Study Skills: Note-taking 2
Recognizing the Main Idea
Unless, for some reason, you wish to record every word that the lecturer says, you will have to select what to write down. You will naturally want to select the main points, and perhaps some subordinate or subsidiary points which relate to the main points. How does one recognize the main points?
Usually, the speaker will make it clear which ideas he wishes to emphasize by the way in which he presents them. In other words, the main ideas are cued. They are often cued by such semantic markers as:
I would like to emphasize ...
The general point you must remember is ...
It is important to note that ...
I repeat that ...
The next point is crucial to my argument ...
Let's move on to another matter ...
My next point is ...
Another problem to be discussed is ...
A related area would be ...
Very often speakers list their main points.
Other ways in which lecturers may cue their main points while speaking are by emphasis or repetition; or perhaps by visual display (e.g. by putting headings on a blackboard, overhead projector etc).
Sometimes you will find that facial expression and gestures of the lecturer point up his meaning (of course, you will not see these if you are crouched over your notes, scribbling away furiously!).
Often examples and points of lesser importance are also cued. The speaker may use such phrases as:
Let me give you some examples ...
For instance ...
I might add ...
To illustrate this point ...
Examples and points of lesser importance should be related briefly to the main headings.
Sometimes speakers will digress, i.e. mention things which have very little to do with their main topic, or relate to it only in a rather roundabout way. Speakers will sometimes digress deliberately in order to give more spice or variety to their lectures, or because the digression is interesting, amusing or topical. There is, of course, no need to note down digressions.
Digression markers are expressions like:
By the way ...
I might note in passing ...
Exercises.
Listen to these paragraphs. Then decide what topic heading you would use to describe the main idea of each. Write the topic heading in the space given.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Study Skills: Note-taking 2
Recognizing the Main Idea
Unless, for some reason, you wish to record every word that the lecturer says, you will have to select what to write down. You will naturally want to select the main points, and perhaps some subordinate or subsidiary points which relate to the main points. How does one recognize the main points?
Usually, the speaker will make it clear which ideas he wishes to emphasize by the way in which he presents them. In other words, the main ideas are cued. They are often cued by such semantic markers as:
I would like to emphasize ...
The general point you must remember is ...
It is important to note that ...
I repeat that ...
The next point is crucial to my argument ...
Let's move on to another matter ...
My next point is ...
Another problem to be discussed is ...
A related area would be ...
Very often speakers list their main points.
Other ways in which lecturers may cue their main points while speaking are by emphasis or repetition; or perhaps by visual display (e.g. by putting headings on a blackboard, overhead projector etc).
Sometimes you will find that facial expression and gestures of the lecturer point up his meaning (of course, you will not see these if you are crouched over your notes, scribbling away furiously!).
Often examples and points of lesser importance are also cued. The speaker may use such phrases as:
Let me give you some examples ...
For instance ...
I might add ...
To illustrate this point ...
Examples and points of lesser importance should be related briefly to the main headings.
Sometimes speakers will digress, i.e. mention things which have very little to do with their main topic, or relate to it only in a rather roundabout way. Speakers will sometimes digress deliberately in order to give more spice or variety to their lectures, or because the digression is interesting, amusing or topical. There is, of course, no need to note down digressions.
Digression markers are expressions like:
By the way ...
I might note in passing ...
Exercises.
Listen to these paragraphs. Then decide what topic heading you would use to describe the main idea of each. Write the topic heading in the space given.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.