Reading and Note-Taking: Essential Skills for Academic Excellence

This essay discusses the crucial role of reading and note-taking skills in a student's academic journey, emphasizing their impact on knowledge retention, exam preparation, and future career prospects. It explores various reading techniques, including SQ3R, skimming, and scanning, highlighting their benefits in enhancing comprehension, critical thinking, and stress reduction. The essay also delves into different note-taking methods such as the Cornell method, outlining, mapping, and sentence methods, evaluating their effectiveness in different learning scenarios. It concludes that mastering these skills is essential for students to achieve academic excellence, improve communication skills, and build a strong foundation for their professional lives. Desklib provides resources and solved assignments to aid students in developing these crucial skills.

Individual Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
It is necessary for every student to read properly and make correct notes of what they
read to take full knowledge and remember the important information about the different courses
during their school and college life. Reading makes a person more active, strengthen their mental
muscles and improve their vision toward their success. After reading, they gain knowledge on
multiple topics to build their skills and abilities which help them to achieve success. During a
class lecture every student must record and make complete notes on important topics presented
by the teacher (Medvid and Podolkova, 2019). The information given by the teacher in lectures
on many crucial topics the are not found in books which is useful for future exams and
assessments. Effective reading or note making skills will help students in preparing for
examination and base for future career. In this report, it covers reading skills, reading techniques
with its importance which help a student to become efficient reader further it covers note taking
skills with its four methods that will help students to remember new information and become
efficient reader.
MAIN BODY
Reading is the activity of looking at written words, letters and symbols to knowing the
meaning of that words or sentences it is the part of language skills along with speaking, hearing
and writing. Reading means identify, understand and relate the letters or words and their
meaning (Schwartzman, 2020). Reading skills helps students to improve their reading quality
and ability such as how smoothly they can read and translate or understand well it in their
manner. Reading skills are categorised in fluency, decoding, understanding and vocabulary of
sentences for these reading skills every student work on or build it throughout their academic life
and beyond.
Reading is the important habit by which a person can make and change their life
completely, it can cheer them, improve them and entertain them with knowledge and experiences
on multiple topics. Reading techniques allow the readers to change over a written sentence or
message into a understandable language with fluency and decoding to connect with the text. It is
not essential to learned these skills as strict theories but, once a person understand the importance
of reading in their career then they can increase the quantity and quality of content which
increase their reading capacity and skills (Rear, 2019). The favourable reading techniques

include the SQ3R reading technique, it has five different steps involve in this techniques, all
step with the aim to get near to full understanding of the content. First one is survey, by doing
survey they are preparing their mind to get fast thought of the text material and structure of the
reading. Another is question, while reading the content, to find out the implicit meaning of the
sentence they should set questions in their mind and try to make out the answers. Third is read,
if reader is searching for any specific topic so they must read selectively. Fourth is recite, in this,
the reader must understand how to answers their questions in their own words with the use of
keywords which are needed to sum up the whole idea. Last one is review, in which the reader
must review the whole content in their mind.
Skimming, it is another technique which is used to read rapidly to get the important facts
or gist and skip unnecessary details. It helps to understand at which topic they need to focus on
the second read for fast review before an examination or quick research of important topic in
last minute to save time (Oranburg, 2020).
Scanning, it is a reading technique which is used for getting particular points and facts by
looking at the entire content. Scanning mainly used for highlighting the main points such as list
of email, news articles and the starting or last part of the book.
Active or detailed reading, in these active reading technique, while reading the text the
reader fully or actively involved with the content and in detailed reading, reader carefully read
each words to understand accurate meaning of the content.
These techniques are important for students to boost their creativity and imagination,
because with the help of these techniques a student involve in lectures and generate their interest
in reading which help them to enhance their imagination and creativity also they explore their
thoughts from different perspective (Kostelanetz and Silverstein, 2021). From that they can solve
problems related to their course and assignment more efficiently and build new and innovative
opinions, thoughts and image in their mind with detail reading.
Self improvement, by this reading helps a student to create positive thought or attitude it
is important to develop mindsets, give extravagant knowledge and teaching good lessons of life
which will help students to build their career. When a student use these techniques in daily
reading process they will improve their capacity to understand content better (Toldson, 2019).
Also give their best in the examinations to get better grades and acquire proper knowledge of
particular filed which they pursue for their future career.

Develops analytical skills, by active reading, students investigate various aspects related
to their career choice which include questioning such as what they read and how it helps them to
build their views, thoughts and opinions in the class. New ideas and opinion pop out in their
mind by active reading which develops and impact their reading skills and gives them a new
perspective to solve problem and do their work more efficiently.
Reduce stress and increase knowledge, by SQ3R reading techniques, students improve
their reading skills which improve their communication skills also with the help of survey and
questioning they generate curiosity to know more about their favourite topic or crucial subjects
to keep their mind sharp and healthy. With continuous reading of same topic they highlight their
main points which reduce stress during their examination and they get full information about that
for lifetime. Through skimming and scanning techniques students reduce stress and keep their
mind free at last moment of examination to read important facts and topics only. After reading
books they get knowledge and generate curiosity to know more about different traditions,
cultures, history , health and various other subjects which give them pleasure.
Note taking is the process of recording and writing information and facts from various
sources and during class lecture. By taking notes from teacher, the students records and write the
core of the information in their note book which help them in their examination and release their
mind free from recall everything in last moment (Jacobson and Bach, 2022). Note taking play
importance role in every student's academic life and future career which help them to get higher
grades in their school and college life also they build base for their future career and they are
more involved in the lectures which allow them to better understand the content and material.
Effecting note taking skills is most important key for students to succeeding in academic
and college life. It is very difficult for students to remember each important details and major
information from classroom lectures and discussions without taking good notes. So they should
give a good amount of time on critical review and write information into notes while giving
lectures by teacher in classroom. It allow them to have permanent record of relevant information
which they write in their own words and reduce plagiarism (Deane, 2018). It also helps students
to differentiate, where their ideas came from with others and how they think different on various
ideas. For improving the skills of note taking students can use these methods of note taking, first
is Cornell method, this method provide a particular formate that organizing and condensing
notes into four boxes such as header, 2 columns and footer. In header, write headings or tittle

then in two columns, on left side it is for cues or keywords and in right side, they write their
main notes in brief or full content at last in footer, write full summary or conclusion of the topic.
It is simple and helpful method for making notes which help a student to define their priorities.
This method is very easy to learn which requires least time or little effort also it is suitable for
reviewing and recording notes for almost subjects which fulfils learning process within one page.
Further it help students to make valuable notes to easily find the subject matter while revising
their notes in examination time.
Second is, the outlining method, it is the most popular method of note taking in this
method students can store informations to identify the material clearly. Some times it is not
suitable in live lectures because it requires concentration or clear structure for note taking. It is
important for students to use this method to find connections between topics clearly, record the
information in a ranked and logical way, to quick and easy recall the notes before exam and last
it is helpful to make notes during slow lectures (Alter, 2019).
Third is, the mapping method, it is used to understand the complex text more effectively.
To use this method students makes graphs according to their content that helpful them to
capturing the connections among ideas, concepts and facts. It start with a main topic at the
middle of the page then branching material into small subtopics, supporting topics then write
them in small details. It is beneficial to students for visual learning, to understand the
relationships between small heading with big topic, increase their participation in lectures which
help them to review and understand the large subjects very efficiently. Also this method required
good concentration or understanding skills which is consuming time and not used effectively
during lectures.
Last one is, sentence note taking method, in this method sentences are separated in lines
to quickly such as record new idea, topic or facts in separate line and give numbering of every
facts. This method is easier to exercise when the content is hard or delivered fast. It is the best
method for students to easily understand the complex material and review it to identify the most
important and least important information at last moment of their examination (Sun and Wang,
2020). It is also helpful for students to write again their notes into another method so they clearly
see the connections between various topics. Sentence method is used for any type of class or
subjects because it is very easy to apply and helpful for fast note taking during lectures. It
required quick handwriting or fast typing speed, difficult to review the sentences after class

because it consuming time or not define properly the main point with less details and also using
this method students cannot connect their information accurately.
So, students use these methods according to the requirement of the situations and time
each method have advantages and disadvantages also. Writer must use these methods in their
academic life so they determine which method is suitable for which conditions and improve their
note taking skills that will help them to remember new information more efficiently which also
help them for their professional life and future career. With the help of these methods students
improve their note taking or reading skills which help hem to get higher grades and increase their
concentration in lectures.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that reading and note taking skills is important keys in the life of students
to get success and higher grades in their academic and profession life. By using various
techniques of reading skills a student can improve their ability to read and understand the
material more efficiently which reduce their stress during their examination and enhance their
interest to get more information which help them to build communication skills and base for
their future career also. Further they use and learn various method of note taking that will help
them to remember new information and learn their course more quickly and efficiently. After
learning these method they can easily understand complex material and get important
information which is useful for their examination and assignment.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alter, N.M., 2019. The essay film after fact and fiction. Columbia University Press.
Deane, P., 2018. The challenges of writing in school: Conceptualizing writing development
within a sociocognitive framework. Educational Psychologist. 53(4). pp.280-300.
Jacobson, B. and Bach, A., 2022. Neoliberal Logics: An Analysis of Texas’s STAAR Exam
Writing Prompts. Journal of Literacy Research, p.1086296X221076421.
Kostelanetz, R. and Silverstein, S., 2021. Aaron Copland: A Reader Selected Writings 1923–
1972. Routledge.
Medvid, O. and Podolkova, S., 2019. Essay as a form of academic writing. Edukacyjna Analiza
Transakcyjna. (8). pp.215-225.
Oranburg, S., 2020. Distance education in the time of coronavirus: quick and easy strategies for
professors. Duquesne University School of Law Research Paper, (2020-02).
Rear, D., 2019. One size fits all? The limitations of standardised assessment in critical
thinking. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 44(5). pp.664-675.
Schwartzman, R., 2020. Performing pandemic pedagogy. Communication Education. 69(4).
pp.502-517.
Sun, T. and Wang, C., 2020. College students’ writing self-efficacy and writing self-regulated
learning strategies in learning English as a foreign language. System. 90. p.102221.
Toldson, I.A., 2019. No BS (Bad Stats) (pp. 3-16). Brill.