Getting the Most out of Lectures & Seminars
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The Essential Lecture
The Lecture Experience: A Play in Three Acts
Act I: Before the Lecture
Act II: During the Lecture
Lecture Etiquette
Active Listening
Note-Taking Skills
The Cornell Method
The Outline Method
Act III: After the Lecture
Participating in Seminars
Before Seminars
During Seminars
After Seminars
For Practice
The Essential Lecture
In lecture, professors sift through reams of work on a particular topic and present you with the most significant and
interesting aspects of it. In any given lecture, a professor may draw on ideas he or she has gleaned from many different
scholarly works and years of experience as a historian. Your professor may cover a time period ranging from one day to
more than a hundred years, and explain many essential historical events, figures, or concepts. In short, lectures are a
primary means by which your professors will communicate information to you, information that they will expect you to know
and apply during seminars and on exams.
Clearly, learning how to listen actively to and take notes during a lecture will be crucial to your success as a student.
However, some first year students find it difficult to adapt to the fast pace and high level of university lectures. Indeed, it
can be challenging to follow a fifty-minute lecture, determine what the most important information within it is, and
accurately record that information in note form.
This unit will provide you with some strategies for getting the most out of your lectures. Unfortunately, there is no “magic
bullet” for active listening and taking good lecture notes. There are many different strategies that appeal to different
learning styles and needs: the trick is experimenting and finding what works for you.
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The Lecture Experience: A Play in Three Acts
One of the best ways to meet the challenge of understanding and taking good notes during lectures is to think of the
lecture as more than a one-shot, fifty-minute experience. Instead, think of it as a three-part experience and realize that you
will need to participate actively in each part in order to get the most out of lectures.
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Act I: Before the Lecture
Before you ever sit down in the lecture hall, the lecture experience should begin. One of the challenges of taking good notes
is that you are trying to listen to, process, and write down information that you have never heard before. One of the ways
to meet this challenge is to prepare for lecture before it begins.
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Read the syllabus to see what the unit is about and what the title of the lecture is.
Consider what you already know about the topic and try to anticipate what might be covered.
Do assigned readings and try to anticipate how they might relate to the lecture ahead.
If they are posted ahead of time, download and copy any outlines or list of key terms for the lecture ahead.
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Act II: During the Lecture
This is the main event! During lecture you will be listening to your professor, processing the ideas that he or she discusses,
and recording important information. It will be essential that you:
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Follow basic rules of lecture etiquette. See the next page for more information on this.
Listen to the lecture actively. See the pages to come for tips on how to do so.
Find a note-taking system that works for you. Later on, this module will provide you with several systems to
choose from.
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Lecture Etiquette
Like you will find at any public event, there are basic rules of etiquette that are associated with lectures. Most of the rules of
etiquette are there to ensure that you, the students around you, and the professor who is lecturing, are all able to get the
most out of the lecture experience. Keep the following guidelines in mind:
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Do NOT talk. Talking not only distracts you, but it can seriously interfere with the lecture. Lecture theatres are
designed to carry sound forward to the lecturer. If you talk, the lecturer will probably hear you, as will many
others in the theatre.
Do NOT play games or use the internet (even to look up something related to the course). You are distracting
yourself and wasting your time.
Do NOT eat.
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Active Listening
Even though you are not doing the speaking, lectures are not times to sit passively. During the lecture, you will need to
listen actively. Many professors begin with an introduction in which they outline what they will cover in their lecture or post
a written outline of their lecture. Jot this down as it will provide you with a map of what is to come and alert you to shifts in
topics.
Listen for “cue words” that signal the importance of a given idea or term or give you a sense of where the lecture is going.
When you hear these words, use them to anticipate what information you need to write down.
Words that signal
emphasis or importance
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essential
crucial
significantly
vital
Words that signal the
order or scope of a
topic
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first,
second,
third
initially
finally
for instance
an
illustration
of this
Words that indicate the
Words that signal that
lecture is moving in a new parts of the lecture are not
direction
relevant and may NOT
need to be written down
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however
nonetheless
whereas
in contrast
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incidentally
by
Most lectures end with a conclusion that ties the major points together. Resist the temptation to use this time to start
packing up. Instead, listen carefully to what the professor thinks that he/she has covered. Just as you did at the beginning,
jot down these summary remarks. Make sure that your notes reflect key ideas within them.
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Note-Taking Skills
In order to get the most out of lectures and record the information that you will need for exams, you need to develop goodnote taking skills. Keep the following ideas in mind:
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Always leave space to add information to your notes. You can use this space during or after lectures to elaborate
on ideas.
Do NOT write in complete sentences or worry about spelling or punctuation. Focus on recording the key
information, concepts, and themes.
Try to record the emphasis that is being placed on ideas by underlining or placing asterisks.
Try to show the relationship between ideas by separating main concepts from details, using numbered lists, and
subordinating examples under main headings.
On the next pages, you will find examples of two popular note taking systems, both of which draw on the above ideas.
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The Cornell Method
In this method of note-taking, you begin by drawing a line down the length of your paper about one-third of the way
through the page. On the left side of the page, write only key terms or ideas. Leave most of the space blank. On the right
side of the page, take notes on the lecture in point form.
Many of your professors will provide you with a brief outline of key terms for each lecture. You can write these terms on the
left side of the page, and fill in supporting information on the right side.
For an example of the Cornell Method, click here.
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The Outline Method
In this method, you use an outline to show the relationship between ideas in the lecture. You can use outlines to separate
main ideas from supporting details and show how one point leads to another. There is no need to create an elaborate
outline system. Just put main ideas toward the left-side of the page and list supporting points toward the right.
You can write this outline on your paper, leaving ample room between the points and then use it to organise your notes.
This website contains examples and visuals of several different notetaking strategies.
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Act III: After the Lecture
Just as the lecture experience begins before the professor begins speaking, it continues well after he or she is done. Many
students leave the lecture hall and file their notes away until exams. Unfortunately, research shows that in doing so they
lose a significant amount of what they just learned. Instead, use strategies to review your notes soon after the lecture ends.
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Read through your notes as soon as you can after the lecture ends. Highlight or underline main points.
Put stars next to key information. Try to fill in any gaps in your notes.
Respond to and reflect on your notes in the margins of the paper. You can use one margin to make a key
of terms that corresponds to the information in the body of your notes. You can use the other side of the margin
to write a short summary of a key idea or make a connection between the point made in lecture and ideas from
readings or seminars.
Discuss your notes with a friend or study group. This can help you to process information, fill in gaps in your
notes, and deepen your understanding of the main points.
Make flashcards or lists of key terms. You don’t need to wait for the end of the term to start preparing for
exams. Take a few minutes to put key vocabulary terms or events on index cards or a list of terms with a brief
definition.
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Participating in Seminars
Tutorials provide a unique opportunity to engage actively with the course materials with both your professors and your
peers. Take advantage of it! Active seminar participation will not only raise your marks, but will also give you a deeper
understanding of the topics. Again, successful tutorial experiences can often by created by treating them as a three part
experience: before, during, and after.
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Before Seminars
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Complete assigned readings with care and create a reading summary (see the next module for more information
on reading summaries).
After you complete the readings, try to answer the “questions to consider” that are listed on the syllabus. These
questions can give you a good idea of where the discussion may go in class.
Before coming to class, try to write down a few points that you found to be of particular interest about the
readings. What did you find the main point of the readings to be? What interested or surprised you about them?
What did you agree or disagree with.
Try to write your own discussion questions to pose to the class. What would you ask if you were the tutorial
leader?
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During Seminars
During seminars you are expected to participate actively in discussions. This does not mean that you need to talk
constantly. What it does mean is that you need to follow the discussion actively and contribute your ideas often. Keep the
following in mind as you consider how best to participate in discussions:
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Always treat others with consideration and respect.
Use your contributions to show that you have completed the assigned readings with care. If you can, point to
specific sections of the text that support your ideas.
While at times you may be asked to relate the readings to your life experiences or to outside materials, in general
your comments should relate to the readings or lectures. For example, you may have seen a great movie that
deals with a similar topic, but your comments on that movie will not be as valuable toward your mark as a
comment that is tied directly to the readings.
In General:
 Do not feel that you need to take detailed notes. Keep your focus on participating actively in discussion. You can
write down key points and elaborate later.
 If you are anxious about speaking, draw on the points or questions that you prepared before class.
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After Seminars
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Write a rough outline or summary of the discussion.
Add any key points from discussion that you may have missed in your initial notes on the readings.
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Practice
Try writing one or two thought questions in preparation for your next seminar.
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