Whole brain super learning ability

Chapter 23 The Charm of Note-taking (2)
Eight methods of reading notes

If we can have a fundamental understanding of note-taking and consciously use note-taking as a walking stick that can be used at any time during study, we can effectively improve the efficiency of reading, enhance the effect and quality of learning, and better achieve the purpose of learning.Due to various factors and reasons, although many people know the important role of notes in learning, in practice, they cannot freely choose the appropriate form of note-taking according to the purpose of learning.For example, some people equate various "writing exercises and exercise exercises" that are purely for consolidating knowledge and deepening the "stimulation traces" of the brain with abstract notes and reading outlines that have a certain retention purpose; The outline is processed in the same record form as the notes accumulated for certain learning and research purposes.Similar to these phenomena, to varying degrees, have caused people's confused thinking on the method of taking notes, making people confused about the method of taking notes, losing further exploration of it, and even losing the importance of learning notes. magic weapon.What a pity and pity.

So, how do you take notes scientifically?The purpose of taking notes is to fundamentally clarify its specific methods, clarify some vague understandings in the process of taking notes, and correct its wrong practices.Let's start with the classification of notes, and then talk about the methods and forms of note-taking.Because, only by clarifying the classification of notes, can we naturally understand the method of note-taking, and better choose the form of note-taking according to the purpose of learning; can we feel more deeply the various benefits that reading notes bring to us in learning; Only in this way can we use the various notations of notes proficiently, and finally use them flexibly in further learning practice.

There are many ways to make reading notes. According to the characteristics of various note-taking methods, they can be summarized as follows:
1.critical notes
You can add eyebrow comments (also called headnotes) in the blank space at the top of the original text, or add end comments at the end of the original text, add side comments between lines, add side points at the best places, and add comments at the most incisive places. side circle.In short, as soon as you get something out of reading, you can add comments to the book at any time.This method is widely used by people. Its advantages are flexibility and simplicity, and it helps to cultivate a good writing style that is concise and to the point.

Although the comments are brief, they are well done and valuable.For example, the great Russian writer Tolstoy’s comments when he read Herzen’s “From the Other Bank” can be said to be a special academic paper in itself.In the process of reading, carefully writing annotations can not only encourage you to use your brains when reading, study carefully, and grasp the main content of the book, but also urge yourself to take notes and record some feelings and certain sparks of thought.When I revisit this book in the future, I can also make some comparisons to see whether my original understanding is correct, and whether my current understanding is more comprehensive and in-depth.Comment notes are a very useful way to make reading notes.

2.symbolic notes
You can add various symbols under important sentences in the book or next to the original text, such as straight lines, double lines, circles, black dots, crosses, arrows, curved lines, red lines, blue lines, boxes, emphasis marks, question marks, exclamation marks Etc., it is easy to find out the key points, deepen the impression, or raise doubts.What these symbols mean is up to you.For those relatively long paragraphs, you can also mark the levels with Arabic numerals to make them clear, organized and easy to review and memorize.Like Lincoln, his notational notes have their own original usage: draw a straight line on the side to indicate that this passage is worth noting; draw 2 or 3 straight lines to indicate that it is more noteworthy; write "VG" (very good meaning) Two letters mean very important and so on.

Of course, the use of the above two methods can only be limited to your own books.If it is a library book or periodical, or a book borrowed from others, it cannot be arbitrarily approved.The following example is a good illustration of the meaning of symbolic notes.Adler, a famous scholar and educational philosopher, was mainly engaged in lecturing, writing and editing activities throughout his life.When he was reading, he especially liked to write and draw pictures in the book as he read and thought, made various marks, and wrote down his random feelings.This process, he called the process of possession of books.He believes that there are two ways to own a book: one is ownership, which is to buy it with money, just like buying clothes and furniture with money, but this is just a prelude to owning a book.To fully possess a book, you must make it a part of yourself, and the best way to do this is to write and draw on it.

Book owners can be divided into three types: the first type owns all authoritative works and bestsellers, but neither reads nor touches them; the second type owns a large number of books, only a few have been read, and most Flip through roughly, but all the books are as new as they just bought; the third type of people own no matter how many books, but due to frequent and continuous use, the edges of the books are rolled up, the pages are torn, and the binding is loose. It is full of marks and words on the back.Only the third type can be called the master of books.

3. Excerpt Notes

You can also extract the important points, highlights, arguments, conclusions, good sentences, epigrams or important historical facts, data, etc. of the original text. The purpose is to accumulate data for future retrieval.The selection of the excerpted content should be more precise and strict, and it should be less and better.If necessary, after the excerpt, you can combine the excerpted content and write some of your own knowledge and experience.

When excerpting, be careful not to take the meaning out of context, do not change the words and punctuation of the original text, and also indicate the source, including the title, author, page number and date (if it is an excerpt from a newspaper, please indicate the title, author, page number or edition, journal title, issue number or time), so as to check when citing in the future.Emerson said: "Excerpting is by no means a simple mechanical copying work, but an extremely important learning method. Every time you copy it, it will strengthen your memory, deepen your understanding, and stimulate your creation."

4.outline notes
This kind of notes is also called summary notes, that is, to summarize the basic content and central idea of ​​the original text in your own words, or you can quote some original texts and add your own explanation.This kind of notes first requires to read and understand the original text, grasp the key points, and then summarize the basic content.The text strives to be concise and concise, but do not write your own opinions or feelings into it.This kind of notes is more suitable for books or articles with more difficult content. You can also practice writing the paragraph outline of the article, and find out regular things from it. Practice makes perfect after a long time.Well-written outline notes should be the epitome of the whole book.Please see an example below:
In order to save his mother and sister who were about to die of starvation, the poor student Raskolnikov killed an old woman who exploited the poor, and when he was about to use her money to save his relatives, he was suddenly shocked and rushed to He ran away in a hurry.Before he killed the old woman, he was convinced that killing her was justified.However, after seeing the blood, his thoughts changed. He understood that this was just killing another "person" for the sake of one or two people (his mother and sister).So his belief that "he can kill" was shaken, he felt that he had committed a crime, and the crime must be punished.He knows that he is not a superman, but an ordinary person.He became mentally miserable, and as a result, a "superman" self emerged from his sin.He surrendered, he was exiled to Siberia.In his Siberian toil he received his reward—the purification or "resurrection" of his soul.Punishment for sin was the price Raskolnikov paid for the purification of his soul.

This text is an outline note (summary) written by the writer Henry after reading Dostoevsky's masterpiece "Crime and Punishment".The novel "Crime and Punishment" has a total of more than 48 words, but Henry outlines the plot of the book in only 300 words.

5.Topical Notes
It is a reading note made for a special need.This kind of special topic notes must focus on a certain topic or theme, and write down what you get when you are reading, or the original text, or fragments, or experiences, or what you see and hear in daily life.For example, the writer Hemingway did not take notes every day when he went deep into life, but only took notes when he heard people talk about specific facts at the speech meeting.Thematic notes are very useful. Many works are extracted from these notes, and many academic papers of scientific workers are also compiled from thematic notes.

The famous Russian educator Suhomlinski is very good at taking special notes.He always reads with some problems in the field of education, tirelessly excerpts "the best content" from monographs on pedagogy, psychology, education history and various educational methods, and then edits them into special research notes by category, writes Papers and books, wrote the famous "Dedicated Heart to Children", "Spiritual World of Students" and other books.His work is known as "the school's encyclopedia".He said: "In the face of the vast ocean of books and periodicals, we must choose books and magazines to read very strictly and carefully. We must be good at limiting the scope of reading and excluding those books and periodicals that may destroy learning." Great way to read, deepen effects.

6. Categorized Notes

You can also organize and synthesize the same content in different books and several materials under the same topic or topic.When we are reading, we sometimes encounter different versions of books with the same content. Although the levels of the books are different, the priorities are different, and even the views are different, they have the same content.In this way, when we read these books, we can make classification notes and group these materials together.When making this kind of notes, try to be as concise and accurate as possible, and write in as much material as possible.Classified notes and thematic notes have the same effect, which is very helpful for learning and scientific research.

Hemingway admired classified notes very much, and advocated that reading should be "inventoryed" regularly, and the materials extracted should be classified, compared, summarized and refined.He believes that the first "inventory" in the reading process will strengthen the pertinence of learning and make learning more effective.If there is no classification, the data will be a mess; if there is no comparison, the "best" cannot be selected; without induction, the laws cannot be understood; without "refinement", there will be no sublimation.

Heidegger also developed a good habit of taking classified notes. He took detailed excerpts of what he had read on a piece of loose-leaf paper, and then grouped them according to items such as linguistics, aesthetics, mathematics, psychology, history, theology, and philosophy. be classified.Each category is listed in strict alphabetical order.All excerpts are placed in labeled folders.These folders have accompanied the philosopher throughout his life.

When many people read books, one book is thrown away, and the other is piled up in a pile, out of order.Some people copied notes and cards, and put them in random piles without system.Once you want to look up a certain book or some kind of information, you can't find it after searching for a long time, but Heidegger wrote it on loose paper and organized it systematically to make it easy to look up.This good habit is really beneficial to reading, and it is worth emulating and learning from readers.

7. Index Notes

It is to index them according to the collected information and make some brief introductions.Historian Fang Loon said: "Teaching and research should start with bibliography." "Bibliography is like a ledger. Open the ledger, and the overview of historical works left to us by the predecessors can be understood." That is to read and research For voluminous works, you must first learn to look at the table of contents and indexes.Index notes are a kind of reading notes made for the convenience of reading and finding information.

In your usual reading process, you should index the useful information you encounter in time according to the nature of the content itself, so as to facilitate reference.There are three kinds of index notes: bibliographic index, article title index and subject (content) index.They are like the catalog and index of the library, recording which publishing house and when the book you want to read was published (bibliographic index), and recording which page of the book you want to read. It also records where the information you are looking for can be found (subject/content index).In this way, when we are studying and researching, we can find the books, newspapers and materials we need at any time, which saves time and is very convenient.

8. Diagram Notes

When you take notes, you can list some of the extracted comparative figures, survey statistics and other materials in a chart.This kind of reading notes is generally suitable for professional research, such as economics research, history research, psychology research, human resources research, comparative surveys of past and present, etc.It is very eye-catching and clear if the relevant figures and information are listed in charts, making it easy for people to understand at a glance.

When making this kind of notes, you must have reliable data and figures, and you can't take it for granted, otherwise you will be full of mistakes and delay major events.At the same time, the extracted information must be checked repeatedly, and carelessness must not be neglected.The handwriting must be clear, the font must be correct, and the handwriting should not be scribbled, so that you can't recognize it even yourself or even admit your mistake afterwards.In short, whether you are taking chart notes or other reading notes, you must not be careless and scribble, you must be serious and meticulous.

(End of this chapter)