The Cornell Note Taking System:

(Divide page into 2 columns)

Recall Column                    Notes Column

------2 1/2"--------             ----------------6"--------------------

Reduce ideas and facts to
concise jottings and 
summaries as cues for             Record the lecture a fully and as 
Reciting, Reviewing,                 meaningfully as possible.
and Reflecting.




The format provides the perfect opportunity for following through with
the 5 R's of note-taking. Here they are:

1. Record.  During the lecture, record in the main column as many
   meaningful facts and ideas as you can. Write legibly.

2. Reduce.  As soon after as possible, summarize these ideas and facts
   concisely in the Recall Column. Summarizing clarifies meanings and
   relationships, reinforces continuity, and strengthens memory. Also,
   it is a way of preparing for examinations gradually and well ahead
   of time.

3. Recite.  Now cover the column, using only your jottings in the
   Recall Column as cues or "flags" to help you recall, say over facts
   and ideas of the lecture as fully as you can, not mechanically, but
   in your own words and with as much appreciation of the meaning as
   you can. Then, uncovering your notes, verify what you have
   said. This procedure helps to transfer the facts and ideas of your
   long term memory.

4. Reflect.  Reflective students distill their opinions from their
   notes. They make such opinions the starting point for their own
   musings upon the subjects they are studying. Such musings aid them
   in making sense out of their courses and academic experiences by
   finding relationships among them. Reflective students continually
   label and index their experiences and ideas, put them into
   structures, outlines, summaries, and frames of reference. They
   rearrange and file them. Best of all, they have an eye for the
   vital-for the essential. Unless ideas are placed in categories,
   unless they are taken up from time to time for re-examination, they
   will become inert and soon forgotten.

5. Review. If you will spend 10 minutes every week or so in a quick
   review of these notes, you will retain most of what you have
   learned, and you will be able to use your knowledge currently to
   greater and greater effectiveness.

©Academic Skills Center, Dartmouth College 2001