Study Skills – Listening and making notes

Welcome to our lesson.

Please listen carefully

and make notes.

First one: before you listen.

Don’t note

everything down.

And to save space,

use abbreviations.

And a quick and clear way

to show relationships

is to use symbols.

Whoa there.

Not easy, is it?

Taking notes while

listening is challenging.

So, first off,

here are three ways

to help you listen

more effectively.

Number one.

Don’t worry

if you don’t get every word.

Just try to focus

on the main points.

Number two.

If you miss a bit,

don’t keep thinking about it.

You’ll miss even more

if you do that.

Number three.

If it’s a video

or audio file,

pause and replay

important or difficult bits.

Now,

ten top tips

for taking better notes

while listening.

First one.

Before you listen,

gather information.

Read relevant course materials.

Anticipate what’s

going to appear.

You can research

key words and phrases

in advance,

so you’re not surprised

when you hear them.

Another tip.

Don’t note

everything down.

Take shortened notes.

Think about what’s

useful and what

you can leave out.

And to save

space and time,

use abbreviations

when you can.

And a quick

and clear way to

show relationships

is to use symbols.

For example:

‘equal to’,

‘therefore’,

and arrows.

Lots of arrows!

In fact,

if you really love arrows,

you might prefer

a mind map

or a flow chart

to show how things connect.

Or you might prefer

to write simple

lines of notes.

But don’t forget,

you can use capital letters,

underlining,

colours

and shapes

to help information

stand out.

Choose the style

that works best for you.

Phew!

By now you’re probably

taking a lot of notes.

But this is important:

leave some

white space

so you can add thoughts

and clarify things later.

And while you’re listening:

a warning.

How will you know if

you’re noting down

a fact

or an opinion?

If the speaker is just

giving an opinion

or if the speaker is

quoting someone else,

make this clear in your notes.

Is there a handout

for the lecture?

If so,

you can use this

as a basis

for your own notes,

adding your own thoughts,

rather than

copying it out.

And, once you’ve finished,

remember to reread

your notes

to help the information stick.

And rewrite your notes

soon after taking them,

to help them

stay in the memory.

There we are.

Ten top tips.

Now, try watching this

whole video again,

and this time

take your own notes!

Good luck.