Note-Taking Methods: Cornell, Outline, Mapping and More

Good notes do two jobs. In the lecture, they keep you thinking about what is being said. Afterward, they give you something to study from. Most students take notes that do neither well: they copy what is on the slide or try to write down every word, then reread them before the exam.

Different methods suit different courses and different people. This guide explains the main ones, shows how each works and helps you choose.

What makes notes useful

Whichever method you use, useful notes share a few features:

• They are in your own words, which forces you to process the material.
• They show structure, so you can see main ideas and details.
• They include questions, so they become tools for self-testing.
• They are dated and labeled, so you can find them later.
• They get reviewed, ideally within a day.

A method is a way to build these in without thinking.

The Cornell method

Walter Pauk developed this at Cornell University in the 1950s, and it remains popular because it builds review into the page.

Divide each page into three areas:

• Notes column (right, wide): write your lecture notes here during class.
• Cue column (left, narrow): after class, write keywords and questions that match the notes.
• Summary (bottom): write two or three sentences summarizing the page in your own words.

To study, cover the notes column and use the cues to test yourself. The summary helps you see the whole page at a glance.

Best for: most lecture courses, and for students who want a system that encourages review.

The outline method

Use headings, subheadings and indented points to show hierarchy.

• Main topic
  • Subtopic
    • Detail or example

It is fast and neat when the lecturer is well organized, and it makes the structure obvious. It works poorly when a lecture jumps around or when ideas connect in many directions.

Best for: structured lectures, textbooks and subjects with clear hierarchies, such as history or biology.

The mapping method

Start with a central topic and branch out to related ideas, drawing links between them. Maps show relationships rather than sequence. Our guide to mind mapping for studying covers this in more detail.

It works well for seeing connections and for review, but it is hard to do in fast lectures and takes space.

Best for: subjects with many linked ideas, such as psychology, politics or literature.

The charting method

Create columns and rows to compare items across categories, for example, three theories compared by author, date, main claim and criticism. Fill in the cells during the lecture or afterward.

It is excellent for comparisons and for facts that fit a pattern, but it only works when the lecturer's material suits a table.

Best for: comparing theories, cases, countries, drugs, historical periods or experiments.

The sentence method

Write each new idea as a short sentence on its own line. It captures a lot quickly, and it is easy when a lecture is fast and unstructured. The downside is that it has no built-in structure, so you need to add headings and links when reviewing.

Best for: fast, disorganized lectures where you need to get everything down.

Annotating slides

When slides are provided, print them or import them into a note-taking app and write beside each slide. This saves copying and lets you concentrate on what the lecturer adds. Do not just highlight the slides, since the notes you add are what you will learn from. Most note-taking apps support importing slides.

Paper or digital

Both work, and each has trade-offs.

Paper slows you down, which pushes you to summarize instead of transcribe. It has no notifications, and many people find it easier to remember where on a page something was. It is harder to search and to reorganize.

Digital notes are faster to type, easy to search and simple to reorganize or back up. The risks are distraction from other tabs and notifications, and typing nearly word for word, which makes notes long and shallow.

If you type, close everything except your notes. If you write, consider photographing key pages so they are searchable. If you cannot decide, try each for two weeks in the same course and compare how well you can study from the results.

Matching the method to the course

• Math and physics: write worked examples step by step, with a short comment on why each step is taken. Outline and Cornell both work.
• Biology and medicine: use outlines for processes and charts for comparing organs, drugs or diseases.
• History and politics: use outlines for chronology and maps for linking causes and effects.
• Literature and philosophy: use the sentence method for arguments, with quotes marked separately and your own responses in the margin.
• Business and economics: use charts for comparing models and Cornell for lectures with many definitions.
• Languages: use charts for grammar patterns and lists for vocabulary, with example sentences.

Choosing a method

Many students mix methods, using outlines in one course and charts in another. It is fine to switch within a lecture if the material changes shape.

Speed tips

• Abbreviate. Use w/ for with, b/c for because, and develop your own shorthand.
• Use symbols. Arrows for cause, an equals sign for definitions, a star for important.
• Capture keywords and examples, not full sentences.
• Leave gaps for things you missed, to fill in later from slides or a friend.
• Mark questions with a question mark and ask or look them up afterward.

After the lecture

Notes only become study material when you work with them:

1. Review within 24 hours, fixing gaps and unclear parts while you still remember.
2. Add cues and a summary.
3. Turn headings into questions and test yourself.
4. Link to earlier notes where topics connect.

Our guide to how to review lecture notes goes through a short routine.

Making notes better over time

Your first method will not be perfect, and that is fine. After a few weeks, look at your notes as a student preparing for an exam would. Can you find things? Can you turn them into questions? Are there gaps you did not notice at the time?

Adjust one thing at a time. If notes are too long, write fewer words and more keywords. If they are hard to review, add a cue column or summary. If you keep missing key points, read the next topic before the lecture, so you know what to listen for. Small changes over a semester add up to a method that suits you far better than any template.

Common mistakes

1. Writing everything, and understanding nothing.
2. Copying slides instead of adding to them.
3. Using one method for every course whether it fits or not.
4. Never reviewing.
5. Making notes pretty, at the cost of making them useful.

When you miss something

Everyone loses the thread sometimes. Do not stop to fix it, because you will miss the next point too. Leave a blank line with a question mark, keep going, and fill the gap afterward from the slides, the textbook, a classmate's notes or office hours. Many lecturers are happy to explain a point you flag, and a list of specific gaps makes for a much better question than saying you did not follow the lecture.

A last tip: keep all of a course's notes in one place, whether that is one binder, one notebook or one folder, and put the date and lecture topic at the top of every page. A tidy home for your notes makes review much faster, because you spend your time studying instead of hunting for pages.

The bottom line

Choose a method that fits the lecture, keep it simple, write in your own words and review quickly. The best note-taking method is the one that gets you thinking in class and testing yourself afterward.