Summary on note-taking and note-making.
Note taking and making is a trans-discipline(transferrable skill). Lecturer-students communication
can be dialogic or monologic. Lecturer-oriented activities includes; speaking, questioning and
facilitating discussion. Students-oriented activities includes; responding to and asking questions,
listening, participating in discussions and taking and making notes. Students can be compared to
computers because they receive, store and retrieve information. Sources of information include; oral,
written, visual and multimodal sources. Notes are written records of information we acquire and are
a true reflection of the source of information, personal to the writer in terms of understanding and
presentation. They are meant for personal use to help in revision and are in a concise form of the
original information. The C's of notes are clarity, concise, comprehensive, coherent, correctness and
consistency. Note's recording forms(information reception and storage techniques) include; note
copying, note taking and note making. Note copying is a verbatim and mechanical record of
information. Note taking is a during lecture activity and can be unsystematic, disorganized, less
detailed and skeletal. Divided attentions, off-lecture discussions, slow pace of writing, stylish
writings, playing with electronic gadgets, poor sitting posture, noise are all hindrances to notes
taking. Note taking does not neccessarily mean that one should capture everything the lecturer says
or writes in the class, some information are notes worthy whiles others are not. Students should be
prepared psychologically, emotionally, physically, materially and socially before coming for
lectures. In notes making, notes made are detailed, well organized and a post-lecture activity.
Similarities between note taking and note making are that they are both active language learning
techniques and both contain only relevant information. Notes taking and making enhances one's
listening skills, enhances participation in the learning process and enhances one's critical and
analytical skills. Notes can be presented in a diagrammatic or undiagrammatic form.