Summarizing and Note Taking
By teaching summarizing and note-taking techniques, teachers can enhance students’ ability to synthesize and organize information in a way that captures the main ideas and supporting details. Both summarizing and note taking help students process information.
Summarizing is primarily about distilling information, finding patterns, filling in the missing parts, and synthesizing the information into a condensed form. There are several generalizations from the research on developing summarizing skills. The research makes clear that students must engage in three activities when effectively summarizing: deleting information, substituting information, and keeping information. Moreover, to successfully engage in these three activities, students must analyze the information at a fairly deep level. Research also indicates that familiarity with the structure of the information being summarized makes the process easier.
Like summarizing, note taking asks students to identify key information and restate that information in their own words. There are three main generalizations we can draw from the research on note taking:
1. The least effective way to take notes is verbatim. Trying to record everything that is heard or read does not give students a chance to synthesize the information presented. This does not mean that students should take limited notes; in fact, the more notes they take, the better. It is important, however, that notes be specific to the learning goals outlined by the teacher.
2. Students should consider notes to be works in progress; they should be regularly reviewed, revised, and added to as a student’s grasp of the content grows.
3. Students should use their notes as study guides. A set of clear, well-organized notes can be a powerful tool for test preparation.
