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There's just so much information to take in but there are ways of making note-taking easier.

Contents

1. Introduction to study skills
2. Resources: websites, books, etc
3. Organising your time
4. Gathering information from lectures and seminars
5. Reading and note taking
6. Writing essays
7. Preparing for exams

Gathering information from lectures and seminars

When you are reading, writing or listening to others, your goal should be to think about the information you are gathering. You should aim to understand its meaning and then analyse the evidence and decide how true it is for you.

Lectures tend to be a communication process with the lecturer providing the information and ideas about a subject.

It can be tempting to try and write down everything you hear but it is more important to understand what is being said rather than reproducing it in note form.

During the lecture you have the complex task of taking notes down in a way that will be meaningful later when you are writing an essay, revising or preparing a seminar.

After the lecture

Review your lecture notes and chase up any bits that are missing or that don't make sense. Follow up references.

Tutorials and seminars involve small groups of students who meet with a tutor, usually weekly, to discuss in more detail issues raised in lectures.

It is very important to attend both tutorials and seminars as they are an important part of the learning structure.Ìý

It makes sense to read through that week’s lecture notes.Ìý Keep up with the reading, or you will have nothing to contribute to the seminar and that can cause anxiety.

It is essential that you take an active part in seminars to ensure that you are getting what you need from them.Ìý

You can always ask questions that have come up from your reading or from a previous lecture.Ìý If you are feeling anxious about speaking about your opinions in seminars, then you could try asking a clarification question instead.Ìý

Follow up areas you are interested in.Ìý

Note taking in seminars

Note down only the main points, key ideas, opposing views.Ìý It is more important to listen and participate than take down every word.

Reading is one of the core activities of studying.Ìý Reading lists can be daunting.Ìý Don't panic!Ìý You are not expected to read everything on the lists.Ìý

Think about how and why each text fits into the course. Effective reading is about being flexible and purposeful and not about how fast you read.Ìý

There are some effective reading techniques, which may improve and develop your reading skills and aid your learning.

ScanningÌý for when you want to find a particular piece of information.Ìý Scan the contentsÌýand index so you can go straight to the relevant pages.Ìý Look for particularÌýÌýwords.

Skimming for when you want to gain a quick impression of a text or article.Ìý You do notÌýneed to read every word: note signposts, chapter headings, sub-titles, boldprint, lists etc.Ìý Read the first sentence of each paragraph.Ìý Gain an overview.

Deep StudyÌý for reading actively to make connections, understand meanings, consider

Reading implications and evaluate arguments.Ìý Reading deeply involves the following :

• Understanding the purpose of the work
• Recalling relevant prior knowledge of the subject
• Identifying important content and focussing on it, and not giving equal importance to less important material
• Consciously attempting to evaluate consistency of arguments and theirÌýcompatibility with prior knowledge
• Monitoring your own reading; reviewing your understanding of theÌýtext periodically
• Making and testing inferences deliberately, including interpretations,Ìýpredictions and conclusions.

Note taking

Only note down what you want to remember.Ìý Keep firmly in your mind your reading goals and aims.Ìý

Your notes should be brief and concise - you are not rewriting the book in your own words!Ìý

Record keywords, phrases and sentences and add your own comments and evaluation.ÌýWrite summaries of what you have read.ÌýDifferent authors make different interpretations of the same topic - remember this in your analysis and evaluation.

It is very important to make a clear distinction between your thoughts and analysis and those of others, to prevent later confusion about their source and status.Ìý

Plagiarism

University's frown on plaigiarism and sometimes you can forfeit your degree! Plagiarism consists of presenting someone else's work as your own.Ìý

It can be avoided by acknowledging ideas time you use them.ÌýIf you are using ideas from a lecture or seminar then they should be attributed by using the lecturer's name, date of lecture and title of course.Ìý

Your department will give you more information on avoiding plagiarism.

References/bibliography

It is good practice when you make notes from any text to get into the habit of noting the page number, title, author, date of publication, publisher, place of publication, edition etc for later inclusion in your bibliography.Ìý

Check your departmental notes on how you should compile a bibliography.

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