In a separate article, we reviewed some basic notetaking strategies. These included things like capturing main ideas, paying attention to text in boldface, preparing questions in advance to facilitate notetaking at meetings or doctor appointments, etc.
This time around, we’re going to focus on notetaking formats. In other words, how should your notes be laid out; what should your notes look like?
Let’s start with what they shouldn’t look like. Principle #1 is "Don’t make everything look equally important!" This translates into "Don't start every line at the left margin." There are at least three good reasons for this principle:
Some items of information just are more important than others.
Some items are subordinate to others, i.e., information tends to have a hierarchy that makes sense. The "look" of your notes should reflect that hierarchy.
Notes in which every line begins at the left margin are very difficult to decipher, review, and learn from.
Fortunately for us, the two most familiar formats for text-based notes (as opposed to graphic organizers) take care of Principle #1 for us. These are