wide margins and don’t crowd your lines
together. Notebook paper is cheap -never mind if you use a whole line for just one work. Plenty
of white space is important in order to show the relationships of ideas to each other.
- Use notetaking shorthand to reduce
as many ideas as possible. Reduce to essential words - don’t use complete sentences. Use symbols as a substitute for words. Abbreviate by using initials, half words, creative spelling.
- Don’t take too many notes. Do
more listening than writing.
- Don’t try to take down everything the lecturer says.
All lecturers have to repeat a great deal, but you only need to put it down once.
- Don’t take down the first thing he says on any topic -
it’s probably introductory material.
- Listen for signals. He’s almost sure to say
something about “The first point I want to discuss today…”
- Don’t try to make a formal outline.
You’ll only get bogged down in your letters and numbers and won’t be able to concentrate on listening and
trying to understand.
- Underline the first main topic.
Then write down, in list form but without numbers, the most important things he talks about. (Don’t try to make
sub- topics and sub-sub-topics.)
- Keep on doing this until you find that he is talking about
something else. Then you will know it’s time for another main topic.
- Don’t bother to number sub-topics unless the lecturer says:
“There are three reasons…,” or mentions a specific number of
facts. Then number them so you will be sure to learn that many facts when you study for your
examination. In other words, don’t number just for the sake of numbering, but make the numbers
mean something.
- Read your notes over as soon after class as
possible to fix handwriting, spelling and clarity.
Listening and Notetaking 5.
HERE IS A SAMPLE NOTETAKING TECHNIQUE:
The 2-6-2 Form of Lecture Notes
- Use lined notebook paper measuring 8-1/2” x 11” with three
holes in the margin.
- Before writing on your note paper, divide the sheets the
following way:
- Take your notes in the large, open section of the paper just
as you would take notes ordinarily.
- When going over your notes, place key questions in the
two-inch margin on the left. These questions will help you in your review of these notes at a
later time.
- Write brief summaries in the section 2 x 6 inches at the
bottom of the page. These will help you in your review, when you want to know general ideas, or
which topics deserve extra attention (these are the ones which seem vague to you.)
In reviewing notes, use the questions and summaries as
“talking” or “starting” points for
recitation. Go into the notes themselves only when you feel
that you are not prepared to
develop the questions and summaries.
Listening and Notetaking 6.
SOLUTIONS TO COMMON PROBLEMS IN NOTETAKING
- Illegibility - It is usually sufficient
that a student can read his own notes. It is advisable to go over notes while still fresh in order to clarify any
illegible parts. This is particularly important in the case of notes that had to be taken rapidly.
- Points Missed - Leave spaces. Try to fill
in later from the text or by checking with classmates or teacher.
- Spelling of a Word Not Known - Write
the word as best as possible phonetically. Code (Sp?) and check later.
- Missed Lectures - When a classmate must miss
a lecture and entrusts you with taking notes for him, use a piece of carbon paper and provide him
with his own copy. Thus, there is less chance that he will be using your notes at times
when you would like to have them available for review and also less chance of the notes being
lost. If you must miss a lecture, your classmates can reciprocate for you.
- Ink or Paper Supply Becomes Exhausted - A
replacement might be obtained from a neighbor if it can be done quickly and unobtrusively.
Otherwise the student should listen especially carefully and write the missing notes as soon as
he possible can. Since forgetting is rapid when notes are not taken, it is wise to check
paper, pencil, and ink before leaving for class.
- Poor Physical Situation - When
seeing or hearing is difficult, a seat change for the next
lecture, or even during the same lecture, is in order. If a
problem arises such as light glarepreventing students from seeing the place on the board where
the lecturer is writing, the lecturer might be informed of this. He would probably rather
be interrupted to be informed of such a condition than to have part of his lecture lost.
- Poor Physical or Emotional Condition - Try
to concentrate deeply on the topics of the lecture and to become very interested in them. Such practice
may help a student forget minor physical discomfort or emotional upset by detracting
from it for a while.
MAPPING
Here is an alternative way of notetaking:
Since the brain does not deal with data in a chronological
linear fashion, and we do not listen
“like someone sucking up spaghetti”, mind map can show
relationships and how the parts relate
to the whole. Mapping allows you to see the total picture.
STEPS TO FOLLOW:
- You need several sheets of blank paper, standard size.
- Print the main subject in the middle of the page and draw a
geometric shape around it.
- All ideas plotted on a mind map should be expressed in just
one or two key words.
- Key words should be concrete, meaningful, and summon up the
same image or idea each time they are used. Strong nouns or verbs.
- Think of subtopics that will represent all the data. Print
these on lines connecting to the main subject.
- The supporting points come after subtopics.
ADVANTAGES:
- The main idea is more clearly defined.
- The relative importance of each idea is clearly indicated.
More important ideas will be nearer the center and less important ideas will be near the
edge.
- The links between the key concepts will be immediately
recognizable because of proximity and connection.
- Recall and review will be more effective and rapid.
- Structure allows for the easy addition of new information
without scratching out or squeezing in.
- Each map will look different, aiding recall.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Deese, James and Deese, Ellen K. How to Study, 3rd edition, New
York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1969.
Lenier, Minette and Maker, Janet. Keys to College Success,
Englewood: Prentice-Hall, 1980.
McWorter, Kathleen. College Reading and Study Skills, 2nd
edition, Boston: Little, Brown, 1983.
Millman, Jason and Pauk, Walter. How to Take Tests, New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1969.
Pauk, Walter. How to Study in College, 3rd edition, Boston:
Houghton-Mifflin, 1984.
Schmelzer, Ronald; Christen, William; and Browning, William.
Reading and Study Skills Book One, Rehoboth: Twin Oaks
Publishing, Inc., 1980.
Shepard, James. College Study Skills, 2nd edition, Boston:
Houghton-Mifflin, 1983.
Sherman, Thomas M., and Wildman, Terry M. Proven Strategies
for Successful Test-Taking, Columbus: Charles E. Merrill
Publishing, 1982.
