Note-taking

Note-taking (sometimes written as notetaking or note taking) is the practice of recording information captured from another source. By taking notes, the writer records the essence of the information, freeing their mind from having to recall everything. Notes are commonly drawn from a transient source, such as an oral discussion at a meeting, or a lecture (notes of a meeting are usually called minutes), in which case the notes may be the only record of the event. Note taking is a form of self discipline.

Note-taking has been an important part of human history and scientific development. The Ancient Greeks developed hypomnema which were personal records on important subjects. In the Renaissance and early modern period commonplace books which served a similar function became popular. Philosopher John Locke developed an indexing system which served as a model for commonplace books; for example, it inspired another book, Bell’s Common-Place Book, Formed generally upon the Principles Recommended and Practised by Mr Locke nearly a century later.

Note-taking is a central aspect of a complex human behavior related to information management involving a range of underlying mental processes and their interactions with other cognitive functions. The person taking notes must acquire and filter the incoming sources, organize and restructure existing knowledge structures, comprehend and write down their interpretation of the information, and ultimately store and integrate the freshly processed material. The result is a knowledge representation, and a memory storage.

Many different formats are used to structure information and make it easier to find and to understand, later. The format of the initial record may often be informal and/or unstructured. One common format for such notes is shorthand, which can allow large amounts of information to be put on paper very quickly. Note-taking is an important skill for students, especially at the college level. In some contexts, such as college lectures, the main purpose of taking notes may be to implant the material in the mind; the written notes themselves being of secondary importance. Historically, note-taking was an analog process, written in notebooks, or other paper methods like Post-It notes. In the digital age, computers, tablet PCs and personal digital assistants (PDAs) are common.

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Wikipedia