Cornell notes templates are commonly used by students in universities to capture key points from a lecture. Cornell’s notes-taking method is one of the most effective ways to gather information efficiently. Dr. Walter Paulk from Cornell University introduced this effective method of note-taking. Download free Cornell notes templates to organize your study notes in Word (doc or Docx), Excel, and PDF formats. In this article, we share all the things that you should know to make your notes organize and summarize.
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What Are Cornell Notes?
There are various note-taking methods that you can use to organize your notes. But the Cornell note-taking method is one the most popular and efficient techniques to improve your study skills and draft your study notes in an organized way. This method is commonly used by students of universities and colleges to record important information during a lecture.
Download Free Cornell Notes Templates
It is also helpful in many situations to note some key points. Students use different tips and strategies to improve their study habits. Time management, note-taking, test-taking, and strictly following the lesson plan are one of the essential strategies that are followed by every successful student. It is not possible to write down all the words that you listen to in a lecture. So it is essential to follow an effective way to understand the whole concept in a few lines. The memory of some students fades quickly; it is the most efficient way to learn knowledge from a lecture, not just to memorize it.
Writing essential key points efficiently helps to memorize things for a long time because researchers say people forget 50% of what they listen to in an hour. So note-taking is a beneficial strategy to memorize the essential key points that you can use for future reviewing. Below we share a complete guide to Cornell notes-taking methods to organize your notes in a structured form. It is very helpful to see Cornell notes example templates to understand more about it. You can also find Cornell notes templates in a standard format. These printable note-taking templates are free and available in every format like Word, Excel, and PDF.
Cornell Notes Taking Method
There are many techniques of note-taking, but Cornell notes taking method is one of the best. The Cornell note-taking process helps you to understand more about it. Follow these simple steps to make your notes organized:
Prepare your notebook
Prepare your notebook or paper according to the Cornell note-taking format.
- First of all, a horizontal line at the bottom of the page that must be 5-7 lines above the last to make a portion in the last of the page to write the summary of your notes.
- Draw a vertical line from the start to the horizontal line that you draw.
- The left part of the page must be 2.5 inches used for reviewing your notes. It is called the clue column.
- Whereas the right portion of the vertical line is used for note-taking.
The header of this page
Make the header of this page, and write the name of the lecture topic at the top of the note-taking page. It will help you to identify each page with the name of the lecture topic.
Clue column
- Underline all the key points in the note-taking section and then write the essential key points or keywords in the left part of the paper.
- Place related questions, comments, keywords, and main ideas in this section of the paper.
- Formulate all the test questions from the note-taking section and write them in the clues column.
- This column is used to review your notes and helps to take a self-test.
Note-taking section
- Write information that the professor gives in a lecture or reading book and from other resources.
- Include diagrams displayed on the board while listening to lectures.
- Write all of your notes in the right-hand section of the paper in detail.
- Use bullet points and paragraphs to make them readable.
- Follow the MLA format to make it more comprehensive and understandable for the future.
- Write as simply and descriptively as possible.
Summary
- Write the summary of your notes in your own words.
- Use a few lines to summarize all the things.
- It is written after the lecture or writing the clues column and note-taking section.
- Include important information in the summary section.
To write the summary of a lecture, see the free Cornell notes summary templates in Word and PDF format.
It is one of the fastest ways to organize your notes, improve learning skills, and summarize all the essential things in one place. If you want to take all the advantages of this method, then it is essential to follow the Cornell notes format. Browse our collection to download the Cornell notes sheet, which is available in every version you prefer according to the Cornell layout.
The 5 R’s Of Note Taking
The primary reason for the note-taking method is to improve your study skills and help you make successful in your field. Above, we discussed one of the most popular and effective techniques of note-taking. After that, there are some things that you should keep in mind to use these notes efficiently. The Cornell system is explained by the following things:
Record
The first R’ of note-taking defines recording all the essential things during a lecture. Write all the meaningful data. Record the important points, facts, and ideas which you are listening to in a lecture or reading from a book.
Reduce
It is hard to write down all the words of your professor during a lecture. Try to summarize things as you can. Underline the essential things in your note-taking section and write the keywords, questions, and ideas in the clue section of the paper. It helps to make things clear and understand quickly.
Recite
To memorize all the things, it is essential to write your notes in your own words. Read the note-taking section, see the cue column, and then write what you listen to in a lecture in a few lines.
Reflect
Think about this topic after reading your notes and write your ideas in the notebook, which helps to make a better discussion about this topic and able you to make better answers to the exam question.
Review
Before reading further about the same topic, take review your old notes. It helps to refresh all the information that you have in your old records. Take a review of the key points and main ideas before adding the new material to your old notes.
Features Of Good Notes
There are features of good notes from which you must be aware of making effective notes:
- Should be organized in an efficient way
- Must be followed by some note-taking method
- Use bullet points instead of a long paragraph
- Should be readable and understandable
- Underline the key points and main ideas
- Use graphics to make it visually better
- There should be a header for the notes
- Use the standard margin and line spacing
- Use paragraph headings to make it more descriptive
- Include the relevant information
You should have all these features in your notes to call them good notes.
5 Best Note-Taking Methods
There are various note-taking methods that you can follow to make your notes well organized. Students use different techniques to arrange notes and improve their study skills. One of the most popular and effective techniques is note-taking. Cornell note-taking system is one of the popular and commonly used notes taking methods. Below we provide a complete guide to the basic note-taking methods. Some primary methods to improve the readability of your notes are as follows:
The outline method
The outline method is one of the popular and effective methods to write down what you heard in a lecture. This method is helpful when there is group information. After discussing the main topic, there are subcategories of the main topic. It is vital when you write down the information in a structured form. Use bullet points to represent every topic and the sub-topic. You can see an outline method example to understand its format of it.
The boxing method
In the boxing note-taking process, each box contains a specific group of information. Students do not commonly use the boxing method because it is time-consuming. Grouping the data in different tables is sometimes time-consuming and complicated. It is not suitable to note down every type of information.
The Cornell method
Above, we discuss all the Cornell notes and its method. Divide your paper as we described above, and write the brief information but to the point in the note-taking section. Summarize your notes and write them in the summary section. Place the key points, main ideas, and questions in the cue column to self-test and review notes.
The charting method
The charting method is just like the table and spreadsheet. Organize your notes by creating the chart. Make a separate row for each topic and place the related information in each cell. There are different categories of each topic that are placed in each column. For example, charting note-taking methods and columns of this topic may be described, advantages, disadvantages, and uses.
The mapping method
The mapping method is used when the material of your notes is complicated and hard to write. Students or teachers use a mapping note-taking approach to represent the content graphically. Write the main topic on the top of the page and write the related topic or subtopics on the left or side and link it with the main topic by drawing the arrows.
How To Format Cornell Notes Template In Word
We share a list of Cornell note-taking format templates available in every format which you like. You can customize blank Cornell notes templates as you need. Follow these steps to make your template in Word:
- Open Microsoft Word.
- Click on the “Blank document” to make the template according to your need.
- Make a header of the document as you like, you can write as “class notes templates.”
- Go to the “insert tab” click on “table” and select the drawing table.
- Draw a table according to your need. People prefer the unlined Cornell template; you can draw it as you like. It should be 2.5 inches for the left side of the clue column and 6.0 inches for the notes-taking section and 2.0 inches for the summary part of the notes.
- Click on the “file” from the menu bar. Select “save as” and write the name of the file then click “ok” to save it.
Tips For Cornell Notes Taking
Use these tips to make your notes useful.
- Use bullet points to highlight the essential key points.
- Write all the important information briefly but to the point.
- Listen to the lecture actively.
- Summarize the whole lecture notes in our own words
- Write your opinion in the summary section after listening to the lecture.
- Underline the important points and draft questions, main ideas, and key points from the note-taking section and write in the left-hand side column the paper
- Use simple words for complex terms.
Use MLA format to increase the readability of your notes.
Mistakes To Avoid While Taking Cornell Notes
Cornell’s notes-taking system is widely used by the students of schools and colleges for biology, maths, and chemistry subjects. Mistakes that commonly happen while taking Cornell notes, we share a complete guide to avoiding these mistakes.
- It is impossible to write down the lecture without listening to it. People focus on writing instead of listening to the lecture attentively. This may lead to making failure notes.
- Students want to write down every word of the lecture, avoid it. Write only the important and relevant information in your notes. Avoid writing irrelevant things in your notes.
- Sometimes, students follow the paragraph strategy to note the lecture. It may create confusion and is difficult to read. Instead, use bullet points to highlight the essential things.
- Students write the content of the lecture and then forget to review it. Reviewing the notes helps to memorize them and prevent any incorrect information.
- Taking notes does not mean highlighting the text. It is a way to summarize the lecture in an organized and efficient way.
