10 Things You Should Add to Your Lecture Notes for Improved Clarification

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The only sure things about post-secondary are lecture notes and exams.  By the end of your studies, you will have binders upon binders, and mountains upon mountains, of lecture notes.  Whether you take them by hand or computer, these important notes are bound to pile up.

What do you do with these notes when you’re done with the class?  How do you use them in your study efforts?  Are you getting the most out of these vital notes?

Lecture notes, especially those taken by hand, are incredibly sloppy.  These usually aren’t the ones that you want to immortalize in your binder.  Class time is pretty chaotic and making sure you get all the information down, it is legible, and makes sense, is a feat all on its own.

If you’re not rewriting your notes during your study time, you should be.  It will help you clear up confusion and guarantee that you’re not struggling with any concepts.  It is also the perfect opportunity to expand upon the information to create memory cues.

That tip was for free.  Now we’ll go on to break down 10 more things you should add to your lecture notes for improved clarification!

What are lecture notes, and why are they important.

Most of the course material is delivered during lectures in college or university.  The instructor will explain the concepts to the class, usually along with slides, in a classroom or lecture hall.  Students will hastily scribble down as much information as possible to review and expand upon later.

The main problem with lectures is that you will forget about 50% of new information within 24 hours.  To ensure that you retain all the concepts discussed, you must study and review the class material regularly.  This is essential to passing your exams.

When taking notes during a lecture, you should:

Learning good note-taking techniques is one of the most intimidating parts of post-secondary.  This is one of those skills you have to learn by doing.  Everyone will develop their own methods and shorthand, and you will have to figure out what works best for you.

Some things you can try when you get started.

1. Take your notes by hand.  Handwriting your notes will keep you focused and thinking much more critically about the information.

2. Never stop writing.  No matter what, keep your hand moving.

3. Paraphrase high-level concepts.

4. Copy the terminology and diagrams down exactly.

5. Leave lots of space in your notes to add to them later.

There is an entire module dedicated to note-taking strategies in the Study Skills Digital Course.  It has videos and workbooks complete with a strategy guide and templates designed to help you find your perfect note-taking method.

10 Things You Should Add to Your Lecture Notes for Improved Clarification

Elaborating on your notes will help you deepen your understanding and create memory cues.  It is not enough to memorize the material in college or university.  You need to understand the concept at a foundational level.

Expanding on the information, you learn in class ensures that these mental associations are created.  This will create an intricate web of knowledge to help you better grasp the concepts.  This means you can work with the information and explain your answers during exam time.

Draw diagrams wherever possible to explain complex concepts.

Diagrams are the best way to describe and relay information.  Making your own diagrams and labelling them can help illustrate complex concepts or how two topics are interlinked.  These illustrations are second to none in showing unique relationships and complicated processes.

Anywhere possible, do your best to insert a diagram, even if they are simple.  It helps clarify your comprehension and can be used to quickly and easily convey evidence.

Insert textbook notes to elaborate on topics covered in class.

Textbooks are mandatory for a reason.  They will help to communicate and describe the concepts under study differently than your professor.  Having several ways of phrasing and explaining ideas is beneficial to show a complete understanding. 

Textbooks also provide many examples and diagrams to add further clarification.  Don’t copy these illustrations directly.  Instead, add your own flair and make a sketch that’s entirely your own.

Finally, questions in your textbooks show essential theories and will have you think critically.  Explanations of the answers are a good thing to add to your lecture notes.  This will make sure that you really understand what it is they are trying to relay.

Read through your textbook and add vital points, in your own words, to your lecture notes to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts.  Then, read the exercises and expand on anything you may have overlooked.

Insert helpful tutorial and lab notes as they directly relate to class material.

Labs and tutorials usually loosely follow the lecture material.  While they often have their own workloads, don’t forget that their purpose is to supplement the information you are learning in the lecture.  Add and link relevant information from your lab to your lecture notes.  Any examples or diagrams that can translate to both materials can also be added.

Using lab examples in lecture assignments or exams can help prove that you’re able to consolidate the teachings of both.  This is a marker of someone who truly understands the core concepts.

Rephrase complex ideas in your own words

Lecture time can sometimes pass by in a blur.  If the topic is challenging or the professor talks really fast, you may not always be able to rephrase in real-time.  Going through and ensuring that lecture notes are rewritten in your own words can also be done later during study time.  This exercise will also let you check your notes for completeness.

Rewriting lecture notes in your own words shows that you understand the underlying point that the professor is trying to connect to.  It also proves that you do not struggle with complex terminology when you read these notes back.  

Rephrasing in your own words allows you to use language as complicated or simple as you feel comfortable with.  There’s nothing wrong with rewriting intricate concepts into super simple terms.  Breaking down and explaining things is one of the hallmarks of knowing that you understand them.

Comparison charts can help to clearly show where contrasts lie.

Comparison charts are a great way to quickly illustrate the similarities and differences between concepts.  This helps create mental associations that can link your understanding of relevant information.  Comparison charts can also explain how two very different ideas are connected despite superficial observation.

The more cross-links and memory cues you can create between the data under study, the easier the recall will be during exam time.  A multi-layered understanding of this information is an excellent way to show these cross-links.

Concept maps illustrate a web of knowledge… literally.

Concept maps are the best way to break down complicated models into their essential components and related topics.  They quickly depict relationships between ideas and how they are linked.  They could also clearly show the nature of those relationships.

When building upon established concepts, draw out concept maps that were created for them previously.  Next, add and highlight new links and new information to these webs.  This will easily illustrate what you already know about the subject and how you have added to or amended your prior understanding.

Summary paragraphs pull it all together.

Writing a simple summary paragraph after each topic or at the bottom of each page is a great way to recap.  Wrapping up a concept into three to five sentences can give you a clear sense of the contents of the entire page.  This can help to add clarity to pages full of boring facts.

Sometimes it’s much easier to go through summary paragraphs rather than simple point-form notes on a topic.  A brief abstract at the bottom of each page can help with that.

These paragraphs can be revised and rewritten as you progress through the semester.  This activity will help expand your knowledge or add clarification once you better grasp all the factors at play.  It is a fantastic way to show how much improvement you’ve made since the beginning of the year.

Don’t forget to add vocabulary and terminology.

Vocabulary may be the most obvious addition to your lecture notes.  While in the lecture, write down and star any unfamiliar or uncertain words the teacher uses.  If they lay out terminology or write it on the board, it should be added verbatim in your notes.  Later, when you study, you should be going through and making sure to further define in your own words all this new terminology.

This is perhaps one of the most important things to add to your lecture notes because having a solid understanding of the language of the course is imperative.  Some words will repeat themselves throughout your post-secondary career and have different meanings based on context and subject.  It’s essential to add these to your notes, so you know the exact definition as it applies to the current information.   These words will likely continue to appear.

Colour code your notes consistently across all subjects.

Colour coding your notes can give you a clear visual layout of the information on the page.  Assigning different colours to different cues, like dates, people, theories, or vocabulary, can allow you, at a glance, to locate it.  

If you continue this colour coding throughout all your courses, it will become easier to memorize which colour is assigned to which cue.  Layering the type of information with this colour adds another mental association to easily recall it.  Soon these prompts will be organized in your memory by colour and all the other memory cues.

Create links to relevant past information.

While going through your lecture notes, you might notice that some topics remind you of other information.  These may be similar ideas that have been built upon or unrelated ideas that share similarities.  Linking the information currently under study with this additional information that is remembered easily creates a formidable mental framework you can use to prompt recall.  Take advantage of this and add it to your notes.

Make a simple side note of how this other information is linked to the material under study and why it reminds you of each other.  Anything that can help you trigger recall is a win.

The end of the lecture doesn’t mean the end of your notes.  Use rewriting your notes as an opportunity to enhance and clarify your comprehension of the topic.  Elaborate on your notes to further cement the information in your memory, prove that you understand it, and create more mental associations.  

Return to old notes periodically to explore how your understanding of concepts has grown.  The more you review them, the easier they will be recalled.  This is how your beat the forgetting curve.

Don’t forget to pick up your free study guide template.  This free planner has everything you need to plan and track your study sessions throughout the semester.  Download yours here.

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