Learn Note-making
February 27, 2009 · Print This Article · Email It
Note making is an advanced writing skill which is acquiring increasing importance due to knowledge explosion. There is a need to remember at least the main points of any given subject. Making notes is a complex activity which combines several skills.
We also published a post – Notemaking – The CBSE way earlier in which we summarised the main points in note making. Here you go with the detailed verison.
How to make notes
- Read the passage carefully.
- Heading
What is the main idea of the passage? Frame a heading based on the central idea and write it in the middle of the page. - Subheadings
How has the main idea been presented and developed? Are there two or three subordinate/associated ideas? You can frame subheadings based on these. - Points
Are there further details or points of the subtitles that you wish to keep in these notes? Indent, i.e., suitably space and number.All subheadings should be written at a uniform distance from the margin.
- Indenting
All points should also maintain the same distance away from the margin.
Note: Do not write full sentences. And use abbreviations wherever necessary. Read below for mor help on abbreviations.
Help with abbreviations
- Use standard abbreviations and symbols as far as possible:
- Capitalized first letters of words
e.g. U.P.,U.S.A.,U.K.,U.S.S.R.,etc. - Common abbreviations
Sc. (for science), Mr., Mrs., Dr., Govt., etc - Common symbols
e.g., : \, ∴ , +ve, -ve, ® (leading to), ? (rising), ? (falling), =, etc. - Measurements and Figures
e.g., : 100′, 100”, 100 kg, 1000 mm, 100ml, etc.
- Capitalized first letters of words
- Making your own abbreviations:
- Keep the main sounds of the word. For example, edn. (education), progm. (programme)
- Retain the suffix so that later when you are going over the notes you may recall the full form of the word —e.g., ed’nal (educational), prog’ve (progressive).
- Caution
- Do not get over-enthusiastic about abbreviations. You should not abbreviate every word. One abbreviation in point is enough.
- As a general rule, the heading should not be abbreviated. You may use abbreviations in subheadings.
Your notes should look like this
Notice that indenting, i.e., shifting from the margin has been used to clearly indicate subheadings, points and sub points. Subheadings, though separated by points occur below one another. Points and sub points too come below one another, similarly. Such use of indenting gives your notes a visual character. At a glance you can see the main idea and its aspects.
Here is a solved example:
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You may also like to check another post from the series, How to write articles, speeches and essays.
Thank you very much for this helpful tutoial…
it would surely guide me in my tomorrow's examination…
Wish me luck ! …
All the very best for your exam! and hope to see you with good marks
Thank you very much for this helpful tutoial…
it would surely guide me in my tomorrow's examination…
Wish me luck ! …
All the very best for your exam! and hope to see you with good marks
thanx
it wa sreally very helpfull……….
hope to do well in my examination………
You would definitely do well!
All the best from our side.
it is really helpful!!!!
THANK U! for for instructions.
Oh My god!!!!!!!!!! i m saved thnx a lot gyan guru i cant tell u how helpful this tutorial is.
Thanks again man keep up good work hope to see some more nxt time
This has helped a lot.thanks a lot..hope i do well in my exam
Can you please post in a few more passages with their solutions??
We're glad this was helpful to you. We'll surely upload more examples in the coming days. keep checking!
thanks a lot
thousand thank u’s !!!!!!!!
Thanks…….very much………..