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It is scientifically proven that handwriting is better for your memory because it forces you to process the material more than note taking on a laptop. https:/

It is scientifically proven that handwriting is better for your memory because it forces you to process the material more than note taking on a laptop. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/Teaching/papers/MuellerAndOppenheimer2014OnTakingNotesByHand.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwj_kKjkjpPhAhWKYlAKHVanCEgQFjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw19dtGllcPSg-4UT7Yg_Rwq https://www.google.com/url?q=https://linguistics.ucla.edu/pe...

setquk 8y ago
Totally agree. Also handwriting is better for your handwriting! About ten years into my IT career my skills devolved into chicken scratch and I can't even read notes I wrote recently now. I need to do something about that.
gjulianm 8y ago
I want to highlight that part: "Participants using laptops are more likely to take lengthier transcription-like notes with greater verbatim overlap with the lecture" In other words, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with taking notes on a laptop if you don't copy everything verbatim. If you force yourself to process the material you should have no problem.
- 0xCMP 8y ago
  But they noticed that most do not go back to their notes as much as they should so a general advice, while typing is easier hand-written helps you learn and retain better using less exposure. Assuming a class isn't already being recorded (many/most at my university were), the best solution is probably to record audio on your phone and take hand written notes. Then go back and transcribe the hand written notes while referring to the audio in to the computer.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    If you're going to do that, your best bet is probably to take handwritten notes on a tablet while recording using an app that syncs the two. I sometimes do this; it's also nice that I can snap a photo of a slide with the tablet and insert it into the notes. TBH, I mostly type notes, in part because my handwriting is really bad and, if I'm going to write something up about an event cutting and pasting is easier. OTOH, I sometimes prefer to have fairly cursory notes knowing that I can always go back to exactly what was said if I need/want to.
  - zrobotics 8y ago
    Well, I started taking LaTeX notes in-class specifically because I couldn't refer back to handwritten notes later; my handwriting is atrocious at the best of times and when taking quick notes it was just unreadable. However, I did have to keep a notebook for diagrams as well, and my typed notes always needed cleanup afterwards. My eventual process was to type up a first draft before class while reading the material, supplement them with lecture material, then finish them after class. This won't work for everyone, but after I started doing this I would actually use my notes, whereas before I wouldn't, since I could actually read the darn things. Plus, I can type ~2.5 times faster than I can write.
sewercake 8y ago
As another reply mentioned, it seems like hand-written notes are good because the limitations on writing speed force you to synthesize information as it is relayed to you. Outside of mathematical lectures, I find writing notes in something like notepad++ more fruitful. I can attempt mirror the structure of the speakers' argument using tabs/indentations, and quickly reformat the document as the logical structure becomes clearer.
- ghaff 8y ago
  I've known people who liked using mindmaps for this purpose. Personally, I could never get into them but big fans exist.
pflats 8y ago
That's... not true, and not supported by the study you linked. In the study, there was no measured difference in memory between the two note taking styles; the groups' factual scores were not significantly different in any of the tests. Where things vary is the non-memory questions: are the notes helping you understand and apply the material better, and how advantageous are they to your studying? In both of those categories, handwritten notes win out. Finally, there is no "because"; the authors can only speculate. I am not aware of any studies that can actually purport to say why handwritten notes are better.
- Frost1x 8y ago
  I find handwritten notes far worse. For me, I'd prefer a full set of notes to a be provided if feasible (a lecture, etc.) but that doesn't work in everyday conversational meetings. I instead prefer typing notes because it requires little cognative load to accomplish and is quite efficient. The point of notes for me is to refresh my memory after the fact because my human memory isn't reliable enough. They are especially useful for capturing finer quantified details. During a typical lecture or discussion/meeting, I find it far more useful focus most my cognitative abilities on what's being described/presented to me and only commit critical information to memory. The majority of my energy spent is processing the language and concepts discussed, linking language and concepts togethe, connecting those concepts with previous experiences/knowledge, and generating new ideas/relationships... all in what seems a fairly random order as needed. This allows you to ask informed questions when I see things missing in the conceptual structure I have that I might otherwise miss later and have no means to extract that information because my notes may not have the relationship or fact I need. Later on when reviewing the information, I utilize the critical conceptual structure/framework I created about the discussion to reason through it. If there are pieces of information missing, it's pretty obvious and I can refer to my notes. If I missed the concept I at least have a second shot at recovering the idea from highly detailed and clear to read notes I took. I could not imagine trying to write LaTeX on the fly during a in depth mathematics discussion, I'd have far too much focus on syntax formulating correct notation structures than the concept at hand when it's far easier to translate using a camera phone or handwriting.

setquk 8y ago

Totally agree. Also handwriting is better for your handwriting! About ten years into my IT career my skills devolved into chicken scratch and I can't even read notes I wrote recently now. I need to do something about that.

gjulianm 8y ago

I want to highlight that part: "Participants using laptops are more likely to take lengthier transcription-like notes with greater verbatim overlap with the lecture" In other words, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with taking notes on a laptop if you don't copy everything verbatim. If you force yourself to process the material you should have no problem.

0xCMP 8y ago
But they noticed that most do not go back to their notes as much as they should so a general advice, while typing is easier hand-written helps you learn and retain better using less exposure. Assuming a class isn't already being recorded (many/most at my university were), the best solution is probably to record audio on your phone and take hand written notes. Then go back and transcribe the hand written notes while referring to the audio in to the computer.
- ghaff 8y ago
  If you're going to do that, your best bet is probably to take handwritten notes on a tablet while recording using an app that syncs the two. I sometimes do this; it's also nice that I can snap a photo of a slide with the tablet and insert it into the notes. TBH, I mostly type notes, in part because my handwriting is really bad and, if I'm going to write something up about an event cutting and pasting is easier. OTOH, I sometimes prefer to have fairly cursory notes knowing that I can always go back to exactly what was said if I need/want to.
- zrobotics 8y ago
  Well, I started taking LaTeX notes in-class specifically because I couldn't refer back to handwritten notes later; my handwriting is atrocious at the best of times and when taking quick notes it was just unreadable. However, I did have to keep a notebook for diagrams as well, and my typed notes always needed cleanup afterwards. My eventual process was to type up a first draft before class while reading the material, supplement them with lecture material, then finish them after class. This won't work for everyone, but after I started doing this I would actually use my notes, whereas before I wouldn't, since I could actually read the darn things. Plus, I can type ~2.5 times faster than I can write.

sewercake 8y ago

As another reply mentioned, it seems like hand-written notes are good because the limitations on writing speed force you to synthesize information as it is relayed to you. Outside of mathematical lectures, I find writing notes in something like notepad++ more fruitful. I can attempt mirror the structure of the speakers' argument using tabs/indentations, and quickly reformat the document as the logical structure becomes clearer.

ghaff 8y ago
I've known people who liked using mindmaps for this purpose. Personally, I could never get into them but big fans exist.

pflats 8y ago

That's... not true, and not supported by the study you linked. In the study, there was no measured difference in memory between the two note taking styles; the groups' factual scores were not significantly different in any of the tests. Where things vary is the non-memory questions: are the notes helping you understand and apply the material better, and how advantageous are they to your studying? In both of those categories, handwritten notes win out. Finally, there is no "because"; the authors can only speculate. I am not aware of any studies that can actually purport to say why handwritten notes are better.

Frost1x 8y ago
I find handwritten notes far worse. For me, I'd prefer a full set of notes to a be provided if feasible (a lecture, etc.) but that doesn't work in everyday conversational meetings. I instead prefer typing notes because it requires little cognative load to accomplish and is quite efficient. The point of notes for me is to refresh my memory after the fact because my human memory isn't reliable enough. They are especially useful for capturing finer quantified details. During a typical lecture or discussion/meeting, I find it far more useful focus most my cognitative abilities on what's being described/presented to me and only commit critical information to memory. The majority of my energy spent is processing the language and concepts discussed, linking language and concepts togethe, connecting those concepts with previous experiences/knowledge, and generating new ideas/relationships... all in what seems a fairly random order as needed. This allows you to ask informed questions when I see things missing in the conceptual structure I have that I might otherwise miss later and have no means to extract that information because my notes may not have the relationship or fact I need. Later on when reviewing the information, I utilize the critical conceptual structure/framework I created about the discussion to reason through it. If there are pieces of information missing, it's pretty obvious and I can refer to my notes. If I missed the concept I at least have a second shot at recovering the idea from highly detailed and clear to read notes I took. I could not imagine trying to write LaTeX on the fly during a in depth mathematics discussion, I'd have far too much focus on syntax formulating correct notation structures than the concept at hand when it's far easier to translate using a camera phone or handwriting.