Study Skills and Report writing for Scientists.

 

 

tutor: Mike Horne FGS

for the Centre for Life Long Learning

University of Hull

Warning - I am a Scientist; I am dyslexic; I don't write essays; I do write reports.

Note taking -

Let me again be blunt - if you learn to take good notes then it all becomes a whole lot easier. This is a very individual skill - idiosyncratic (to use a long word that it is hard for dyslexics like me to spell and understand).

Why should we take notes?

Notes help us to remember.

We make notes all the time - messages, telephone numbers, shopping lists, address books, birthdays in diaries, "to do" lists ... note taking is a natural thing to do. So why is not taking in education a dying art?

One big myth -

Please, please, please do not fall for it. The lecturer's note are just that - they are the lecturer's lecture notes. They are the notes to remind the lecturer what to say and to provide illustrations to support what she or he says. They are not a text book. They do not contain the full content of the course. And most importantly they are not your notes. You are welcome to a copy of my notes - here you are, these are they! But your own notes are far more useful to you than my notes.

One other big myth -

Buying the book, downloading the web-page, picking up a copy of the lecturer's handout is not the same things as reading it! Reading is not the same as studying it! Understanding comes from absorbing the information and testing it out for your self! No-one else can do that for you!

[ I fall for this myth every time! ]

What notes should you make? Well it is a matter of taste and your learning style, but when I make notes as a scientist I record-

Types of notes. The notes we make might be different depending on circumstances and needs:-

Further information -

Updated October 2008.

  copyright Mike Horne - 2019

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