Note Making is an advanced writing skill which is acquiring increasing importance due to knowledge explosion. It is the way to understand a given passage very clearly and to be able to communicate its gist to those who need it. It is of great practical importance in the busy world of today. Business executions, politicians, etc. who have little time to spare to read long reports and other documents depend upon their secretaries to make a summary of such things for them.
A good writer whether he is writing a story or preparing an essay or a lecture. He has to note down the belligerent ideas that come to his mind and later organize them and develop them to the fullest.
We are also dealing with making notes or making a summary of a lecture or a news item given in detail. Here are some suggestions given below for good note-making.
Identify the main points and supporting.
- Identify the topic of the text.
- Identify the topic sentences of the text.
- Identify the supporting details of the main idea.
I – How to make notes:
1. Read the passage carefully.
2. Heading
- What is the main idea of the passage?
- Give a heading or title based on the central idea.
- Write it in the middle of the page.
3. Sub-headings
- How has the main idea been presented and devoted?
- Are there two or three subordinate ideas?
- You can frame sub-headings based on these.
4. Points
- Are there further details or points of the subtitles that you wish to keep in the notes? These are called points. Points may have sub-points.
5. All sub-headings should be written at a uniform distance from the margin.
6. Indenting- the point should also maintain the same distance away from the margin.
7. Do not write full sentences.
II – Abbreviations may be used.
Hint for an abbreviation:
- First few letters eg. – Adjective as Adj, Examination as Exam.
- First + last letter eg. Dr for the doctor, Tr for Teacher (don’t put a dot at the end)
- Omitting all/most of the vowels. eg. learner as lrne., development as dvlmnt
- Re-tuning only prominent letters eg. Trademark as TM.
- Common abbreviations eg. sc. for science, Mr, Mrs, govt.
- First letter of the word. eg. U.P., M.P., U.N.O., etc.
III – Your notes should look like this, these notes may be numbered as
1—–2—–3—–or,
a—–b—–c
Heading
1. Sub-heading
1.1 point
1.2 point
1.3 point
1.3.1 sub-point
1.3.2 sub-point
2. Sub-heading
2.1 point
2.2 point
3. Sub-heading
3.1 point
3.2 point
Question – Read the following passage carefully, supply a title, make notes and prepare a summary.
All vehicles should keep to the left and leave the right half of the road free for those coming from the opposite direction. This is a traffic rule in parts of India. In some countries in the west, however, vehicles have to keep to the right and not to the left. It does not matter whether it is right or left, but everyone should obey the rules. Cyclists should always keep to the edge of the road and not get in the way of other vehicles or of pedestrians. We often see two or more cyclists riding together side by side right in the middle of the road. Traffic rules do not allow this.
Ans –
(a) Title – Follow traffic rules
(b) Notes
- In India, vehicles should keep to the left.
- In some countries, vehicles keep to the right.
- Traffic rules should be followed.
- Cyclists should move on the edge of the road and not in the middle.
(c) Summary – Everyone should obey traffic rules. Vehicles should be kept on the left side of the road. Cyclists should move on the edge of the road. They should not move in the middle of the road in groups.
