ABSTRACT
Taking notes is one of the main activities of being a student. Indeed, many students seem to think that’s all they do – listen, read, and make notes. Studying online adds a new dimension to notetaking when compared with face-to-face lectures and using printed textbooks. The use of ebooks, for instance, complicates matters as you cannot always highlight things easily or make notes in the margin. With printed learning materials, students can annotate things and underline important passages. But with online resources that becomes complicated. As a result, studying online requires you to have a notetaking strategy from the outset. Otherwise, as you get deeper into your studies, you will waste time trying to locate information. You need to choose a notetaking method, preferably a structured notes system, as that appears to help you gain marks in assignments. You also need to consider whether you will handwrite or type notes. Handwritten notes are preferable, but you will have to work out how you will integrate these into your digital systems. You could buy specialist hardware such as a digital pen or a paper-feel tablet device, or you could use photographic apps and specialist paper notebooks that together enable you to digitally store your notes. Having a complete digital note ecosystem at the outset will improve your studies and help you gain higher marks. You also need to consider how you will ensure you keep a note of all your digital sources so that you can produce accurate references for your assignments. Notetaking is an important aspect of studying, so getting this right from the very start of your studies is essential.
