Note taking and reading....how to keep everything organized?

[gnomechomsky22]

I recently started graduate school as a certificate student. I am attending classes full time this semester and although its only been a week since classes started, I am already starting to feel a disparity between my study habits in undergrad and the habits required to keep up with grad school full time. This is my first semester handling heavy scholarly/journal article reading assignments (I had some brief assignments in undergrad that were similar but not nearly as dense or difficult). I am a psychology/cognitive sciences student right now. I graduated Summer 2012 from undergrad and I intend on applying to a Human Factors Ph.D. program this fall. I wanted to get a feel for grad school, clarify my goals, gain some further research experience and really take some time to reflect before I applied. 

I've noticed that not many of my peers handwrite their notes. In my classes there are not a lot of diagrams, most lectures are presentations of pp slides and two of my courses are seminar style, so it makes more sense to take notes on my computer. I was wondering if there's a really good program that helps keep digital notes organized? I've never really used my laptop to take notes in undergrad so I'm having a hard time transitioning. Also, almost all of my reading assignments are PDFs and I absolutely hate reading long articles on the computer. I've tried printing them out, which really works best for me, but its a huge waste of paper and not really that cost effective (I have about 3-5 reading assignments for each class every week) and a tiny inkjet printer. Any suggestions on how to organize and handle reading/note taking? I feel like making folders for everything just makes it hard for me to access things and Microsoft word files take so long for me to set them up the way I want them to look. Do programs/apps like Evernote or Notebook work well?

Edited January 16, 2013 by gnomechomsky22

[Eigen]

I still take notes by hand. I find it's for more effective for me as a learning tool. 

 

As for printing- I lament the over-use of paper, but I really need hard copies to read/annotate, and I've tried a number of solutions. 

 

As to cost- invest in a good, cheap, black and white Laser printer with duplexing capabilities. Mine cost about $60, and prints for fractions of a cent per page. I can fit 2-4 pages on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, depending on the size of the text.

 

That said, digital files have the benefit of being searchable. 

 

I usually transcribe my notes over into digital files if I think they're something I'm going to need to access a lot. On the MS side, there's OneNote, and on the Mac side Growly Notes is quite good- and both are practically free, since you'll have OneNote with Office, and GrowlyNotes is a free download as well. 

 

They're easy, free-form note-taking software, with a page/section based arrangement. I don't think I'd use them for copious notes, but they're a good way to organize information that I'm going to need to refer to a lot. 

[CarlieE]

It's all a matter of personal preference. I use my ipad to take notes - diagrams and typed notes. I use a stylus for diagrams or stick figures etc. I use Notability and dropbox. 

 

But that doesn't preclude me from using paper when it's easier. If I do I just keep them in a folder; as long as I know where all my stuff is I can find it when I need it. 

[Andean Pat]

Hi! I do take a lot of notes, but I am slow. I have done them both: hand & OneNote. this program is VERY comfortable, you can then edit it and save it as pdf, word, etc. I usually then add my own comments when I read the material. Hope it helps!

 

Angie

[Conscia Fati]

Does anyone have any tips on recording lectures on a MacBook Air?

[rkg2012]

I really like OneNote for taking notes in class. It's pretty easy to keep your notes organized and they're all searchable later. Also, I don't know about you, but it's way easier to read my typed notes than my own handwriting. I also thankfully type faster than I write. I usually keep a notebook with me just in case I need to draw a diagram or something - then you can just scan it and add it to your notes.

 

As for dealing with articles...I'm also struggling with that. I've gotten more accustomed to reading on the computer since printing is such a hassle. I have Acrobat pro, so I OCR everything to make it easy to annotate. I keep intending to go back and summarize the articles and put that into my OneNote tabs for the class, but I seem to inevitably run out of time.

 

There are also these pens you can get that automatically turn hand written documents into digital files. I know one person who used to swear by that. Apparently the text recognition software gets accustomed to your hand writing and actually does a pretty good job. 

[Sumac77]

One other thought for reducing paper usage, and I'm not sure if this works for you, but I convert my PDF's into MP3's. Sounds crazy, but there are a few programs that you can buy that do it. I went with NaturalSoft, which has a free version (not cool) and a basic version (very realistic voices). It takes me an hour to convert all my pdf's for the week into a read-aloud version, and then I put it in my ipod and listen to it on the train, in the car, while I walk, whatever. If I'm on the go, I stop the playback where I want to take notes and use my voice recorder to tape them. Later that day, I open up the computer and put my thoughts down in organized fashion into my notes. The process could probably be simplified by someone with better knowledge of the app world, in fact you could probably do all of the above with an iPhone. The only downside is that, as a visual learner, I have no reference for what the articles look like, so if I actually need to go back and read a few I have to search through my notes for the author's name first.

[Panama Slim]

Check out workflowy.  I read about it on Slate and have been using it for about a week.  I love it!  I started a coursera class, to get back into academic mode, and it has been a godsend.  I use it on my Galaxy Note 2 and my home computer and it syncs perfectly. Every brain-fart goes in and I can expand on it later.

 

Edit: The last class I took was in 2001, so it has been awhile indeed.

Edited March 26, 2013 by Panama Slim

[mpheels]

You do not need to read every word of every article. I always read the abstract, results, and conclusion/discussion. If I find something especially novel in those sections, then I'll skim the intro and methods for more detail.

 

When I'm working through a pile of articles for the background/intro section of an assignment, I'll make a spreadsheet to organize the information. One column for the basic citation info, one for the study design and sample size, and one for the most salient findings. For me, the process of distilling articles down to those basic points helps me retain the important stuff and it serves as a guide for skimming/speed reading. I go back and forth on printing artciles. I prefer reading on paper vs. a computer screen, but hate printing so much. Now I'll do the initial skim on screen, and only print if I think the article will be heavily used for studying or writing. I also have a nook, which is great for reading articles on the bus if I remember to download them.

 

I prefer hand writing for in class note taking, but I'm old school like that. I find it is easier to engage in the class when I don't have a screen in front of me. If ppt slides are available before class, I print 6 slides to a page and write notes in the margins. When my notes are right next to the slide, I only have to jot down a few key words to remember the point. I keep my annotated slides in a binder, and use that like a text book.

[RandiZ]

Tried One Note but it did not seamlessly sync with my other devices. Evernote is my best friend. It has totally replaced my need for paper notebooks. I use Mendeley for document management and Dropbox for stuff I write and possibly want to share with others.

I'm a little nervous about how little paper backup that I have. But it sure makes travelling and working a lot easier.

[Andean Pat]

Tried One Note but it did not seamlessly sync with my other devices. Evernote is my best friend. It has totally replaced my need for paper notebooks. I use Mendeley for document management and Dropbox for stuff I write and possibly want to share with others.

I'm a little nervous about how little paper backup that I have. But it sure makes travelling and working a lot easier.

 

What do you mean by "other devices"? Iphone/Ipad? Kindle? (I'll probably buy one of these...)

 

I didn't have problems with OneNote but I have only Windows and the places where I work as well. It has a button to record a lecture, add stuff from internet/other files and save as .docx or pdf (didn't try anything else).

[jmu]

I take notes by hand on notebook paper. I then type them up later and use dropbox to sync them between devices. Nothing else has worked as far as retention for me.

[norangom]

For those using an ipad note take HD is by far the best app I've tried. A little slow, but you can annotate and rotate pdfs.

[Zrome]

It's nothing but personal preference. I use notability with an awesome stylus and sync everything to DropBox. At my apartment or anywhere else without iPad, I have all my documents available to me on iPhone or MBP or PC. If I'm out and need something on paper, I print it at the local FedEx office. Someone prefer paper (my wife included). Others prefer all electronic (myself included). The only thing I would say is that take good backups. 

[danieleWrites]

I took notes on paper for a long time and have a filing cabinet full of course notes. I plan on shifting the relevant notes to OneNote or EverNote (I haven't picked the platform yet) and leave the rest on paper. The key for me was maintaining organization. I finally ditched the spiral bound five subject notebooks for 8.5" x 11" legal pads to write on because they're slimmer, easier to deal with, and I could file my notes in a manila folder as the semester went along rather than fight with inserting handouts, returned tests/quizzes, and so on at the end of the semester when I filed them away for later. I kept the folders in a desktop filing thingy. I also had a pre-indexed filing system, so at the end of the semester, I could just stick the work from a completed course in the appropriate space in a filing cabinet. Pre-organizing things before starting out saves headaches. Of course, I figured out my filing system after I'd used 5 subject notebooks, and ended spending a week or so after one semester re-organizing because of the pile of notebooks that were difficult to work with.

 

One thing I did that really helped was put a list of all work worth points on the manila folder itself, the number of points each piece was worth, and then when I got the work back, how many points I'd earned. A few seconds witha calculator and I knew what my grade was, aside from any participation points. Some professors use the university's learning suite to track grades, but some don't. My first couple of semesters as a TA, I went with the traditional paper gradebook and the most common question was "what's my grade?" When I used Angel and then Canvas (changeovers suck) to track grades, they quit asking. Of course, they never came to office hours to ask, they always did it at the end of class when I didn't have time to add up a row of numbers.

[Zrome]

What helped me was the iPad and a rubber tip stylus and Notability, PDF Expert, and ScannerPro. I would download PDF's off blackboard or take a picture of the handout with ScannerPro and annotate them in Notability.