ABSTRACT
Perhaps the most difficult aspects of courses for students to perceive and learn about are the higher-order conceptual frameworks which structure the subject matter and the course itself. Conventional note-taking may be criticised for giving students too much to do in order to have the time to make sense of what is being said. Full handouts which contain most of the key points of a lecture are open to opposite criticism that they leave the students so little to do that they may find it hard to maintain their attention. An excellent compromise is to provide handouts with gaps in them for students to fill in, providing sufficient framework and details to remove a burden from students, and sufficient omissions to keep them active and give them a chance to personalise notes. As with handouts containing only the relevant sections of an article, an abstracts handout can lead students into using a literature source they might otherwise not use.
