The Lighthouse

There are lots of different ways of taking notes (such as mind maps and charts). Regardless of the method you use it is a good idea to try and organise the points in your own way and use your own words (thinking about how to put something in your own words and organise the points, as well as how the points relate to each other, will help you understand and remember the topic).

The outlining method organises the information around major topics and sub-topics, and then fills in the details that support them. The level indicates how important the points are at a glance (the higher the level the more important the point). So it might be organised as follows:

Major Topic A

Subtopic A1

Detail 1

Detail 2

Subtopic A2

Detail 1

Major Topic B

Subtopic B1

Detail 1

Detail a

Detail b

Detail 2

Subtopic B2

Subtopic B3

Outline notes are a good way of organising lecture notes. It is worth getting to grips with how to write outline notes, as they can be a good resource for essay preparation and revision.

For more help with note taking see:

• http://owll.massey.ac.nz/study-skills/note-taking.php
• http://owll.massey.ac.nz/study-skills/reading-styles.php