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> It’s critical for me to make notes and annotations. What notes and annotations do you usually make? I can understand notes when you're at a lecture discussin

> It’s critical for me to make notes and annotations. What notes and annotations do you usually make? I can understand notes when you're at a lecture discussing a paper, but my experience is that the lecture rarely pertains to one specific paper. I don't really take a lot of notes, so I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

jackling 5y ago
I don't take notes, but use a pen and paper as a scratch pad. If the paper has some math, I can sketch it out and try to break it down, allowing me to understand it better. Or if there's a weird concept, I can draw it out and visualize the issue. It's also useful when the information is really dense and there are certain things I need to go back and recall but don't want to search my short term memory for.
wirthjason 5y ago
It depends what you are reading and why. Check out “How to Read A Book” by Mortimer Adler. The book is quite old but still extremely relevant. (He’s one of the best philosophers/thinkers I’ve ever read BTW. I suggest “How To Think About The Great Ideas”, but that’s for another topic.) On the subject of note taking a professor once told me “don’t take notes, make notes”. Note taking is basically writing down what the author (lecturer) says. In college so many people would just blindly copy what the professor wrote on the board. That is note “taking”. Note “making” is adding you’re thoughts: what is the author saying (in my words) and do I agree with the ideas? What would other authors think, are there counter points, supporting examples, etc. Is this point elaborated elsewhere in the book? What terms, words, or concepts need more explanation? I found this blog (https://fs.blog/how-to-read-a-book/ https://fs.blog/how-to-read-a-book/) it has a good summary of Adler’s ideas. For example, on using the margins in a book: When you buy a book, you establish a property right in it, just as you do in clothes or furniture when you buy and pay for them. But the act of purchase is actually only the prelude to possession in the case of a book. Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it— which comes to the same thing— is by writing in it. Why is marking a book indispensable to reading it? First, it keeps you awake— not merely conscious, but wide awake. Second, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks. Third, writing your reactions down helps you to remember the thoughts of the author. Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author. Presumably, he knows more about the subject than you do; if not, you probably should not be bothering with his book. But understanding is a two-way operation; the learner has to question himself and question the teacher. He even has to be willing to argue with the teacher, once he understands what the teacher is saying. Marking a book is literally an expression of your differences or your agreements with the author. It is the highest respect you can pay him.
- throwaquestion5 5y ago
  Thanks for the thoughtful reply. That blog is indeed have good inspectional notes about Adler's book :-)
rg111 5y ago
I just write my opinions on the margin, or general thoughts, especially something new that can stem from there? I mostly write connections that I make while reading a paper.

jackling 5y ago

I don't take notes, but use a pen and paper as a scratch pad. If the paper has some math, I can sketch it out and try to break it down, allowing me to understand it better. Or if there's a weird concept, I can draw it out and visualize the issue. It's also useful when the information is really dense and there are certain things I need to go back and recall but don't want to search my short term memory for.

wirthjason 5y ago

It depends what you are reading and why. Check out “How to Read A Book” by Mortimer Adler. The book is quite old but still extremely relevant. (He’s one of the best philosophers/thinkers I’ve ever read BTW. I suggest “How To Think About The Great Ideas”, but that’s for another topic.) On the subject of note taking a professor once told me “don’t take notes, make notes”. Note taking is basically writing down what the author (lecturer) says. In college so many people would just blindly copy what the professor wrote on the board. That is note “taking”. Note “making” is adding you’re thoughts: what is the author saying (in my words) and do I agree with the ideas? What would other authors think, are there counter points, supporting examples, etc. Is this point elaborated elsewhere in the book? What terms, words, or concepts need more explanation? I found this blog (https://fs.blog/how-to-read-a-book/ https://fs.blog/how-to-read-a-book/) it has a good summary of Adler’s ideas. For example, on using the margins in a book: When you buy a book, you establish a property right in it, just as you do in clothes or furniture when you buy and pay for them. But the act of purchase is actually only the prelude to possession in the case of a book. Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it— which comes to the same thing— is by writing in it. Why is marking a book indispensable to reading it? First, it keeps you awake— not merely conscious, but wide awake. Second, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks. Third, writing your reactions down helps you to remember the thoughts of the author. Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author. Presumably, he knows more about the subject than you do; if not, you probably should not be bothering with his book. But understanding is a two-way operation; the learner has to question himself and question the teacher. He even has to be willing to argue with the teacher, once he understands what the teacher is saying. Marking a book is literally an expression of your differences or your agreements with the author. It is the highest respect you can pay him.

throwaquestion5 5y ago
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. That blog is indeed have good inspectional notes about Adler's book :-)

rg111 5y ago

I just write my opinions on the margin, or general thoughts, especially something new that can stem from there? I mostly write connections that I make while reading a paper.