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University of Sunderland Library

Reading for Assignment Success Tutorial

How is reading at university different to reading for pleasure? How do you decide what to read? What are some strategies for reading at university? Work through this tutorial for answers to these questions and more.

Note-taking and Reading

You might take notes when listening to a lecture, watching a video or when reading. Taking notes can be a good way to remind yourself of important points but it is not just copying down what you hear or read and then using them in your assignments.

Good note-taking will require you to engage actively with your texts. A good note-taking strategy can help you use the critical thinking methods discussed in earlier sections.

Think about a time when you've taken notes. Do you find that in your notes you tend to copy the key points of what you've read? Ask yourself whether your notes reflect your critical thinking.

Having a good note-taking method can help you understand what you read, think critically about it and then incorporate the ideas into your assignments. Here we briefly outline a strategy for note-taking that you can use when reading or listening to lectures.

Related Library Guides

Academic Writing - includes a detailed section about note-taking

The Cornell Notes Method

How to Use the Cornell Method

The Cornell Notes method is a great way to engage with your reading. It’s also useful for taking lecture notes too. When you use this method you will divide your note paper into three sections, one for the key points. One to ask questions, write definitions, and identify actions and one to write a summary.
Watch the video ‘How To: Take Cornell Notes‘ to learn about the Cornell Method and how one student uses it to better understand her topic.

Example of Cornell Notes

Here is an example of some notes on a Guardian article from 2018. Note that the key points are identified in the right column, some questions about these points have been written along with some actions and a summary has been added in the bottom section.

In an extra step some keywords have been highlighted which could be used when doing a search for more research on this topic.

Whether you choose to use this method or your own the key thing to keep in mind is to engage with your reading by asking questions and to review your notes several times afterwards.

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