This document summarizes tips for organizing lecture notes and electronic materials. It recommends organizing notes by subject in separate folders based on how the materials will be used later. Lecture notes should be dated and labeled clearly. Electronic files should also have descriptive names and be organized in a logical folder structure. The document discusses online tools for organizing notes and bookmarks, such as Evernote, EndNote, and social bookmarking sites. It emphasizes thinking about how materials will be used and customized organization methods for individual study styles.

1. Get Organised Power Hour
Kirsty Thomson
Subject Librarian
October 2012

2. Today’s Power Hour
• Organising paper.
– lecture notes, printouts, etc.
• Organising electronic material.
– on your computer.
– online tools.

3. What year are you in?
0% 1. First year of an undergraduate (first)
degree.
0%
2. Other year of undergraduate degree.
0% 3. Postgraduate student.
0% 4. Research assistant/staff.

4. Key point for today’s session
• Stop thinking about how to organise your files
and paperwork.
• Start thinking about how you use this
material.
• Thinking about how and why you use
something should influence how store it.

5. Lecture Notes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pschwager/5300647684/

6. Lecture notes
• In small groups, come up with three reasons
why we keep lecture notes.
• PGs/researchers – think about notes from
meetings.

7. Why do we keep our lecture notes?
• [Class discussion].

8. Main reason for keeping
lecture notes
So that you can use them again.

9. How do you take lecture notes?
0% 1. Annotate printout of slides
0% 2. Write notes in a jotter/spiral bound pad.
0% 3. Write notes on loose paper.
0% 4. Take notes directly onto laptop/tablet.
0% 5. I don’t take any extra notes in lectures.

10. Organising your notes
• Can’t study two different subjects at exactly the
same time.
– therefore arrange your notes in separate folders for
each subject.
• Pad of paper?
– can interfile with VLE printouts, revision notes, etc.
• Spiral bound notebook for each course?
– advantage is that you don’t lose any pages of notes.
– if using a notebook, write details of any loose
handouts in your notebook.

11. Tips
• Put the date on everything!
• Write course, title of lecture, date, and page
number onto every loose sheet of paper.
• If you are using a PowerPoint that goes the
“wrong way”, mark this on the sheet.

12. Slides from “Lecture 1.ppt” https://sites.google.com/site/shwetaphysicsclassroom/my-forms

13. Slides from “Lecture 1.ppt” https://sites.google.com/site/shwetaphysicsclassroom/my-forms

14. • File things soon after the lecture.
• Don’t waste time copying out lecture notes
just so that you can store them neatly:
– are you thinking about what you are re-writing?
• Use your original notes.
OR
• Turn them into study notes:
– add summaries of sections; definitions; extra
notes.

15. Colour
• Make use of colour to find things more easily.
• In folders:
– different coloured paper for your revision notes.
– easier to find within folder when you are studying.
• In notes:
– coloured pens for types of notes, e.g., red for
summaries.
– Usefulness depends on your learning style:
• does this make it easier to find things within notes ..
• … or is it “busywork”?

16. • See http://www.paperlovestory.com/2011/06/how-i-organise-my-
lecture-notes.html for an example of colour in lecture
notes.
– would this help you?
– or would you spend a lot of time making your
notes look attractive instead of learning!
– usefulness depends on your learning style.
• Note use of red pen to make words stand out.
– useful for section headings and keywords.
– aids studying.

17. Direct quotes in a different colour – useful when taking
notes for essays.

18. Sticky notes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mixedmedia/2650461196/sizes/l/in/photostream/

19. Paper
• Journal articles.
• Lecture notes.
• Course handbooks ...
• Think before you print:
– do you need it on paper?
• How will you use it?
– this should influence how you store it.

20. Electronic material
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambuj/345356294/

21. Electronic material
• Electronic material could be:
– downloaded journal articles.
– downloads from Vision.
– websites you want to use again.
– essays that you’ve written.
– lecture notes that you’ve written.

22. Organising electronic material
• Same principle applies:
Think about how you will use it again.
• Electronic material could be online or on your
computer.

23. Tips - descriptive filenames
calculus/essay 1.docx
physics/first essay.docx
• What if you copy these to a memory stick?
essay 1.docx
first essay.docx
• Include module code or name in filename:
calculus/F17CA essay 01.docx
calculus/calculus essay 01.docx

24. Tips - downloaded papers
• Saving papers from a database:
1-s2.0-S0001457511000662-main.pdf
• How do you remember what’s in a paper?
• Change the filename,
e.g., keyword_author_year
speeding_Lahrmann_2012.pdf

25. Online material
• Lots of apps and websites to help you store
and relocate online material.
• Usefulness of these depends on your study
style.
• Online doesn’t mean better:
– do you work more effectively with folders of
paper/saving things on your computer?

26. Online Tools and Apps

27. Are you already using an online
tool or app to organise your notes?
E.g., Delicious; Evernote; Instapaper.
0%
0%
1. Yes
2. No
Yes No

28. “Social bookmarking”
• Online sites that store your bookmarks.
• Theory:
– share your bookmarks with others.
– easily find relevant material by looking at other
people’s bookmarks.
• But real advantage is that you can access your
bookmarks from anywhere, and add tags to your
bookmarks.
• Two leading providers:
– delicious and diigo.

29. … *note
• Evernote – online tool for storing and
organising web pages, notes, documents, etc.
• EndNote/EndNoteWeb – referencing
management software.
– stores info about journal articles, books, etc.
– helps you find these again.
– helps you automatically do references.
• OneNote – a Microsoft product that helps
organise notes and files on your computer.

30. Evernote
• Very popular – good “buzz” online.
• But not supported, owned or backed-up by
the university.
• If you are going to use Evernote you must
make back-ups.
• Lots of help using Evernote online.

31. Instapaper
• Free online service via browser add-on.
• Two main features:
• Read Now
– removes adverts, fonts, colours, etc., from webpages.
• Read Later
– Stores a “cleaned” version of the webpage in your
Instapaper account.
– Can read later via Instapaper website or sync with
smart phone/Kindle/iPad etc
– Using this could reduce your printing out?
– Works with HTML but not with PDF.

32. Have you used reference
management software
0% 1. No, never heard of it.
0% 2. Have had a quick look but not used.
0% 3. Used EndNote Web.
0% 4. Used something else.

33. EndNoteWeb
• Reference management software.
• Use this to store information about what you
are reading.
• Also helps you add references to your work.

34. Summary
• Think about how you will use the information:
– this should dictate how you store it.
• Online tools not necessarily better for
everyone/everything, but do have some
advantages.
• Everyone will have a different system:
– find something that works for you.
– only use methods that save you time.

35. Other useful Power Hours
• EndNoteWeb.
• Time Management.
• Tips for Effective Study.
• Be Prepared! The Exam Survival Guide.
• http://isguides.hw.ac.uk/powerhours