Reading and Note Taking Skills: Techniques and Methods

This essay discusses the important techniques of reading that will help students become efficient readers. It also outlines four methods of note taking that will help students remember new things. The techniques of reading discussed are SQ3R, skimming, scanning, active reading, and detailed reading. The methods of note taking discussed are Cornell method, Boxing method, Charting method, and Sentence method.

SSHE project 1 essay

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Identifying the important reading techniques helps students to become more efficient..............3
Discussing methods of note taking..............................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Reading and note taking skills refers to the skills that used to read and record the notes by
taking the information from the various sources. By having notes it makes the students to read
the important points of the particular chapter or of particular topic. The students must have
written notes or printed notes rather than reading from the books which saves the time of the
reader. It helps the students to listen the topic properly and make summarize records of the topics
which makes them to learn things faster. This essay will outline the important techniques of
reading that will help the students in order to become the efficient readers. At the end, this essay
will outline the four methods of note taking that will help the students to remember new things.
MAIN BODY
Identifying the important reading techniques helps students to become more efficient
The following are the best techniques of the reading which are described as below:
1. SQ3R Reading Technique: In this technique of reading there are basically the
five steps which helps the reader to set the goals in order to get closer with the
text. The five stages are as follows:
Survey- The student or the reader must identify the idea of the written matter and structure
(Dhillon, Herman and Syafryadin, 2020). By doing survey of the content this makes the reader to
prepare their mind.
Question: The students must prepare the question for themselves in order to read the content ad
answer that question. The reader can create the titles of the content into question.
Read: The reader must read the question properly and must understand that question. In order to
read this the reader can use other reading techniques such as active or detailed reading.
Recite: The reader will go back to the questions and written answers that was created by them.
By reciting it makes the reader to know that what he has written and must understand the
answers.
Review: The students can make the mental notes or it can speak the answers in order to learn the
answers. They must try that they not look at the answers in order to become efficient readers.
2. Skimming Reading Technique: In this reading technique, the students can get the
glance of the matter for what he was looking for to read. This is the best reading
technique the reader is already having the idea of the content (Lubis and Usman,

2021). This reading technique can save the lots of time of the students. The
students can skim the reading material in order to have reading in the future.
This can save the time of the by making the key points without describing the whole and entire
text. In the future it makes the students to re- read the key points without reading the in- depth
material in the exam or in the test time. This reading can be used for doing the quick research,
fast review before the examination, etc.
3. Scanning Reading Technique: This is the technique which makes the students to
read the content simply with the running eyes on the content. This is done at the
last moment when the students are going for the students or to remind the
headings of the topics (Lesmana and Resmini, 2020). The students will read the
notes with the running eyes in order to remind the key points.
This reading technique can be used by using the content or by using the notes made by the
students. The students can read the chapters name and their important points in order to can the
matter with their eyes which makes them remember the topics and makes them efficient readers.
This is basically done when there is list of subjects on the email, new articles which are not so
important, etc.
4. Active Reading: In this technique, the students used to do more in- depth reading
and understanding of the content. This reading is done when the students are
learning something hard and complex. By having the active reading the reader
must question himself that he has learned the topics or not and must answer the
questions.
By answering the questions, the reader must check that his answers are right or wrong as per the
question. They must relate their reading with the earlier which makes them know about the
changes and enhances their knowledge (Tonietto and et.al., 2019). By reading actively it makes
the students to learn new and difficult topic and understand those material.
5. Detailed Reading: In this technique of reading, the students used to learn the
detail notes and content of the books. Detail readings is the more time- consuming
method of reading. The students used to read carefully, consume and analyse each
topic and each word with perfection.
By having the detail reading it makes the reader to have deeper understanding which takes the
lots of time and patience. This reading technique is used when there are scholarly articles,

literatures, etc. This is the best way of having the depth knowledge to the students in order to
enhance their understanding and knowledge (Zhang, Van Oosterom and Liu, 2020). Detail
technique is best when the students are having their exams they have to do detail reading of each
chapter.
6. Critical Reading: The students must do the critical learning and reading of the
subjects in their studies. They must segregate the topics and must read the easy
topics once and then focus on the hard reading. By this it will help them to
complete the course by having the critical reading of each subject.
The students must think critically and understand the meaning of the words thoroughly. By
having the critical reading it makes the students to know and retain the information in their mind.
Discussing methods of note taking
Discussing the four methods of note taking.
There are various methods of note taking but below mentioned methods may help the
students in memorizing things in perfect manner.
Cornell's method:
It is method in which paper is divided into two columns with row across the columns.
Thus, it requires very little preparation as it is very easy for note taking in the classroom.
Moreover, this method is divided into five stages that includes record where lecture is noted
down by learner using keywords or sentences (Susanti, 2020). Another stage is of recording
questions in which certain questions are been formulated by individual based on the notes
collected. After this stage is recited where all the questions recorded are been answered by
learner based on the memory. Furthermore, after this is reflected stage in which various ways of
applying learned knowledge and principles are identified, significance of facts are known and
much more. Next stage is of review stage where all earlier notes that are taken are reviewed at
the end of each week so that better clarity and insights could be gathered.
Last stage in Cornell method is summary that is the brief of what is learned during the
whole week so that lecture material acquired might be easily applied practically by the learner at
any given point of time (Chen, 2021). Thus, through this method notes are highly organized and
might be easily read and understood by others at any time. Moreover, this method is easy to
learn, apply and enhance the creativity of the individual over period. However, major

disadvantage of this method is that it is only understood very well by the person that has made it
and hence other people might face certain difficulties in understanding it properly.
Boxing method:
It is method where notes are taken through using various boxes that separate one topic
from the other. Also, all types of ideas and concepts are written down vertically so that it might
be distinguished from one another easily. Moreover, this method is similar to mapping note
taking method where certain boxes and shapes are drawn for division of subtopics over the main
topic. Furthermore, this type of method is good when the information during learning sessions is
not very much divided into sub categories.
However, while applying this method in handwritten format and not digitally it needs to
be kept in mind by the learner that chances of committing error are very less and thus noted
information could not be changed easily. Hence, proper attention and concentration skills need to
be developed while using this format of note taking. Although this method is time-consuming
but end results are more satisfactory in form of great learning (Liu, Huang and Chien, 2019).
Also, in this method notes could be easily reviewed and revised resulting individual in greater
learning for future development. Moreover, through this method notes could be reduced and
easily rewritten without much difficulty. Thus, learner is able to develop better visual learning
style that would further help in personal growth and development of the individual. Furthermore,
while opting for this method it is important that learner reviews all data so that information could
be recited and changes are made before the final draft.
Charting method: The charting method is the method of note-taking which helps the
students to organize the information and divide that information into the into different categories.
The charting of the information can be done into sing the variety of resources and tools such as
google sheets, using pen or paper or by using excel (Shin, Lee and Jung, 2019). It used to split
the documents into the various columns and rows and then fill those rows and columns with the
information. It is the very powerful method of making the notes and making the students to
revise the content faster.
By dividing the information into the charts and writing the important key points and
keywords it makes the students to retain those charts in their mind. This method is bets as the
students will not write lots of notes in this rather than writing they will divide the content by

making the chars. These are basically called the flowcharts which makes them to retain the
information.
Sentence method: This method of note taking is unique and versatile and it s very easy
to make the notes. In this method the students used to have line spacing by writing the thoughts
of the different people. In every new line the new information is inserted and used that
information while reading that particular chapter (McGill, 2018). The students will write the
sentences in points which increases the retaining power of the students. There are some
advantages of this method which makes this method very versatile. As it is very easy to learn and
use and it can be used in the live lectures of the students.
There are some drawbacks that in this method the students has to write the sentences in
notes making as it is very time- consuming in the live lectures (The Sentence Method of Note-
Taking: A Quick Guide, 2022). The main aim and concept of that topics are taken away and it
creates difficulty to write and cover the every topic. The students must have handwriting skills
and the typing skills which makes them to write the sentences faster in the live session or in live
lectures.
CONCLUSION
From the above essay it is concluded about the meaning of reading and note taking which
helps the students to have better learning and understanding of the subjects. Further this essay
has evaluated about the different reading techniques which help the students to become more
efficient in their reading. The various techniques described are skimming, scanning, SQ3R,
detailed reading and critical reading, etc. Furthermore, the essay has evaluated about the four
different methods of note taking which will help the students to retain the new information. The
methods described are Cornell method, Boxing method, Charting method and Sentence method.
By this it will make the students to choose the best method in order to make the notes and have
good reading and learning.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chen, P. H., 2021. In-class and after-class lecture note-taking strategies. Active Learning in
Higher Education. 22(3). pp.245-260.
Liu, M. C., Huang, Y. M. and Chien, Y. C., 2019. Facilitating vocabulary note taking on
computers through the deep processing strategy. Journal of Educational Computing
Research. 56(8). pp.1296-1323.
Susanti, L. E., 2020. CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: EFFECTIVE WAY TO ACTIVATE
STUDENTS’AUTONOMOUS LEARNING. Journal on Studies of English Language
Teaching (JOSELT). 1(2). pp.43-55.
Dhillon, B. P. S., Herman, H. and Syafryadin, S., 2020. The Effect of Skimming Method to
Improve Students’ Ability in Reading Comprehension on Narrative Text. Linguists:
Journal Of Linguistics and Language Teaching, 6(1). pp.77-88.
Lubis, S. E. and Usman, K., 2021. Reading Comprehension Learning Model in English Text
Using Scanning and Skimming Methods in Physical Education, Health and Recreation
Study Program Stok Bina Guna. Jurnal Mantik. 5(3). pp.1808-1812.
Lesmana, Y. and Resmini, S., 2020. Students Response toward the Use of Scanning Technique
in Reading Recount Text. PROJECT (Professional Journal of English Education). 3(5).
pp.577-581.
Tonietto, L. and et.al., 2019. New method for evaluating surface roughness parameters acquired
by laser scanning. Scientific reports. 9(1). pp.1-16.
Zhang, L., Van Oosterom, P. and Liu, H., 2020. Visualization of point cloud models in mobile
augmented reality using continuous level of detail method. The International Archives
of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. 44. pp.167-170.
McGill, A.B., 2018. Reading the Bible Through Stained Glass: Postliberal Resistance to the
Historical-Critical Method. New Theology Review. 30(2). pp.31-42.
Shin, J., Lee, Y. and Jung, K., 2019, October. Effective sentence scoring method using bert for
speech recognition. In Asian Conference on Machine Learning (pp. 1081-1093). PMLR.
Online
The Sentence Method of Note- Taking: A Quick Guide. 2022. [Online]. Available through:
<https://e-student.org/sentence-note-taking-method/>