Conceptual Note-Taking
Notion Note-Taking — Writing about the way I take conceptual notes using Notion 2021-12-12
This post is outdated
Since writing this post, I have switched to using VS Code for note-taking. With that said, it is a good way to get your feet wet as it goes over the advantages of conceptual note-taking and explains how to take notes more efficiently.
A few months ago, I got enrolled into university at uOttawa. I quickly discovered the importance of note-taking, a skill I hadn't had the chance to develop during highschool. For this reason, I had to find an efficient way to take notes that would have the ability to grow over time. After a bit of research, I stumbled upon a strategy known as conceptual note-taking.
Conceptual note-taking is a system in which atomic notes are structured through links from and to other notes. It offers various advantages when compared to sequential note-taking.
This post will focus on the strategies I use to take conceptual class notes efficiently.
Taking Notes
Notes are a way to have quick access to lots of relevant information. We don't care about the notes themselves; we care about the information.
During lectures, don't take notes for U-S-E information:
- Unimportant
- Self-Explanatory
- Easy to Memorize
If you think you don't really have to write something down, you probably don't have to write it down.
Since examples aren't an ideal way to store information, only write down general examples that help you understand. During lectures, try to predict what the teacher will do, and only take notes when the teacher does something you found unexpected.
This promotes active learning, meaning you are studying while attending class. Moreover, questions will come up in real time rather than when it's too late to ask.
Conceptual Notes
Even though the teacher is giving you a story in a lecture, look for concepts instead. Make notes as atomic as possible, so that you can link to a concept from other concepts. If you think about it, this is exactly how your brain stores information: a sea of concepts linked together. Moreover, instead of arbitrarily splitting concepts into disciplines, this approach allows the creation of numerous links between all aspects of your life, encouraging innovation.
Writing atomically also allows for easy reorganization of your notes during the lecture itself. Paper notes are almost always taken sequentially, as it is not possible to reorganize information efficiently as it is flying by during lectures.
Taking notes conceptually allows you to build on top of your older notes and make them grow and evolve instead of letting them slowly decay over time.
Notion Shortcuts
The shortcuts I use for efficiency on Notion are outlined below. More shortcuts are available here.
##and###for headings|for quotes_and**for italics and bold--formdashes1.and*for ordered and unordered lists`and```languagefor code blocks/pato create a new Notion page/lafor LaTeX equationsCtrl + Pfor quick page access@for linking to an existing pageESCto select the current blockCtrl + Dto duplicate blocks