
Ask HN: How do you take notes (useful note-taking strategies)? - bkgunby
Whether in lectures or learning things on the job, how do you retain what you learned? How do you write them down?
======
tyingq
My experience is that a lot of the value in taking notes is NOT referring back
to them later.

Just the act of writing them down somehow forces me to remember more of what
was covered. And, for reasons I don't understand, this works much better if
I'm writing with pen and paper. Typing them doesn't have the same effect.

Somewhat unfortunate, because writing them by hand makes them much less useful
when I do need to refer to them later.

Edit: For what it's worth, I googled a bit after being downvoted, and there's
research that seems to agree with what I noticed. Both the value of note
taking even if you don't refer to it later, and the retention difference with
handwritten notes.

~~~
jotato
I don't know why you would be downvoted. I am the exact same way. I actually
stopped taking legible notes and get the same results. As long as I jot
something down on paper, I find I am more likely to remember it

~~~
type0
I'm not sure if I'm correct or not, but my assumption is that jotting down and
handwriting forces you to remember things by virtue of it being novel all the
time. I mean handwritten words don't look alike and words typed on the screen
bore your brain out faster.

Just a tip: get yourself a fountain pen (doesn't have to be fancy but don't
buy the cheapest crap on ebay either - they dry up instantly). Handwriting
becomes fun and from my own experience I remember even more. If you use colors
you might remember even more, especially if you have synesthesia.

------
no_protocol
As a student, I attended every class with pen and paper and scribbled tiny
illegible notes on almost everything the instructor presented. I rarely
referred back to them, but when I did, it was invaluable.

As an instructor, it is painfully obvious how little attention some students
have for lecture material. Taking notes at least forces you to continue
listening, even if you are just writing them down on autopilot.

Edit: Bonus content. Here's a sample page[0] of notes from the first Computer
Science course I took. I knew all of the material already, but still wrote
down almost everything presented. Notice how there is very little structure,
just filling the page up as densely as possible. This was very typical for me.

[0] [http://i.imgur.com/btviZRH.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/btviZRH.jpg)

------
jenhsun
Tricks for Note-Taking:

For students: Read chapters BEFORE your class and write them down. While in
the class, all you have to do is listening and recheck your notes you done
before. Pre-reading is way more important than note-taking. This suggestion is
straight from my grade A friend to me when I notice he didn't do any note-
taking in the class, but his notes is my life-saver.

For non-students: Just use Cogi [https://cogi.com/](https://cogi.com/)

Get what's the most important things on-site and focus, not your note-taking.
I remember some big companies against note-taking when meeting. I once hear my
boss said "...Some people can't remember things, so they have to do the notes.
The funny thing is, their notes just a page long..."

------
goo
I experimented for a while until I found my favorite solution, which I'm
really quite thrilled about.

I treat my notes as if they were a software project, which is to say, a
collection of text files organized according to domain-specific methods. I use
a code editor to write and edit notes (Textmate in my case) -- this has the
bonus of not just using my familiarity with my code editor, but it actually
adds to the value of improving my skills with the code editor, since that
makes me better at notes and at code.

I keep two projects -- "life" notes and "work" notes. They are stored in
Dropbox (and are additionally put in version control, although I commit
changes rarely). Storing them in dropbox makes them all accessible on my
mobile phone, which is nice.

In the root directory of my "life" notes, I have:

a few scratchpad_{identifier}.txt files (alpha, beta, etc.) -- so I always
have an easy file to jump to to take notes on anything. I then synthesize
these notes into a more useful location.

todo.txt -- a todo list schedule.txt -- notes on my schedule (typically to aid
planning things a few weeks ahead, not a replacement for a calendar app)
goals.txt -- keep my life goals front and center

and then directories, which included .txt files related to their title, or
further subdirectories:

career culture (notes on articles) finances identification (keep track of
useful info like VIN #) journal knowledge (non-career related learning)
lifestyle (hobby-related notes, fun ideas) media_lists (books to read, books
read, movies (watched/to watch), podcasts, etc.) projects (personal software
project notes, ideas, before they deserve their own repo) travel
self_improvement writing

Like a software project, I sometimes "refactor" the notes; the goal being to
improve the ease of storing and the value of retrieval of the notes -- as a
bonus, going through the notes refreshes valuable information for me.

My work notes are organized in a similar manner, but related to work things.

It's an awesome workflow -- almost everything I write starts in a scratchpad,
and either gets migrated and synthesized elsewhere, or (like code) deleted if
not worth maintaining.

After a lot of exploring solutions, returning to the core concept of files in
folders and a text editor has been a perfect fit for me -- I never used to be
big on notes, now I relish it.

~~~
wysewun
thanks for the detailed explanation. I have a similar structure of splitting
things into different files.

The only difference is I keep most everything on Dropbox Paper. Really love
the markdown editing and ability to add images.

Monthly Plan \- daily time blocks and a master tasks list

Active Project Notes \- I keep a page with a section for every project I'm
working on. I'll take log as much as I can, especially any problems I fix.
Screenshots and the code markups help in case the issue arises again.

Documentation \- The nice thing about Paper is that it serves as a great
knowledge sharing platform. So our team will document as much as we can in
here. Much better than our previous solution (Dokuwiki). I liked Dokuwiki but
other people in our company didn't fully understand the syntax. It's also much
easier to add photos and add data tables in Paper.

Then individual files for more specific things I want to keep track of (movies
to watch, places to visit, etc..)

I use Evernote for dumping in anything I'm mildly curious about or might be
valuable in my development work. But anything of more value and curation will
go into Paper.

------
aq3cn
OneNote 2016 - lecture notes or rough calculation using stylus or typing

Xmind - overview of everything in my mind in form of mindmap

Notepad/Sublime - scattered notepad files on my desktop symbolize sticky notes
or reminders

Mathematica 11 - Math & Physics equations with their interactive graphs and my
notes on them, can be exported in TeX

Excel 2016 - Time Table, Daily routine, monitoring budget or expenses, time
spent in various activities, my progress day by day

Powerpoint 2016 - writing contextual notes just under the duplicate copy of
original slides

TeX - Formal notes worthy of sharing with others, I use the textbook templates
available online

vim+ranger - saved code snippets and related notes

Sigil - annotation and note taking over epub textbook or novel

Adobe reader/PDF Expert - annotation and note taking over pdf textbook or
novel or paper

Scrabook X (Firefox addon) - annotation and note taking over web pages, data
can be later exported as epub file

Zim - Journal

Sound recorder - audio note just as a back up in a case I missed something
during lecture

Video camera - explaining a point to your future self

I hope this helps.

------
ser0
Others have mentioned many ways to write useful notes.

My recommendation is that you __rewrite __your notes to retain what you
learned.

I like to think of the rewrite as refactoring my notes on a particular
subject. I like to treat my collection of notes as a concise book/article on a
topic, this means I should be able to read through them and have everything I
need. Ideally this means key points are quoted with references to other notes
such as lecture slides or books and page numbers.

The other recommendation I have is that the time between your first write and
your rewrite depends on how good your memory is. I prefer to do it between 3
to 7 days after the first write. This means that anything that didn't fully
stick gets somewhat forgotten, but once I re-read lecture slides or parts of a
book, I pick it up again, and am able to put in a more thorough, yet concise,
summary.

As you rewrite you should also focus on whether your organisation of the topic
fits this new set of notes. The high level table of contents becomes your your
view on the ontology of the subject matter. Think of it as a mind-map that you
can refer back to and expand on as your knowledge about the domain grows.

BTW, I used to use Evernote with their linking feature for this. I now
maintain a folder of Markdown files that link to each other. Maintaining your
own personal Wiki may also achieve the same goal.

------
jp_d
Bullet journal looks interesting...

It's a system on how to write down notes/tasks/events in a notebook. It let's
you refer back to your notes easily.

[http://bulletjournal.com/](http://bulletjournal.com/)

~~~
radix07
This is the way to go. I use a small Bullet Journal that I can carry in my
pocket every day. I found Field Notes were expensive, so I use a Fold Journal
([http://www.foldjournal.com](http://www.foldjournal.com)). They are similar,
have dot grid paper, and are way cheaper.

------
ThomPete
I created an app that allow me to take notes in context.

So lets say I am annotating a video online I am watching, the app knows the
URL and take notes for that specific video.

Or lets say I am working in Sketch and have some todos or comments or
information, my app knows what I am working in and attach notes to that
specific context.

Or in Sublime, Terminal etc. I can even add notes to files and folder in
finder.

That way I don't have to worry about structuring my notes (because I am not
good at that) my notes are structured for me by my usage and always in
context.

I am even selling the app now and making quite good money on it.

------
aban
Having experimented with a couple of note taking methods (on an android
tablet, pen & paper, Org mode, etc) I've narrowed my preferences down to 2
methods:

1\. Pen & paper: this is my preferred approach and I try to take notes on
paper in as many occasions as I can, because for me the act of writing it down
really helps to register and better remember the material.

2\. Org mode: for the situations where there's a lot of material to take note
of, or classes where the instructor goes too fast and I can't keep up my
writing speed, I use Org mode on my laptop.

------
martiya
For project at work I use one Excel. One Excel for each different project. One
single file makes later on very easy to search for key words or filter on
columns. While I reuse part of the template for new projects the set of
columns is usually new in each project but at least I always have columns for:
follow up; who/with who to follow up, creation date, event (meeting, call,
etc) deadline -only if hard deadline. It grows about 100 lines a week. In
addition I have a long check list (another Excel) with all the things I need
to do. Short sentences for each task. File is always open in my laptop and
anything comes to my mind goes there and give me the required headspace.
Usually I start my day having a quick look and selecting a few things to do in
the day. So two Excels for each project. Yes, there is a bit of duplication
between them but it is ok.

~~~
idoh
This straddles the line between genius and madness.

------
b_emery
Your question seems to be more about learning than note taking, so here are
some of my notes learning to augment what others have said:

To aid recall, use the quiz and recall method: "The idea is to study by
lecturing out-loud, to an imaginary class, about the key concepts you need to
learn. Something about articulating arguments in complete sentences cements
them in your mind like nothing else"

from [http://calnewport.com/blog/2007/08/02/the-straight-a-
gospels...](http://calnewport.com/blog/2007/08/02/the-straight-a-gospels-
studying-is-a-technical-skill/)

Also the book _How to become a straight A student_ by Cal Newport is thin but
packed with actionable information. Highly recommended.

------
Jemaclus
Couple of core rules for me:

\- If the instructor takes the time to repeat something, write it down.

\- If the instructor takes the time to write something on the board, write it
down.

\- If the instructor takes the time to point out something on a slide in a
presentation, write it down.

\- Later that evening, rewrite the notes in a more organized fashion.

A lot of note-taking is figuring out what's important and what's not
important. Once you can make some educated guesses as to what's important, you
can filter out the rest and keep your notes clean and organized.

Honestly, when I follow the above rules, I rarely need to refer back to the
notes again. But if I had a big test or something, the solidly organized,
high-value notes made it a breeze to study.

------
Jtsummers
In college, I'd try to read ahead (when I was a good student, so about 3 years
in), and my lecture notes were a hybrid longhand/shorthand of what the
professor presented, organized in a rough outline form.

At work it's largely the same, but now I do a lot of note capturing in org-
mode on my laptop, either at the time I'm learning/acquiring information or
after the fact by transcribing my handwritten notes.

A lot of things get forgotten, but C-s finds most of it.

------
jxy
I use a simple bash script, which basically creates a file ~/.memo/$(date
"+%Y%m%d-%a-%H%M%S@%z").txt open vi on it, and git add && git commit after vi
exits.

`grep' usually gives good results, but I also use DEVONThink to index the
directory, which has a good fuzzy search option plus content similarity
ratings.

------
sn9
Note taking and retention are different topics.

Retention, assuming you understand the material, is best achieved by quizzing
yourself and answering in your own words without looking at hints. Ideally,
you should be able to explain the topic as if you were teaching it to someone
else.

------
DanBC
Very roughly Cornell Notes.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Notes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Notes)

I have an "actions" column on mine.

~~~
Rainymood
Cornell notes without the summary for me.

A big tip I once read was: "Write your notes in such a way that you can review
them."

I now divide my page with a line which splits the page vertically in 1/3 and
2/3rds of the page. Write your notes in a series of questions/definitions.
Then you can cover up the right side and try to use active recall.

I noticed that I used to make very sophisticated notes in class but rarely
used them afterwards. This seemed like a huge waste of effort to me. I always
used to be the type of guy who has FOMO if he doesn't write everything down
while my best friend in undergrad NEVER wrote anything down claiming he
couldn't pay attention otherwise. We both got stellar results, I think it
depends on the person a lot.

------
aprdm
With a physical notebook and a pen. Old style. Tried several notes apps but
there's something about freeform on a paper.

I also use it to keep track of my tasks as a to-do list.

------
jonSson99
I've been using org-journal in emacs. You have all the org-mode stuff, plus
it's got a time stamp. I can search with helm-ag (silver searcher)

------
pedrodelfino
I like using Emacs to create org mode files. I used o use One Note from
Microsoft. But I had a huge problem and stopped using it.

------
guilhas
Zim wiki Alt-D. Otherwise pen and paper.

------
Declanomous
I have dysgraphia, which makes hand-written notes extremely difficult for me.
Writing basically consumes all my energy and focus, so I try to make the most
of the limited amount of notes I take.

The most important thing is to find a note keeping method that works for you.
Once you've found one, stick with it. For me, even little things matter, like
using the right paper and pen. Once I found the right tools, I bought a ton of
them so I always have them on hand.

If I'm meeting with someone else I take all my notes on the following planner:

[http://www.mead.com/mead/browse/product/Cambridge+Limited+Me...](http://www.mead.com/mead/browse/product/Cambridge+Limited+Meeting+Notebook+%2806132%29/06132)

I like it because it forces me to record information that will help spur my
memory later. If I have tasks I need to complete, I put them in the action
items box at the bottom.

I take all my other notes on legal pads. If I run out of space on the meeting
pad, I take additional notes on a legal pad. I have at least one least one pad
for each project I'm working on. When I finish a project I tear the pages out
of the notepad and staple them to the back of the meeting page (if there is
one) and record the date I finished the project on. Then I file my notes in
chronological order. This makes sure I don't waste too much time sorting
things. If I need to use categories, I use the broadest possible topics, such
as which department a given project was for.

When taking notes, I focus on information that either will be difficult to
remember later, or information that will help me search for more information
later. This can be jargon, URLs or file locations of important documents, who
I should talk to about certain subjects, etc. You need to be kind of active
when taking notes like this, and ask questions if you don't have all the
information you need. People tend to forget what they know, and have a hard
time communicating all the information that you need to know what they know.
Some questions I have to ask a lot are:

Has this been done in the past? | When was it last done? | Was it done
differently in the past?

Is there anywhere I can find additional information on this? | Is there
anywhere I can learn more about this?

Was this ever called something different? | Does this have another name?

Note taking is all about realizing how you remember things -- this information
might be completely useless to you, but hopefully someone else finds it
useful. The worst thing you can do is try to force yourself to use a note
taking method that doesn't work for you.

Finally, if you don't know something, it's better to ask someone for help
early, rather than take a lot of time trying to figure it out and realize you
still don't know it. When you ask for help, figure out how you could have
found that information yourself. There are some things that you'll never be
able to figure out without asking someone, you'll eventually have a way of
figuring out pretty much everything else.

------
gotrythis
In my opinion, the best note taking system ever is the LiveScribe.

------
tscs37
Three options:

\- Laverna

\- Random file somewhere on my computer

\- Email to self

