Note-taking and Paraphrasing - Coursework Example

Note-taking and paraphrasing Name Institutional Affiliation Writing of notes is an important skill that needs to be looked in to with great care. University students need to perfect such a skill in order to excel in their respective studies. Good skills in this area of study prompt one to always write down important points of a study, for future reference. Relevant points should always be written. One method of note writing is combining your ideas and information received from lectures or books. One should write accurate information, making sure that you do not plagiarize written work. Consider recognizing the ideas you need, identifying information serving your purpose. Students need to employ a method of writing that works for them. Students should not have bulky notes, reduce or summarize all the notes you need, also include diagrams. Information needs to taken in your own words and where you borrowed information from other sources, citing needs to be made. Students have a leeway in being selective in the systems they devise for their studies. Note, not every information derived from textbook is important for one`s use hence choose what suits you. General understanding of any given piece of information is needed. Understand the basis of any text before you start taking down notes and mind the reason for your reading. (Santrok and Halonen, 2008)Check title of provided text and go through the preface if available. Read topics so as to have an initial guide as to what the information will be talking about. Note the organization of information provided. Establish reason and intention of provided material. Look at the convergence of past ideas and the way new information is brought into a text. Follow steps taken in coming up with a text, highlight the important points. Least important points need to be done away with. Movement of how writer has moved from a complex idea to a less complex one needs consideration. Look at the way the writer highlights problems and peruse to see the solutions proposed. Students have to check whether the writers have written about causes of particular issues. Learners have leeway of incorporating their thoughts in to the notes they are writing. One can listen and take notes during lectures, listening and getting accurate information will greatly assist in this particular area. Strategies are employed in class, during lectures. Read past notes from other lessons to establish background of topics. Look and research pronunciation of names and words used in texts. Rule up information in your book according importance carried. During lectures, arriving early and sitting at a vantage position will help you get teachings in a prudent fashion. Note the cues given and their impact on the structure of information. Professors may also use non verbal ways to communicate points, never ignore this aspect. Voice change is a way of the professor to communicate ideas in easily understandable way. End of lectures, students need to read through the notes they were taking during the lessons. Reviews make notes taken easier to understand. Attach any necessary information on to your notes; these include handouts given during lectures. (Santrok and Halonen, 2008) Symbols shorten notes, making them easier and enjoyable to read. Combinations of concept maps and drawings have a way of making reading a pleasure. Paraphrasing means putting a text into one`s own words. Texts for academic purposes provide avenues clarify written works of other authors. Unsuccessful paraphrasing may cause a student to engage in plagiarism. Students are advised to revise their work thoroughly, revision here means looking through written texts. Revisions assist individuals in getting knowledge as to how organization in writing is done; creates good writers and scholars. A constant repetition of this practice helps one to mould their academic prowess. Proofreading is another important practice in writing, when done properly grammatical mistakes are avoided. Proofreading together with revision is tedious, yet they are necessary to ensure writers avoid distractions. (Buehl, 2009)They need to occur throughout one`s studies. Summarizing is reducing original text, preserving the original meaning. Summary is usually complete on its own but bearing all the necessary information that was derived. Creation of good summaries needs great skills. Students have to choose source texts carefully. Summaries also pass for abbreviated versions. Efforts put should at all times avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is a great sin in writing and portrays unfairness on the part of the perpetrators. There are various reasons leading to creations of summaries: need to exhibit one`s understanding about a topic. One has an opportunity to narrow down to his or her interests. Summaries help to give a shorter version of information to a reader who may not have the opportunity to go through original text. Students need to support their writing, ensuring they have no questionable areas. Good summary offers a balanced approach to a matter in question. (Buehl, 2009) Points have to be clear, as vagueness only waters down the written job. Write information in your own words and do not rely so much on phrases from original information. Sentence structure should not be similar to that of original information. Overemphasizing points from the original information is not permitted. Summary cannot be longer than original text. Citation needs to be done appropriately and where there is need. (Kesselman-Turkel and Peterson, 2003) Summaries can be informative or relative. Informative summaries offer facts for a concluded work; academic journals and dissertation write ups form a bulk of these. Evaluative summaries, one informs about facts but also has an opportunity to provide his/her own opinion. These types of summaries can either be long or brief. When writing information that is not yours, you need to mention the author’s identity. Objective verbs are then used to indicate approach taken by writer. Summaries are then closely followed by references, always cite sources of information. (Scarry and Scarry, 2011) Referencing also forms part of the writing practice. Definition of referencing is the acknowledgement of sources where information is derived or taken from. Referencing is a fairly easy task and anybody with interest can learn, but one needs to be keen. References are used where there are direct quotes or summarized information from source. Reader of given materials must be in a position to different opinion from facts derived from others. We have various methods of referencing: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago/ Turabian, Vancouver and Oxford methods. APA is a common method used in writing and also used when dealing with social sciences. APA was later revised into 6th version. Research in APA is achieved through primary sources of information, though observations, interviews and other secondary modes of information are also admissible. APA is easy to capture information, and offers reader an easier path to follow through information. Manuscripts based on APA are prudent to use when doing sciences, business or nursing studies. Check paper given so as to establish if this style fits it. General format of this particular style covers: page layout, basic components and occasionally PowerPoint representation. Common types in the method are: literature views and reports on experiments. Part that seems hard in APA is citing from secondary sources properly. Author-date is a method sued in in-texting, publication year of source and complete reference added. Ideas from other works can be represented in your essay or report, provided citations are made. Direct quoting must include author`s name, publication year and page number need to be added. Quotations marks are used when mentioning sources from journals and other secondary information sources. Reference list needs to be one-half inch away from margin. Author`s names are usually inverted, last name should appear first. Reference list are arranged alphabetically. Title in journal should be written in full. Major title in a journal should be capitalized. Lengthy words are supposed to be italicized. APA has a distinctive way of writing or citing authors: ranges from one author to several. Methods of citations vary from each other depending on the source. Books, journals, websites, electronic sources, print sources and articles in periodicals. In 2009, APA changed their referencing method to 6th edition. MLA method is a system that uses parenthetical way of doing essays. In MLA 8.5 x 11 inch computer paper is recommended. One space is left after periods. Document should have one inch margins around it. Title page should not be made by writer unless express instruction is given to that effect. Writers may use sectional headings to make reading easier. Writer divides essay according to various sections that are well spaced out. In-text citing will vary from other referencing methods. Author-date method is also used here. Number of authors also gets taken care of adequately as the writers do the referencing. Advice is given to writers; they are supposed to gather information on onset, correct analysis on most suitable illustration usable, illustrations should be used when need be; illustrations should be used well and not for boosting length of essay. Illustrations labels have to appear in two places: main text in document and beside illustration. Captions provide the topic or explanation of the topic. Documentation depends on illustrated source. (Boston et al, 2007) Harvard method has its own variations like punctuations or italicizing of words. Writers have to be consistent in their writing regardless of methods used. Book referencing under Harvard is written as author`s surname, publication year and page number. Overall format here is the same. Chicago referencing style also goes by the name Turabian. This type of referencing is used in humanities to write manuscripts. Method provides bibliography at the end of the essay, is equivalent to reference list or citation list in other methods. Punctuation here is done by separating major elements by periods. Margins should be an inch and no greater 1.5 inches. Font should be Roman Times or Palatino and font size should be twelve. Sections comprising the paper are: title page, main body and references. Vancouver referencing is citing or referencing using numbers. This is common method, in referencing biomedical journals. Reference list should list sources of information. Commonly used in the medical field especially by students of faculty of medicine when publishing medical journals. Right punctuation and proper detailing order should be keenly adhered to. Reference list should be noted at the end of the essay or assignment. In-texts are identified by Arabic numerals. Numbers are attached to each cited reference. Quotations marks are used when indicating direct quotes. Assigned original number is used repeatedly. In multiple references, first and last numbers are joined by hyphens. Commas are used to separate numbers which are non-inclusive. Interchanging numbers with texts is an exercise that should be looked into with great care. Advantage of this method is the easy in which a text is easily read. Reader is able to go through references in process of reading. References appear at the back. Paraphrasing has many advantages for example: one can avoid charges of plagiarism, creates a diligent student, with great researching skills and enables reader locate source of information. Proper note taking practices helps a student and readers in various ways. Plagiarism is avoided, enhances hearing and reading abilities. Students need to have ease of understanding material. Skills in structuring a research are also an added advantage gained by those who are involved in this process. Students develop a habit of preparing their own personal records, helping them eventually in their personal studies. Taking of notes also has a bad and disadvantageous side: distracts a student from paying attention in class. Natural stress is a serious effect to those who dislike habit of writing notes. Twice amount of time is spent on studying, having to write then read. (Boston et al, 2007) Notes can be made enjoyable through being brief, proper spacing of words and need to show proper interrelationship between main points. Best method in note taking is use of active voice, passive voice is discouraged. Writer should think of what they need, write conclusively. Information written should not be ambiguous. Record direct quotes after doing the essay. References Santrock, J. W., & Halonen, J. S. (2008). Your guide to college success: Strategies for achieving your goals. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth. Buehl, D. (2009). Classroom strategies for interactive learning. Newark, Del: International Reading Association. Kesselman-Turkel, J., & Peterson, F. (2003). Note-taking made easy. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Scarry, S., & Scarry, J. (2011). The writer's workplace with readings: Building college writing skills. Boston, M orrance, M., Waes, L. ., & Galbraith, D. (2007). Writing and cognition: Research and applications. Amsterdam: Elsevier.ass: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Read More