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Cornell Notes

To help me take organized notes

Divide the paper into three sections.

• Draw a dark horizontal line about 5 or 6 lines from the bottom. Use a heavy magic marker to draw the line so that it is clear.
• Draw a dark vertical line about 2 inches from the left side of the paper from the top to the horizontal line.

Document

• Write course name, date, and topic at the top of each page.

Write notes.

• The large box to the right is for writing notes.
• Skip a line between ideas and topics.
• Don’t use complete sentences. Use abbreviations, whenever possible. Develop a shorthand of your own, such as using “&” for the word “and”.

Review and clarify.

• Review the notes as soon as possible after class.
• Pull out main ideas, key points, dates, and people, and write these in the left column.

Summarize.

• Write a summary of the main ideas in the bottom section.

Study your notes.

• Re-read your notes in the right column.
• Spend most of your time studying the ideas in the left column and the summary at the bottom. These are the most important ideas and will probably include most of the information that you will be tested on.