The Cornell Method: How to Take Notes at Best!

Essential element for every college student notes. The Cornell method can be a viable solution for those who find it hard to organize themselves better.

Table of Contents

Cornell Method How To Take Notes: What Is?

The university notes are crucial. They help us to better understand the books and slides, speed up there and we simplify the study. The Cornell method was devised by Walter Pauk homonyms universities in 1949, to help students to take notes effectively. How to apply it? First you divide the sheet into 4 main areas (see the proposed image below) by drawing a kind of great I, with the vertical rod moved to the left, or right if you’re left-handed.

Cornell Method How to Take Notes: How It Works

As you can see from the picture, taking notes with the Cornell method pushes you to organize your work better. We must, however, know how / what to write to lose less time as possible during the teacher’s explanation.

Section 1: Header

Write the date and main topic of the lesson.

Section 2: Notes

In this space will take shape what you are learning in class. Get Creative inserting words and phrases, formulas, charts, diagrams and drawings. But do it in an orderly fashion. One trick is to leave space between each line and the next, so you can put any additions, corrections, or question marks for the parts you did not understand and that raising your hand, or by talking with fellow students. Use abbreviations only when necessary. Write short but whole sentences, otherwise the individual words are decontextualized and when reread your notes will remember no more to what they refer.

Section 3: Key concepts

When going over the notes to arrange them or study them, fill the narrowest column alongside the notes taken in class. Extract the information from these highlights, this time writing with the use of single words, as if I were making a list. This column is critical to make sure you know the key points of the lesson.

Section 4: Summary

At the bottom, make a summary of what was learned by asking: “If I had to explain what I studied to someone else, what I would say?” I find it very useful for oral examinations or the writings with open questions.

Is not it enough? Nobody forbids you to integrate your work with colors and symbols to highlight and to have in mind the things to know!