Save notes from each lecture as a separate document labelled with course name, lecture number and date. Organise all documents and other course materials into a folder labelled with the course code.
Combine handwritten notes with electronic note-taking
Interacting with your notes is the best way to process information, which is after all the goal of note-taking.
Minimise distractions
While many students prefer typing notes to hand-writing them, research indicates that taking ‘pen and paper’ notes increases your focus and improves your comprehension and retention of lecture materials, more so than typing. On the other hand, note-taking on a laptop or device can make notes easier to format, save, edit, share, and re-read (with no worries about messy handwriting).
It can be easy to fall into transcription mode on a laptop, and simply record everything that is said, instead of actively deciding what is most important to write down. Transcribing can seem like a good strategy, but the memory and cognition benefits of note-taking are lost unless you review and re-engage with your notes several times (see the section on what to do after the lecture). If you type your notes, be sure to review them at least once within 24 hours after the lecture.