Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Online notetaking 65 
difcult to fnd things in an endless stream of scribbles. Often, 
you can fnd it hard to read what you have written. Plus, the lack 
of structure means it is hard to extract meaning from your notes. 
Te only real beneft of writing random notes appears to be that 
it helps your memory and subsequent recall. Te act of writing 
things down provides the brain with additional processing for a 
particular item. Tis helps you form memories. So, random note-
taking does have value. However, compared with more structured 
notetaking, that single value is relatively small. 
Cornell Notes 
Te Cornell Method of taking notes was developed in the 1950s 
by Professor Walter Pauk, who worked at Cornell University, New 
Figure 4.1 
The basic layout for Cornell Notes 

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66 Studying online 
York. He later popularised the method in his book 
How to Study in 
College, 
which was frst published in 1962 and continued through 
11 editions until his death in 2019 (Pauk and Owens, 2014). Te 
Cornell Method divides a sheet of paper into three distinct areas: 
the cue column, the main notetaking column, and the summary 
box (see Figure 4.1). 
Te system requires you to make brief notes of the lecture or read-
ing material in the main column for the notes. Ten, once you 
have fnished taking notes, you enter some “cues” in the frst col-
umn. Tese are questions that help establish connections or jog 
your memory. After you have written these cues, you should then 
summarise the entire page of notes in a couple of sentences in the 
summary box. You can download a Cornell Notes template from 
the website I have created to accompany this book, https://study 
ingonline.tips. Because Cornell Notetaking is structured, it means 
that it is easy for online students to use. You can use templates 
within Microsoft Word or Google Docs, for example, to produce 
your notes. You could even create a template for fling systems 
such as Evernote®, Microsoft OneNote, Nimbus Note, or Notion. 
Tis method of notetaking has been studied many times and has 
been shown to be of help to a wide range of students. In 2008, a 
study was announced at an educational conference that showed 
the Cornell Method was mainly of use where knowledge had to be 
synthesised or where evaluation was necessary (Jacobs, 2008). Te 
researchers found that when acquiring knowledge was required, 
an alternative method of taking notes was better. Tis method is 
known as “guided notetaking”.