.....Now you are in class and ready to learn. The first thing you need to do is get out your paper and pen. If you look at a regular sheet of notebook paper, you will need to imagine that it will be divided into four sections, like the paper below:

Here are the sections of the Modified Cornell System:

  • section 1 is the Topic area
  • section 2 is the Notes area
  • section 3 is the Key Points/Questions area
  • section 4 is the Summary area
  • the red vertical line is one that you should actually draw onto your paper, the rest of the divisions are imaginary. The line is approximately 2" from the left hand side of the page.

.....Often in classes, you will be taking more than one page of notes in a single class period. The red vertical line should be drawn on each page. This will give you plenty of room to take Notes and write your Main Points/Key Questions. The Topic section only needs to be filled out at the beginning of notetaking, and the Summary section only needs to be filled out at the end.

.....Before starting, you will want to write the date, and class in the upper right hand corner of the page. In the center of section 1 you should label your paper with the topic. It should look like this:

Having this information in your notes helps you be organized. It makes finding information easier. The topic is hard to fill out, but it helps organize the "big thougths" that will be presented in your reading. You might be asking yourself, "

.....Now that your paper is set up, you are ready to begin taking notes!