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Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

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Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#81

Post by a-saleh »

meigwilym wrote: post #61
a-saleh wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/488e/c93cf68806bd8ac63fc7d0... ... interesting research that suggests that trying to type-out a transcript with a keyboard might be more effective.

And conversely https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret...

Even more interesting is, that the research I shared claims 'just type-out a transcript and don't try to summarize/structure your notes' is better than 'by hand, and summarize' ... but both agree writing by hand forces you to have more structure and summaries in your notes :-)

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#82

Post by cborenstein »

I’d recommend two phases when writing notes:

1) dump everything into your notes that might be useful

2) organize and highlight the most important stuff

---

I’m one of the creators of https://bytebase.io and that’s where I take notes. We’ve designed Bytebase to decouple the capture and organize phases.

- In my first pass when taking notes, I write down anything that might be helpful later.

- Each note is captured as a “byte” - a short chunk of information.

- I then go back and re-organize by adding tags to categorize certain bytes and using drag and drop to move things around.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#83

Post by toolslive »

AndrewOMartin wrote: post #16

If you want to take great notes, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that you don't need to worry about doing it right, your aptitude and personal preference will come without any conscious thought. The bad news is that there's no shortcut except for practice, practice, practice. Having said that, here are some of the specifics that work for me. - This notebook: Cambridge Jotter A5 Card Cover Wirebound…

A5, needs to have a squared grid, and preferably "atoma" so you can throw pages out or reorder them. I have been doing this for about 20 years now, filling 3-4 of them each year.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#85

Post by archarios »

exikyut wrote: post #58
komali2 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The disadvantage here being notification pop-ups and email being a tab away. Also whenever someone's on a laptop on a meeting I just assume they're not listening and looking at their emails, doesn't matter what they say before or during. Happens too often. Double if it's a googler lol.

Bizarre suggestion for a device that's kinda hard to find nowadays but which I've heard is awesome: the AlphaSmart Dana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart

There is a modern version: https://getfreewrite.com/. It's way too expensive though.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#86

Post by tanin »

You will need to develop your own system. However, many miss the basics of taking notes.

Noting isn't ONLY about copying info from the class. You should note everything that comes to your mind.

For example:

* You have a question. Note it, so you will figure out the answer later.

* You have an idea or infer something from what the teacher says. Note it.

* You have a task. Maybe you should go check this book at the library. Note it.

Now the most important part of note taking is actually reviewing your notes. This helps you retain what you learned and follow up with questions and action items.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#87

Post by throwanem »

a-saleh wrote: post #24
bluGill wrote: post #22

80% of the value of notes is the act of writing them down by hand. (I don't have a citation for it, but I tend to believe it). That is notes are primarily a tool to help you not fall asleep, start daydreaming, or whatever distraction keeps you from listening. The fact that you cannot write everything down forces you to think about what you are hearing and find the important part to write down. Now that you have found…

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/488e/c93cf68806bd8ac63fc7d0... ... interesting research that suggests that trying to type-out a transcript with a keyboard might be more effective.

...for those with working memory deficits, yes.

If you need to be able to engage in the meeting, trying to transcribe it isn't much of an option, while taking paper notes remains so, and still provides as much or more benefit.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#88

Post by mkchoi212 »

I first just jot them down on the Mac's Notes app. This bit isn't that important. You just write whatever you are taking notes of, no particular structure. The next bit is important though.

Within __30 minutes__ since the end of the lecture, I go over the notes and organize them. Note the 30 minute limit! If you try to organize the notes the next day, you won't be able to remember the lecture and not be able to fill in the missing details.

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#89

Post by choward »

mkchoi212 wrote: post #88

I first just jot them down on the Mac's Notes app. This bit isn't that important. You just write whatever you are taking notes of, no particular structure. The next bit is important though. Within __30 minutes__ since the end of the lecture, I go over the notes and organize them. Note the 30 minute limit! If you try to organize the notes the next day, you won't be able to remember the lecture and not be able to fill…

Isn't organizing the notes the hard part whether or not you do it within 30 minutes?

Re: Ask HN: How to Take Good Notes?

#90

Post by DelightOne »

The _main_ goal is to never have to look into that crappy pdf again, which eats way too much time and so is in effect very bad for repetition. Here follows my method. I don't learn much at all this way before tests.

If you do understand enough and the topic is knowledege-based (not example based like code or math) you can write down the structure alone and do lookups into the organizers' pdf if you forgot a point.

This is like a map where the key points are put down in collections.

Key points can have explanations/clarifications too:

Java Agent. Interpreter-feature.

or

Dynamic. Modifcation & addition.

Example for java code analysis: https://pastebin.com/HZRReG1W

Note: It fails where examples/code/math is needed. I'll probably write my own app one day, but what I imagine is the best way includes versioning, learnability, sharing etc which makes the endeavor quite complicated due to sheer the amount of moving parts. The ability to learn anything is too good a dream though so I cant give it up ever haha!

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