Study Skill Lessons

Lesson 4 of 5

Taking Notes and Capturing Main Ideas

Lesson #4: Taking Notes and Capturing Main Ideas

In the first three Lessons the emphases has been on printed materials, but what has been presented pertains equally well to lectures or videos. The student is receiving information in a different environment and must make some adjustments to be efficient in learning that information.

Reading material for understanding has one great advantage: Time is not a major handicap. The reader can pause, go back, immediately make corrections, etc. Those adjustments are not as easily made during lectures or videos. That being said, you need to apply a process similar to the one used while reading.

  1. Identify the main idea and distinguish it from supportive comments.
  2. Write main ideas in your own words or write questions that are answered by the main ideas.
  3. Give first priority in your study to understanding main ideas and treat supportive materials as having less importance.