Importance of Making Notes

[Music] this is station wnmp and this is where  I learned the real value of making notes this is my notebook I'm pretty proud of it now and  it's become a good friend to me you know why well did you ever ask questions like it's the  assignment where did I read something about Joseph Lister what what book are we supposed to  read for literature well I used to ask questions like those now I look at my notebook you see how  it's organized a section for each class I have in front of each section  there's a page for assignments then behind that the notes on each day's  class discussion and reading beginning with the first day that I took notes that's  a long time ago don't look at these notes here these are better you can see how I'm beginning to organize  my notes and make them easier to read they're good notes now and here's the story  of how they got that way it began at wnmp Eddie and I visited the station to prepare  a report for the class on News broadcasting boy was it interesting foreign [Music] busy taking notes and the next day in class and  it sure was interesting we saw a lot of interesting things um we saw  the control room and the studios and The Newsroom you know I wish that uh that you all  could have could see it [Music] all right Eddie on our trip we had a chance to go behind the  scenes to actually see how a news broadcast is organized as you know the announcer  reads from a specially prepared script but what goes on behind this script in one room in  the studio called The Wire room the teletypes are constantly busy bringing in news bulletins from  the various wire Services wnmp has two of these how did he remember all that information how did he organize it so well  could it be the notes on those cards well I began to wonder about notes  to wonder whether they would help me look at Jane no notes for her  which she learn by just listening and Jim he looks as though he's  trying to write down every word but Mary took notes in a different way she would  listen think and then write would she learn more that way would notes really help you learn well  I got my answer when Eddie finished his talk are there any questions yes you said there  are teletype machines blank blank blank from The Wire Services I missed the middle part  well Jim I don't recall exactly what I said but the teletype machines are going all the time  bringing in bulletins from the new Services yes do the announcers work with the writers  in preparing comments on the news well well some of them do and some prepare  their own Scripts yes how did they get the news didn't I just cover that well there it was as  clear as anything no notes not much learning well if you try to copy down every word  well you don't get the ideas do you but if you make notes outline the key ideas  uh-huh that's the way taking good notes helps you understand and remember what is said and that  meant to me that I'd have to start taking notes I was sure going to need some help  though well Eddie had good notes maybe he'd show me the way he does it we went to one of the library conference rooms  where we could talk without disturbing anyone well we had a new reading assignment  for that social studies course but before he got into that Eddie went  back over his notes on our class discussion what I'd said and what he'd said they didn't look like much Eddie showed me  though how he used abbreviations to save time and how the notes were a little disorganized  because the discussion was a bit disorganized but in a few minutes Eddie  had those notes in shape rewriting them that way gave him a  neat permanent record of the discussion and helped him remember it reading the notes I began to remember more too now what's this there was the  reading assignment all written out no mistakes about what to read or when but as we got into that reading assignment  I noticed Eddie wasn't making notes he read all the way to the end of the chapter and then he paused a minute  thinking through all he had read he kept talking about remembering the purpose  of your reading purpose of your reading oh yes to find the effect of the Federal Communications  Commission on radio news broadcasts all right I read with that in mind and do you know the important material  just stood right out from the page well I could see then how to find  the important ideas in Reading but just what do you write down Eddie showed me FCC licenses wavelengths renewals every six months yes finding and recording the important ideas  in your own words that's what note taking is remembering your purpose is one  way to find those important ideas there are other cues to use in reading too  watch for bold type headings summary sentences numbered lists of items for they tell  you what the author thinks is important and these cues helped Eddie plan out his notes  so I made up my mind to remember my purpose and to watch for cues both in reading and in  listening for the same thing works well in class so we see that radio broadcasting is controlled  in three ways by the public by the sponsor and the station management and by the government  through the power yes it worked by listening with purpose in mind and by following cues I was  able to pick out the important ideas and the sub ideas just fell into place then later when I had a  chance I rewrote my class notes in permanent form yes my notes were beginning to be complete and  better organized and more useful whenever I needed to review my work whenever I had an exam  to prepare for I'd bring out my notebook and it was a lot easier than before I found two that I  remember more even without referring to my notes so there it is my notebook I fixed it up  a bit to make it neater better organized so now it's a book I'm proud of a book  I'm glad I have well that's the story no tab made a difference for me and they can  for you too make a note of that will you [Music]