How to Take Great Notes (And Remember What You Read)

If you want to take great book notes and remember what you read, then I recommend trying out this method. This method centers around creating outlines as if you were going to teach the material to a beginner. I used this when I was teaching undergraduates, but it also works well when I'm taking book notes for my own use.

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0:00 Take Notes Like You're Going to Teach
0:45 If You Can Teach It, You Understand It
1:25 Annotation
4:26 Exporting and Outlining
6:38 The Omni-Outline (Or Lesson Plan)

[cristina-mp]

1. Annotation: Look for jargon, important passages / key points. Unclear points u might need to explain. Do not underline everything. Create your own system ( ex underline for jargon, question mark for difficult parts, star for important passages). Flagging parts of the text for ur future self when u are making high quality notes.
2. Export Phase: Annotations out of book and into paper/notion. Create outline. Create a short summary of the section. Write an outline (not about the structure of the text but how you would go about teaching it to someone else, they could read the outlien and have a good idea. ) 1st draft, doing multiple times to improve it. Repeat for future sections of the book
3. Omni-outline: Bigger outline of the entire book. Guideline to teach a beginner

[natschi]

After a year lost in depression I'm going to finish my bachelors degree (in classics) in the next upcoming months and your videos are sooo helpful - here's why: they are a friendly reminder that studying methods matter *and* the field of philosophy has always interested me. Thereby I'm gaining trust in myself and my academic skills again.
Thank you so much, Jared. Your work is really much apprechiated. ❤

[KshitijKV]

It took me 30 years to develop this method on my own. What this man just taught is brilliant 👏

[Pcoxproductions]

4:54 exporting the notes into an outline -> pro tip: have the points be questions and the goal is to answer the questions

[ip]

I am not a student (formally) but I certainly would like to learn HOW to make effective notes.

[thebluesmurfdude]

This came at the perfect time. I have big lofty goals for school, work, and personal life - and I can already visualize how to implement this!

[elizabeth-ho]

Great advice, thanks for the video! I'm a university student, and the way I study for my course is pretty similar. I just have one extra thought to throw out there:

When I make my notes, I intend for them to teach myself, meaning that I have this very specific goal of "when I read this a few months later having forgotten everything, I'm able to pick up the chain of thought that allows me to fully understand this concept". This has the same effect of me structuring my notes like I'm teaching it, but the target audience is future me, which also means that I cater specifically to the way I think/understand concepts (which can be different compared to when the target audience is a general beginner in this area).

More practically, this means skipping over the parts that I already know (or referencing my previous notes on the topic), and taking extra care when my intuition tells me that I'm not satisfied with one explanation and need more convincing (I study computer science).

In other words, a lesson plan for myself!

[battybibliophile-Clare]

I absolutely loved this video. I'm nearly 77 but learnt some new techniques drom this video. I think I have been notetaking for over 70 years, and have a method, but this takes it to the next level, and from an interesting point or view, as if you were going to teach. I mentored you accountants as part of my job before retirement, so my method included some of your elements. Thanks so much.

[michelleherald]

I agree about teaching it someone else helps your learn. When I was in college I struggled with Physics, however when I started teaching and had to include that subject, the way I studied it (to teach others) helped me to learn it. I would read the text, reference articles and online books for further or different explanations...I would come up with examples relevant to us, and I would work out all practice problems so I knew how to answer questions about them. This makes perfect sense and I am a little upset it didn't occur to me until now. Thank you.

[renansales]

One of the best strategies I've used is to read a book, highlight the most important passages and, then, I put the book aside for 3 to 4 weeks. After that, I open the book again and look for the passages I highlighted. If they still catch my attention, I'll extract them.

What I like about this 3 to 4 weeks interval is that it allows my mind to see things in a more detached way. For example, when I read sth for the first time, I have this tendency to think almost every phrase is important. However, after a few weeks of not seeing the text, I end up being more rational about what is important or not. So far, doing this has helped me a lot in two ways: (1) it reduces the amount of information I want to learn and memorize and (2) It helps me to become way more critical with the information I want to commit to memory.

Once I read that "we only learn in retrospective " and I do believe that 's true. Only when we become detached from sth (through time) is that we can have a better understand of it.

Great video!!

[weightupmountainguy]

Dude. I seriously enjoy all of your content. Been a fan for about 4 months now. Love watching this thing grow. Thank you for what you do.

[RowanSharkey-imsq]

I got a first-class Philosophy Degree by exclusively making notes in the margins of my books and pdfs.

(1) I like to summarise certain passages using very few words, so that I can find them easily.

(2) I write question marks next to difficult passages, so that I can discuss them with friends, or lecturers during their office hours.

(3) When I spot a conclusion in the text, typically indicated by words such as “hence”, “thus”, “therefore”, I write a C next to it.

(4) Next, I try to figure out how the author arrived at their conclusion by marking key premises. After getting the gist of an argument, I question each premise, and ask myself whether the conclusion follows from the premises.

(5) If the answer is no, I write OBJ at the bottom of the page, and state what I think is wrong with the argument.

[Chris-kiui]

Your videos are about the best on the "market" for theoretical subjects. There are all too many youtubers with their tips on studying subjects that are more objective. For social science subjects like political science in my case, those approaches to studying rarely if ever help. Your approaches hit the nail right on the head. Thank you for sharing.

[Nowhatsgoingon]

This is what I did for my graduation oral exam
I tried this method that time and it helped me to learn everything

[wimgeuens]

I found Obsidian incredible for importing notes and making connections between things I study/read. It's lightweight, free, exportable and the spiderweb grid (which is optional) makes it look as if everything you do really has impact and is connected in one way or another.

[NelsonGuedes]

I underline the vocabulary and then write "def" next to it so that I can quickly glance something was defined in the passage

[rohithreddy]

Taking notes on iPad with Pencil is a good balance between taking digital notes and handwritten notes

[StinFriggins]

This is so my favorite philoliterary channel. I hope, in five years, I'm still learning alongside you. Cheers

[lkreinmiller-author]

To many think digital means a key board. I write by hand but in a digital interface. I get the best of both worlds.

[LiterateTexan]

This was a really great book. If I ever go back to get my PhD, this will be my go-to. Thanks, Jared, for this.