Like I've said before, the process of reading consists on reading the information that you previously selected and taking notes on that. There are a lot of ways to take notes, but I want to cover only the most important and the effective ones. When you are taking notes you make the process of reading active rather than passive and this will help you to understand and memorize the concepts much easier. My favorite method of taking notes consists on using different methods together, such as the outline method, the Cornell Method, and the mind map method. I like to use different methods because they work very well together and also because different subjects require different things. And there might be a subject or a topic where I just use a mind map.

In other one I just use an outline. So it should be something that you will be familiar with and you will understand You should use one method on another. But in doubt, you can always use the three combined, which is basically what I do most of the times, as call new ports that a study system is only as useful as your ability to adapt to your unique situation. So for some topics and subjects, I use the outline method, which consists on writing a lot of bullet points of the main ideas of the text of the paragraph or of the chapter. Basically, you just list the most important information of what you just read. Just be careful to not write everything in detail and not transcribe the sentences that you just read.

I also like to use the Cornell Method, especially if I'm going to be tested on that material. So this is great if you are in college or high school and you have tests and exams. This method was invented by Walter Park, who wanted to make the study sessions more efficient for him and for his students. It consists on three steps, the notes, taking the formulation of questions and the answer to those questions. So basically, first you take notes on the information you just read, and you use the center of the page. To do that, you can use the outline method alongside the Cornell Method.

So while you take notes, you can use the bullet points to do it. Next, you formulate questions about that part of the material, and you answer them, you should write just a short paragraph that contains the most important information. And that answers specifically the question you formulate. Most people divide a page into three sections to use the Cornell Method. So the left column contains the question. The middle one contains the notes, which you can use the outline method to do them, and then the right section contains the answer to the question or just a short paragraph.

That contains the most important information. And finally, I also like to create mind maps to help me to retain the information and to take notes on what I just read. This especially useful when the topic that you are studying contains a lot of subtopics associated with it. And so creating a mind map will help you to understand and see the main picture of the subjects Also, don't be afraid to underline to draw to make circle and to scribble and to write in very big capital letters, because your notes are supposed to be your notes and they don't have to look perfect nor very, very pretty. It's important to make your notes visual but don't focus too much on trying to make them look insanely beautiful because I see a lot of people trying to make their notes perfect, and although it might be a priority for them, they might be wasting a little bit too much time trying to make their notes beautiful instead of focusing on the material alongside main ideas you can actually capture some examples.

If they are really important to make you understand the concepts. The goal is not to capture everything you read, but to write short and certain topics and ideas that will help you to understand the main topic. So if you see a very good example, you don't have to transcribe the whole example into your notes, you can just have a quick reference that you that will make you remember that example you can also reference your own experiences, right short opinion of the author, argument or even point to other sources that relate with that paragraph. These are just quick ways to take notes that are also very effective because they help you to relate all the information that you just study it in the end of the reading and note taking you should have a decent understanding of the concepts. This is great to help you to make your final summaries and also to make the review sessions much shorter and quicker using all of them.

These notes taking methods might seem kind of complicated and overwhelming. But in reality, what really matters is doing something with the information you read. You can summarize the information using bullet points or mind maps, Mind Maps, you should formulate questions and answer to those questions using short paragraphs, writing references and examples that might help you to understand the material the notes you are taking don't have to be the final summary, especially if the topics you are studying are quite complex and dense. But taking notes is quite important to recall the material you are reading because you are actively engaging with the content. But I also want to point out that sometimes your notes can be your final summary, especially for topics that you are studying is quite short, and there are not many sources to check. So this is something you should evaluate by yourself but creating a summary never hurts so in doubt, do it.