Library and learning skills

Take notes

Exploring strategies and different templates or tools for taking effective, purposeful notes will strengthen your research and writing skills for university or for work.

Note taking with purpose

When you are reading deeply and actively, you also need to be taking notes. Good note taking is central to the reading and writing process at university.

There are various note taking strategies and the one you choose will depend on your initial purpose for reading.

• Your purpose for reading informs what information to include in your notes from the readings.
• How you plan to use the information informs how to organise your notes.
• The purpose for your note taking will also make choosing a strategy easier.

Note taking tips

Explore some general tips to help you develop effective note taking in the interactive below.

Note taking approaches – find the right approach for you

There are various ways to take notes and many note taking strategies you can use. Your notes can be handwritten or digital. You might also like to use visual notes, such as mind maps or drawings.

It’s a good idea to try different note taking methods to figure out what works best for you. Remember your purpose for taking notes will also help you choose an approach.

Specific strategies and matching templates

Often the easiest and quickest way to take notes is using pen and paper. Rather than writing pages of notes it's more effective to use a specific strategy like Cornell or Matrix note taking. It can be even quicker to use a specific template.

Visual note taking approaches

Many students learn more effectively when producing their notes in a visual format. You can take visual notes as you read or create a visual representation of your notes when you have finished reading. How you take visual notes depends on the purpose and what works best for you.