In law school, everyone takes notes with a computer. Last semester, I took a bulk of my notes by computer as well. This helped when I was studying for finals because I could create outline by cutting and pasting a lot of material from my notes into my outline.
The semester before, though, I took all my notes by hand. I can’t write as fast as most people speak, so I was forced to process the information before I wrote it down. At the end of the semester, when I make my outline, I had to process it again, since I had to read all of my notes before I typed the relevant information into my outline. When I copy and paste my typed notes into my outline, I have a tendency to overlook a lot.
Anyways, what’s the point of all this? Well, at the end of the semester I became quite good at taking notes. As the semester went on, I noticed my notes looking better and being more comprehensive. I got all the important stuff and less of the not so important stuff. Plus, it was well organized.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve taken extensive notes by hand. I was in someone’s office talking to them about some work I had to do, I had a pad of paper and pen to take notes. I jotted a few notes down, but I felt like my writing was slow. When I got back to my office, I looked at my notes. Basically, I remembered what I was writing about, but my notes weren’t very good.
That’s when I realized that taking notes is a skill that needs to be maintained. So, I’m going to start taking notes by hand more often!
paperdan