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Published: August 28, 2026
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Note Taking Methods: Which System Works Best for University Students?
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The six most widely used note taking methods are Cornell, outline, mapping, charting, sentence and slide annotation. None of them is best for every course: outline notes suit hierarchical lectures, charts suit comparisons, maps suit connected ideas and slide annotation suits slide-heavy modules. Whichever method you choose, the notes only help in the exam once you turn them into questions you answer from memory.
Most students never choose a note taking method on purpose. They copy what they did at school, or they write down whatever the lecturer says in the order it is said. That works until the first module where the content does not fit the habit: a law lecture full of cases to compare, a biology lecture built around pathways, or a statistics course where the slides already contain every formula.
This guide sets out the main methods side by side, explains what each one is good and bad at, and helps you match a method to the type of course you are taking. Two of the methods have their own detailed guides on this site, so this page keeps those sections short and links to them.
What are the main note taking methods?
Each method below is a different answer to one question: how should information be arranged on the page so that it is easy to understand now and easy to review later?
1. The Cornell method
The page is split into a wide notes column, a narrow cue column on the left and a summary strip at the bottom. You take notes in the main column during the lecture, then add questions or keywords to the cue column afterwards and write a short summary. The cue column is what makes the method useful for revision, because you can cover the notes and answer the cues. The full guide to the Cornell note-taking method covers the layout and the review routine in detail.
2. The outline method
Outline notes use headings, subheadings and indented points to show hierarchy. Main topics sit at the left margin and supporting details are indented beneath them. The method is fast, easy to scan and works well when the lecturer follows a clear structure. It struggles when a lecture jumps between ideas or when the important point is a relationship between two branches of the outline.
3. The mapping method
Mapping places the central topic in the middle of the page and branches outward to subtopics, examples and links. Mind maps and concept maps are both forms of mapping. The strength is that connections are visible at a glance. The weakness is that maps are hard to draw at lecture speed and can hide detail. Many students build maps after the lecture instead. See mind mapping for students for a step-by-step approach.
4. The charting method
Charting uses a table. Rows are the items being compared, such as theories, cases, drugs or historical periods, and columns are the attributes that matter, such as mechanism, strengths, limitations or key dates. It requires knowing the categories in advance, so it works best when the lecture outline or slides tell you what will be compared. For the right content it is the most efficient method there is, because the empty cells show exactly what you still need to learn.
5. The sentence method
The sentence method records each new point as a short numbered sentence on its own line. There is no hierarchy and no layout to plan, which makes it the easiest method to keep up with when a lecture is fast or unstructured. The cost comes later: the notes need reorganising before they are useful for revision, because related points can end up pages apart.
6. Slide annotation
When the lecturer shares slides before the lecture, you can print them or open them in a PDF app and write directly on them. The slide already holds the headings and diagrams, so your job is to add what the lecturer says that the slide does not: explanations, examples, warnings about common mistakes and hints about the exam. This is now the default in many university courses. The main risk is passivity, because it is easy to underline the slide text and add very little of your own.
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See how it worksNote taking methods compared
The table summarises how the six methods differ. The last column matters more than most students expect: some methods produce notes that are ready to study from, others need a second pass.
| Method | Structure | Best for | Main weakness | Work needed after class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornell | Notes, cue column, summary | Courses where regular self-testing is the goal | Layout takes discipline to keep up | Medium: write cues and summary |
| Outline | Headings and indented points | Clearly structured lectures | Hides links between branches | Low to medium |
| Mapping | Central topic with branches | Topics with many connections | Slow to draw live, loses detail | Often built entirely after class |
| Charting | Table of items and attributes | Comparing theories, cases or methods | Needs categories known in advance | Low: fill any empty cells |
| Sentence | Numbered lines in sequence | Fast or unstructured lectures | No organisation on the page | High: reorganise before studying |
| Slide annotation | Notes written on the slides | Slide-heavy modules | Encourages passive underlining | Medium: extract questions from slides |
Which note taking method should you use for your course?
Question: How do you decide between these methods for a specific module?
Answer: Look at two things: how the lecture is organised and what the exam asks you to produce. A method that mirrors the shape of the content saves effort during the lecture, and a method that mirrors the shape of the exam saves effort during revision.
- Law, politics, history: charting for cases, positions and periods, with Cornell cues for the questions an essay might ask.
- Biology, medicine, psychology: slide annotation during the lecture, then maps for pathways and systems where the connections are what you will be examined on.
- Economics and business: outline notes for models and their assumptions, charts for comparing approaches or market structures.
- Mathematics, physics, engineering: a plain outline that keeps definitions, theorems and worked examples in order. Visual methods add little when the content is a sequence of steps.
- Discussion seminars and fast lecturers: the sentence method, followed by a short reorganisation the same day.
The same logic applies to reading. Notes from a textbook chapter can be more deliberate than notes from a live lecture, because you control the pace. The guide on taking notes from a textbook covers that situation separately.
Does handwriting or typing change which method works?
Question: Should the choice between paper and laptop affect which note taking method you use?
Answer: It affects some methods more than others. Mapping and charting are easier on paper or a tablet with a pen, because drawing branches and tables with a keyboard is slow. Outline and sentence notes are natural to type. Slide annotation works either way if you use a PDF app.
The research on handwriting versus typing is often quoted too strongly. A 2014 study by Mueller and Oppenheimer found that students who typed notes tended to transcribe lectures more word for word and performed worse on conceptual questions than students who wrote by hand. A 2019 replication by Morehead, Dunlosky and Rawson found the differences were smaller and less consistent than the original suggested. A reasonable reading of both is that verbatim copying is the problem, not the device. If you type, summarise in your own words rather than recording every sentence. Practical advice on this is in the guide to taking lecture notes.
Can you combine note taking methods?
Yes. The methods are tools, not identities, and most effective students use two in sequence: one that is quick enough for the lecture and one that is structured enough for revision. Three combinations come up often.
- Slide annotation, then Cornell cues. Annotate the slides live, then write a list of questions for each section on a separate page. The questions act as the cue column without redrawing the notes.
- Sentence notes, then outline. Capture a fast lecture as numbered lines, then reorganise the lines into an outline the same evening while the context is still fresh.
- Outline, then a chart or map per unit. Keep a running outline through the week and, at the end of each unit, build one chart or map that pulls the comparisons or connections together.
The second step in each pair is where most of the learning happens, because it forces you to decide what matters and how the pieces fit together.
Why the method matters less than what you do with the notes
Question: If you choose the right method, will your notes be enough to prepare you for the exam?
Answer: No. A good method makes notes clearer and easier to review, but reading clear notes is still passive. The 2013 review of study techniques by Dunlosky and colleagues rated summarisation, highlighting and rereading as low utility, and practice testing and distributed practice as high utility. Note taking sits on the low side unless it feeds into testing.
In practice, that means every method should end in the same place: a set of questions you can answer without looking. Cornell builds this in through the cue column. For the others, add it yourself by writing a question next to each heading, row or branch, then covering the notes and answering. The guide to active recall explains how to write those questions well. If most of your material arrives as slide decks, the guide on studying from lecture slides covers the conversion step in detail.
How Sidetracked Day helps with studying from your notes
The step that most students skip is the one after note taking: turning the material into questions and reviewing them at the right intervals. Sidetracked Day is built for that step.
- It turns lecture slides and course material into active recall study sessions.
- It uses spaced repetition and adjusts review timing based on how you perform on each topic.
- It decides what to study, how and for how long, so you only need to press start.
- It runs on the web, iPhone and Android.
Your own notes still matter, because writing them is how you first make sense of a lecture. Sidetracked Day handles the review that follows, whichever note taking method you prefer.
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Sidetracked Day helps students move beyond static study plans by adapting sessions, practice, and reviews based on how they actually perform.
Try Sidetracked DayFAQ: Note taking methods
What are the main note taking methods?
The most widely used note taking methods are the Cornell method, the outline method, the mapping method, the charting method, the sentence method and slide annotation. They differ in how they organise information on the page: by cue and summary columns, by hierarchy, by visual connections, by table, by plain sequence, or directly on the lecturer's slides.
Which note taking method is best for university?
There is no single best method. Outline notes suit well-structured lectures, charting suits courses full of comparisons, mapping suits topics with many connections, slide annotation suits slide-heavy modules, and Cornell suits students who want a review system built into the page. Choose the method that matches how the lecture is organised and what the exam asks you to do.
Is the Cornell method better than other note taking methods?
The Cornell method has one clear advantage: its cue column turns your notes into questions you can use for self-testing. That makes review easier to start. It is not automatically better for capturing content, though. For a comparison-heavy lecture, a chart may capture the material more clearly, and you can still add review questions afterwards.
Can I use more than one note taking method?
Yes, and many students do. A common combination is annotating slides during the lecture, then rewriting the key points as an outline or Cornell page afterwards. Another is using outline notes for most of a module and switching to a chart for sections that compare theories, cases or methods.
Do handwritten notes work better than typed notes?
The evidence is mixed. A 2014 study by Mueller and Oppenheimer found that laptop note takers tended to transcribe more and did worse on conceptual questions, but a 2019 replication by Morehead, Dunlosky and Rawson found weaker and less consistent differences. What matters more is whether you process the content in your own words and whether you review the notes actively later.