1Hi, Emily. What did you think of that lecture?
2A bit hard to follow, but I have some good lecture-listening note-taking strategies which really help,
3so I can review the lecturer's message later.
4Lecture-listening note-taking strategies? Review it later?
5That sounds interesting.
6I must admit, I struggle a bit to take down the gist of what I hear.
7Look at my notes.
8Well, I can see a basic problem immediately.
9You're writing full words, such as 'century' when all you need is a 'C',
10And don't write 'increase'; just draw an 'up' arrow.
11And why write 'thousand' when a 'th' will do?
12I see. Just use symbols. That's not a bad idea at all.
13It's the most basic strategy, allowing you to record information at a faster pace.
14These lecturers can talk faster than others, too,
15so you don't want to waste any time.
16But you need to be very familiar with your set of symbols.
17Why?
18Because you'll have to look at these notes days, weeks, or even months afterwards,
19when you begin writing your essay,
20so you'll need to be able to interpret them at a later stage.
21I think I can do this, even by looking at your notes.
22'Immed' must mean immediately.
23But regarding the lecture as a whole,
24I knew the professor would be giving a set of specific recommendations,
25and comparing two alternative approaches, so I formatted my page in advance,
26adding the features consistent with the nature of what I was going to hear.
27I think I need an example of what you mean.
28Well, look at my page.
29Before the lecture, I drew large headings saying 'recommendations'.
30You should always draw these, and I drew a table saying, 'Approach 1' and 'Approach 2'.
31At the end I drew a flowchart,
32as obviously the final recommendation would be a step-by-step approach.
33Then I was prepared in advance to simply fill in the spaces.
34Wow! Now that's clever.
35Your advice about note taking sounds great, but I still have one question, Emily.
36How are you able to design your page in advance?
37I mean, how can you predict the nature of the talk,
38and know which design is likely to work best?
39It's rather obvious when you think about it.
40What's your next lecture about?
41Legal Studies.
42Well, that suggests to me that you'll need a flowchart,
43since the judicial system has a very logical 'do this first, do that second' approach,
44which must be followed in that order,
45y'know, all the processes that happen in the courtroom,
46and the procedures that must take place to ensure complete legality.
47Sure. That's the way law is, very linear and orderly,
48but what about Culture Studies?
49That's just a mass of comparisons of different cultures.
50Which tells you that you will need a table, where, in tabular form, you can efficiently write down information.
51But often the lecture's not that simple.
52The professor throws in a really complex mix of ideas.
53Then use a spider graph, like the web a spider makes,
54where there's a central idea around which you attach all the associated thoughts, and ideas, and impressions.
55I see. I think I understand.
56And that would be very quick, too; very efficient.
57I like that. But what about Management Theory?
58How would you approach that?
59The same as with Culture Studies.
60I'd use a network, which is basically the same as a spider graph, linking thoughts,
61although this time there are directions involved.
62It is this element that makes it different,
63the fact that the thoughts go one way and not the other.
64Okay... has directions.
65It sounds logical.
66What about the other subjects, such as Political Science?
67There's no predictable order to that.
68Well, for that I'd just put my notes in a line,
69that is, in linear, or straight-line fashion,
70and these notes would use symbols, of course, to save time.
71Okay, that just leaves Mass Media.
72For that, I wouldn't have any special design at all.
73As you say, sometimes it's impossible to predict in what way lecturers will present their information,
74in which case the best you can do is pre-write headings,
75but not specific, just general,
76as in Main One, Main Two, Sub One, Two, and Three, and so on.
77Okay.
78But always be prepared to adapt to the nature of the talk,
79using any one of the other methods if it becomes appropriate at the time.