Strategies for reading and note-taking

You can keep on top of all the reading you need to do in your studies. You'll just need to learn some strategies, writes Learning Skills Adviser Bei-En Zou.

It’s only the beginning of semester, and there’s already a stack of reading to do: three chapters of your Chemistry textbook; a 20-page article for your History tutorial; not to mention sifting through the pile of books you got from the Library for your assignment in Week 6. You attack your books with vigour, reading for hours, but 24 hours later, you realise that you’ve forgotten most of the material.

Reading and note-taking form essential parts of your academic studies, but they can also be time-wasters, if you haven’t planned ahead and thought through what you’re doing. 

Developing effective strategies for reading and note-taking are crucial for making efficient use of your study time. There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for reading and note-taking, and it’s up to you to experiment with different methods that work for you. However, all good strategies hinge on task analysis, and actively engaging with your learning by combining reading and note-taking.

Always read with a specific purpose in mind

What are you reading for? For example, are you reading in order to write an assignment, or preparing for the final exam? Maybe you’re doing some pre-reading before a lecture, or gathering material for an oral presentation in class.

Reading with a specific purpose in mind will help you sift through the mass of material you’re reading. You will learn to ‘leave behind’ information that is interesting, but perhaps not relevant for your purpose, and ‘focus in’ on sections of your text book or article that you might need to read a few times, in order to absorb everything for your particular purpose.

There are different methods of reading, such as skimming, previewing and scanning, that you can use to suit different purposes. If you’d like more information about different reading methods, we’ve included a short video below.

Reading and note-taking go perfectly together

Always take notes while reading academically! Note-taking helps you understand and remember what you are reading. Like reading, note-taking is all about figuring out your purpose: what are you taking notes for? For example, you might be note-taking to summarise an argument in a text for future use in an assignment, or jotting down key quotes to use in an essay. Or, you’re note-taking for exam preparation or before a seminar or tutorial: so you don’t forget the questions and comments that you’d like to make in class.


Note-taking is not about copying down slabs of texts, but translating information into your own words, or transforming a densely written section of text into a flow-chart, or a series of summarising dot-points. There’s no one perfect way of taking notes. Rather, like reading, you will need to develop different note-taking methods, and be prepared to move between methods as your task changes. We’ve got a short video below that’ll show you some different methods of taking notes.

Three  final tips!

If you’re trying to learn information, writing notes by hand is better than typing. Research suggests that the physical act of handwriting is good for our brain, and helps us remember information more than if we typed the same material on a computer.

Always ensure that in your notes you distinguish between direct quotes from texts, your paraphrase of the information, and your own ideas.

Make sure you jot down reference details such as author, book, page number etc., so that you can go back and locate the original sources quickly, if needed.

For more on reading and note-taking, check out Research and Learning Online. You can also watch these reading strategies and note-taking videos.

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