Are you reproducing a text-book / full script of lecture or are you making study notes?
Personal experience:
For me, letting go of my need for everything to be neat and complete was a bit step in making notes to learn from. They don’t have to be perfect, they need to be useful. A summary in short form, including the key words/points, missing out the rest.
For example, all this text taken from Wikipedia - (no need to actually read it all)
Diabetes mellitus (DM), commonly known as diabetes, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level over a prolonged period of time.[11] Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst, and increased hunger.[2] If left untreated, diabetes can cause many complications.[2] Acute complications can include diabetic ketoacidosis, hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state, or death.[3] Serious long-term complications include cardiovascular disease, stroke, chronic kidney disease, foot ulcers, damage to the nerves, damage to the eyes and cognitive impairment.[2][5] Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough insulin, or the cells of the body not responding properly to the insulin produced.[12] There are three main types of diabetes mellitus:[2]
Type 1 diabetes results from the pancreas’s failure to produce enough insulin due to loss of beta cells.[2] This form was previously referred to as “insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus” (IDDM) or “juvenile diabetes”.[2] The loss of beta cells is caused by an autoimmune response.[13] The cause of this autoimmune response is unknown.[2]
Type 2 diabetes begins with insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to respond to insulin properly.[2] As the disease progresses, a lack of insulin may also develop.[14] This form was previously referred to as “non insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus” (NIDDM) or “adult-onset diabetes”.[2] The most common cause is a combination of excessive body weight and insufficient exercise.[2] Gestational diabetes is the third main form, and occurs when pregnant women without a previous history of diabetes develop high blood sugar levels.[2]
Prevention and treatment involve maintaining a healthy diet, regular physical exercise, a normal body weight, and avoiding use of tobacco.[2] Control of blood pressure and maintaining proper foot and eye care are important for people with the disease.[2] Type 1 diabetes must be managed with insulin injections.[2] Type 2 diabetes may be treated with medications with or without insulin.[15] Insulin and some oral medications can cause low blood sugar.[16] Weight loss surgery in those with obesity is sometimes an effective measure in those with type 2 diabetes.[17] Gestational diabetes usually resolves after the birth of the baby.[18]
By reading the text and then condensing it I’ve spent time considering the words, assessing what the key points are and absorbing along the way (using common notation that I know exactly what it means e.g. PU/PD = polyuria polydipsia = increased urination and increased drinking)
I now have an easy to scan summary to be able to reproduce the full text in an exam. I’m aware that adding words such as “normally” and “most cases” provides the caveats and cover that very little is 100% in medicine.
If you know something there’s no real benefit in writing it out in full again but I still found myself adding “beta cells pancreas” to the above notes for completeness.
Whether I take notes this way by handwriting or keyboard doesn’t made much difference to the learning/absorption process, but typed notes are much neater, which I like!! And more formatting options are available—easy bold, bigger fonts. Rather than the old highlighter pen.
I’ve found drawing flow and other diagrams and spider maps by hand is invaluable in some situations though.
Are you reproducing a text-book / full script of lecture or are you making study notes?
Personal experience:
For me, letting go of my need for everything to be neat and complete was a bit step in making notes to learn from. They don’t have to be perfect, they need to be useful. A summary in short form, including the key words/points, missing out the rest.
For example, all this text taken from Wikipedia - (no need to actually read it all)
Reduced to this:
DM = ↑G PU/PD ↑hunger
--> ketoacidosis. heart, kidney, foot ulcers, neuropathy, eyes, cognative probs.
Type 1 - ↓ insulin production (idiopathic autoimmune beta cells pancreas)
Type 2 - insulin resistance body cells. --> progress to type 1. ( assoc. factors ↑weight ↓ exercise)
Type 3 - gestational. no prev. hx. resolves post-partum.
tx:
diet, exercise, X-smoking (obesity sx.)
BP, foot + eye care,
insulin, oral tx ↓G
By reading the text and then condensing it I’ve spent time considering the words, assessing what the key points are and absorbing along the way (using common notation that I know exactly what it means e.g. PU/PD = polyuria polydipsia = increased urination and increased drinking)
I now have an easy to scan summary to be able to reproduce the full text in an exam. I’m aware that adding words such as “normally” and “most cases” provides the caveats and cover that very little is 100% in medicine.
If you know something there’s no real benefit in writing it out in full again but I still found myself adding “beta cells pancreas” to the above notes for completeness.
Whether I take notes this way by handwriting or keyboard doesn’t made much difference to the learning/absorption process, but typed notes are much neater, which I like!! And more formatting options are available—easy bold, bigger fonts. Rather than the old highlighter pen.
I’ve found drawing flow and other diagrams and spider maps by hand is invaluable in some situations though.
Here’s a working link for extended 2 months trial: https://readwise.io/i/peter717
Enjoy!