Should i take notes while reading

It means there is a fine balance between taking too many notes—and reading extremely slowly—and taking too few notes, which leaves much of the knowledge from the book on the table. What is the most effective way to take notes while reading a book? Do you want to take notes in order to keep track of ideas that come up while you are reading? Or is it to better understand and remember the content?

Maybe you only want to take notes for easier referencing in the future. Whatever your goal, it will have an impact on a few decisions you will make when reading a book.

There is obviously no one-size-fits-all approach to taking notes while reading books, but making the conscious effort to think about your goals is a good exercise to figure out what may be the best approach. The key challenge when taking notes while reading a book is to find the right balance between reading and capturing content.

Many people make the mistake of going overboard with note-taking, and end up losing the joy of reading by turning it into a tedious process. Instead, try to make it as seamless as possible.

If you are reading a physical book, grab a pen and write down key ideas in the margins. There is no one right way to take notes while reading. The important thing is that you experiment with a few effective strategies, find some that work for you, and use them. You may find that different formats or strategies work better for different types of texts, too, and you may want to use different ones for different classes.

Below are some examples to try:. Check out some of these resources to provide supplemental support:. Academic Coaching : Make an appointment with an academic coach to talk one-on-one about note-taking—and any other academic concern. Related Learning Center handouts : Many of our handouts go into further detail about reading.

So we never really learn a system for taking notes that we can use as adults. The first step to taking notes is to figure out why you are taking notes. Learning something new as an adult is a function of consuming information what you read and how you read , the information you retain, and your ability to put what you learned into practice recognize patterns. For this, I use a simple three-step note-taking process that scales up to books a year. Like almost everything in life, there is no magical answer that fits everyone.

Step One. The first thing I do when I pick up a book is read the preface, the table of contents, and the inside jacket. This filter is a form of systematic skimming. Adler says there are four levels of reading. I tend to blend inspectional reading and analytical reading together for most books. I know where the author is going to take me and the broad strokes of how they will bring me along.

While reading, I take notes. I circle words I need to look up. I star points that I think are critical to the argument. I underline anything that strikes me as interesting.

I comment like a madman in the margins. I try to tease out assumptions, etc.