--- title: Note-Taking Techniques description: This topic introduces various methods for capturing and organizing information during lectures and reading, such as the Cornell and mapping methods. Learners will understand how to synthesize complex material, identify key concepts, and create effective study guides. category: personal-development subcategory: study-skills-and-learning difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/note-taking-techniques --- # Note-Taking Techniques This topic introduces various methods for capturing and organizing information during lectures and reading, such as the Cornell and mapping methods. Learners will understand how to synthesize complex material, identify key concepts, and create effective study guides. ## Available Resources 1 Books • 2 Courses • 4 Websites • 2 Papers ## Courses ### 1. Learning How to Learn This course gives you easy access to the invaluable learning techniques used by experts in art, music, literature, math, science, sports, and many other disciplines. We’ll learn about how the brain uses two very different learning modes and how it encapsulates (“chunks”) information. We’ll also cover illusions of learning, memory techniques, dealing with procrastination, and best practices shown by research to be most effective in helping you master tough subjects. Using these approaches, no matter what your skill levels in topics you would like to master, you can change your thinking and change your life. If you’re already an expert, this peep under the mental hood will give you ideas for turbocharging successful learning, including counter-intuitive test-taking tips and insights that will help you make the best use of your time on homework and problem sets. If you’re struggling, you’ll see a structured treasure trove of practical techniques that walk you through what you need to do to get on track. If you’ve ever wanted to become better at anything, this course will help serve as your guide. This course can be taken independent of, concurrent with, or prior to, its companion course, Mindshift. (Learning How to Learn is more learning-focused, and Mindshift is more career-focused.) A related course by the same instructors is Uncommon Sense Teaching. To join the fully translated Portuguese version of the course, visit: https://www.coursera.org/learn/aprender To join the fully translated Spanish version of the course, visit: https://www.coursera.org/learn/aprendiendo-a-aprender To join the fully translated Chinese version of the course, visit: https://www.coursera.org/learn/ruhe-xuexi To join the fully translated French version of the course, visit : http://www.coursera.org/learn/apprendre-comment-apprendre **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn **Tags:** learning-techniques, memory, metacognition, procrastination, study-skills ### 2. Learning How to Learn Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski explain focused and diffuse thinking, procrastination, sleep, and memory techniques across three short modules. Students come away able to apply recall practice, chunking, and memory palaces to their own homework and exams. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn-youth **Tags:** courses, humanities-social-sciences, cognitive-science ## Podcasts ### 1. The Learning Scientists **Author:** Learning Scientists A podcast for teachers, students, and parents about evidence based practice and learning. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en-US | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.learningscientists.org/learning-scientists-podcast/ **Tags:** learning-science, cognitive-psychology, retrieval-practice, evidence-based-teaching, study-strategies ## Websites ### 1. Evergreen notes (Andy Matuschak's working notes) **Author:** Andy Matuschak Public working notes arguing that notes should be atomic, concept-oriented, densely linked and written for yourself. The site is itself built from thousands of interlinked notes, so the method is visible in operation rather than merely described. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z5E5QawiXCMbtNtupvxeoEX **Tags:** evergreen-notes, zettelkasten, knowledge-management, atomic-notes, personal-wiki ### 2. Note-taking: a Practical Guide **Author:** University of York Library University of York Library guide covering six formats side by side: outline, sentence, Cornell, mind mapping, charting and annotation. Each page explains the layout, its strengths and weaknesses, and which lecture or reading situations suit it. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/note-taking **Tags:** note-taking-methods, cornell-notes, mind-mapping, study-skills, university-guide ### 3. Note Taking Strategies (Cornell Learning Strategies Center) **Author:** Cornell University Learning Strategies Center Cornell's academic support center publishes the original Cornell note-taking system it created, plus guidance on reviewing notes, working from digital materials, an interactive Canvas walkthrough, short instructional videos, and citations to note-taking research from several universities. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://lsc.cornell.edu/how-to-study/taking-notes/ **Tags:** cornell-notes, study-skills, lecture-notes, note-review, academic-support ### 4. mindtools.com Mind Tools offers practical business and management resources—articles, templates, checklists, and self-assessments—covering business communication, leadership, teamwork, meetings, and professional writing. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://mindtools.com **Tags:** websites, business-entrepreneurship, business-fundamentals ## Books ### 1. How to Take Smart Notes (2nd Edition) **Author:** Sönke Ahrens Ahrens reconstructs Luhmann's slip box as a workflow: fleeting notes, literature notes, and permanent notes written in full sentences and linked into a growing web, with drafts assembled from existing notes rather than started blank. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/3982438802?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** zettelkasten, slip-box, academic-writing, note-taking-workflow, luhmann ## Papers ### 1. Communicating with Slip Boxes: An Empirical Account **Author:** Niklas Luhmann (trans. Manfred Kuehn) Luhmann's 1981 essay, translated by Manfred Kuehn, describing the slip box he used to write more than fifty books: fixed numbering, branching placement, cross-references, keyword indexing, and why the collection behaves as a communication partner. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://luhmann.surge.sh/communicating-with-slip-boxes **Tags:** zettelkasten, slip-box, luhmann, primary-source, knowledge-systems ### 2. Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping **Author:** Jeffrey D. Karpicke, Janell R. Blunt Science (2011) experiments comparing students who practiced recall after reading against students who built elaborate concept maps. Retrieval practice produced better comprehension and inference performance, even when the final test itself required constructing a concept map. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://learninglab.psych.purdue.edu/downloads/2011/2011_Karpicke_Blunt_Science.pdf **Tags:** retrieval-practice, concept-mapping, learning-science, memory-research, study-methods --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/note-taking-techniques