Study Success at Sussex (S3)

Tips for making notes

The important thing about taking notes from printed sources is your understanding of the material, so it is essential to write down what you understand in your own words. This does not mean re-writing the material in polished prose - notes are brief and informal. If you get into the habit of simply copying text directly you may not only fail to fully understand the material but you will also run the risk of committing plagiarism.

Remember

If you copy, quote or "cut and paste" text from a source into your own notes, make sure you make it clear to yourself that the text is not your own. If there is a distinctive phrase you want to quote directly it's helpful to record the bibliographic details straight away and the page number so that you don't have trouble finding it later. Make sure you know how to reference correctly. Your school should provide you with information about what referencing system to use (where available this may be included in handbooks). You can also visit infosuss for an online tutorial on referencing.  

Before you can take notes from a printed source you must have gained some understanding of the material, although the process of taking concise notes can often help you to really get to grips with what is being said. Reading academic texts can be much less straightforward than reading a daily newspaper or a novel. There are a lot of ideas and information packed onto a page and you will usually have to read it more than once to understand it. The S3 Guide to reading and noting provides some practical advice to help you make the most of your study time.

Useful symbols and abbreviations

Investigate if there are any conventional symbols and abbreviations used in your own subject.

You might want to make up your own private symbols/abbreviations for your notes. This can be helpful and save you time so long as you don't forget what they mean or use them in notes you want to share with other people who might not understand them.

In general you should avoid using abbreviations in formal written assignments. There are also Latin abbreviations commonly used in citation for referencing or in bibliographies. You might not choose to use these abbreviations yourself and you should check with your school for your recommended referencing style.

Symbol	Meaning
&	and
+	plus, in addition to
>	greater than/more than/better than
<	smaller than/lesser than/worse than
=	is the same as/is equal to
≠	is not the same as
	therefore
	because
↑	increases/increased/rising
↓	decreases/decreased/falling
→	leads to/produces/causes
w/	with
	woman/female
	man/male
e.g.	for example (from the Latin 'exempli gratia')
id.	that is, that means (from the Latin 'id est''
etc.	and the rest (from the Latin 'et cetera')
NB	important, note this (from the Latin 'Nota Bene')
p.	page (plural: pp.)
para.	paragraph
chp.	chapter
ed.	edition
C17	17th Century
no.	Number
vol.	Volume