Note-TakingI. Why to take notes?—Notes are an aid to memory. There are system

Note-Taking
    Good morning. I’d like to begin by saying how pleased I am that so many of you have come to the first of our study skills sessions this term. Today I’ll talk about how to take notes. Note-taking is quite an interesting topic to discuss. First I would ask, why do you take notes? I think you might consider two reasons.
    First,notes are an aid to memory. Obviously if you are reading for a long essay over a period of weeks, or for two or three essays simultaneously, (1) then you must have some systems of sorting and recalling the information you will need when you finally come to plan and write the essay.
    Second,your notes provide the raw material on which your mind must work in relation to your set essay topic. And you will need certain types of information, such as;facts,figures and direct quotations. They must be available quickly and accurately, When you take notes, the process of doing it helps you to summarize ideas and arguments, select points relevant to your purpose, and finally understand and interpret the original source.
    So note-taking is an important stage in developing your understanding of your topic. Your notes will provide the basis for your thinking and the materials for your essay. You may ask; when do I take notes? It really depends on your own purpose and the stage of reading you have reached.
    In your early stages of reading when you are skimming material of a general nature, you will probably not want to make any notes at all, until after you have finished your skimming and have got a feel for the subject. Then you may find it useful to go back and make notes on the points or section within the general survey which seemed important to you. At a later stage of reading, when you can recognize to underline key points or make marginal notes, you will probably want to do this with essential source materials or original texts which you must study in detail and refer to constantly. Now we come to the question;what do you note,and how much do you take notes from reading?
    We often consider the following three ways:
    First,what is the writer’s intention in the passage? You know the writer has selected and structured his material to suit his intentions, but these are unlikely to be precisely the same focus as your essay topic. Therefore, while recognizing the writer’s own purpose,you must sift his information and ideas according to your own interests. The same holds true for lectures and tutorials.
    And then,the discipline in which you are working. In disciplines in which you are working with original sources, for example, history or literature,(5) you, will have to include many direct quotations in your notes. As you will want to include some of these quotations in your essay, you must copy them with absolute accuracy. You must remember to attribute the work to the original writer too. In other disciplines you will more often summarize passages in your own words.
    The last is your own purpose in relation to your essay topic. (6) If your purpose is clear, you can select and record relevant material in as much detail as you want. Some students insist that they prefer always to take detailed notes because" it is all so inter-esting"or"it may come in handy later"or"the book is a standard text and so it is worthwhile spending time on it". Well,maybe—but in practical terms you seldom have time.
    Now I’ll deal with our last question; how do you take notes? There are three general principles that apply to all the methods of compiling notes:
    1. Clear identification: (7) Your notes must be clearly headed with all the bibliographical details you may later need. when you want to use these materials in your essay. In practice this means (8) you must record the author.title.place of publication .publisher and edition,and date. And next to each key point or direct quotation you must note the exact page reference. Otherwise it may be recognized plagiarism, which means that you have stolen others’ opinions in your own essay.
    2. Flexible system: (9) You should record your notes in such a way that is easy to rearrange them for the purpose of your essay. Notes made on loose-leaf paper and cards have the advantage that they can be shuffled, combined and reorganized at the planning and writing stages of your essay.
    3. Room for comment: (10) Wide margins are useful. As you build up your materials you will find you want to add cross-references to other sources. You may also want to include your own comments or reactions to the text, or just indicate that a certain point may be crucial to your essay.
    My lecture is going to stop here. Before we end,I want to emphasize more. Note-taking is a very good way in your everyday study. When you are reading, you take notes to answer the read-after questions or for knowledge accumulations. When you are writing essays or translating something,note-taking is essential. As you cannot always memorize all the passages in a short period of time,you may refer to your notes when you’re writing or translating, particularly interpreting. This is the end of today’s lecture. Thanks for your attention.