Note Making

Note Making

Effective note makers are efficient learners. Effective note making is a skill that each person develops over time and with practice to suit their own style of working. You will find some ideas to help you start on this path in this section.

Effective note makers:

            can recognize the main ideas

            know which information is relevant to their purpose

            have developed a system that works for them

            can keep it brief and may also use visual diagrams/mind maps/flowcharts

            mostly use their own words (as well as specialist words)

            record details of the source (bibliographic information such as author, date etc.)

            capture the ideas and thoughts that come to mind as they listen or read. This could be how it relates to an assignment and how they might use it, questions to follow up, or critical comments.

In summary, here are some 'do' and 'don't' tips:

Do

            Practice! Try taking brief notes from a television show you are watching, (e.g. a news item; short documentary), or from a short magazine article.

            Translate information into your own words (paraphrase) and summarize

            Record the bibliographic details of the source

            Organize notes in some form (it could be as outlines, flowcharts, diagrams, lists, column styles)

            Review your notes while the text or lecture is still fresh in your memory. Fill in any gaps you see or further thoughts.

            Try other methods to record your notes such as recording your voice or typing on a laptop

            Research note taking skills and experiment to develop a system that works for you!

Don’t

            Don’t try to write every word – select the major points and important information (especially if you are taking notes in a lecture)

            Don’t write complete sentences, streamline with abbreviations and symbols, organise – leave out the small connecting words (such as was, the, this).

Why do we take notes?

To remember information from lectures, talks, books, etc. o To provide a framework within which we can think about, organize and recall relevant points and ideas.

Key questions to ask when making notes What does this mean to me?

How does this relate to what I know? How will I use it?

What are the KEY ideas? What are the important points?

How to make notes

Step 1: The students are required to read the passage to get a gist of the passage, to know what it is all about, or what the theme is.

Step 2: The main idea or the central theme of the passage should be found out.

Step 3: The important points related to the main theme are noted.

Step 4: Add the sub-points which supplement the main points. There is no need to give examples.

Step 5: Pay attention to the way you would like to present the notes. There is a proper format for note making you have to follow it and make your notes in the proper format.

Step 6: Use abbreviations wherever necessary. Example:

Read the following passage and make notes on it:

Most robots of today consist of little more than a mechanical arm and a computer memory. The memory allows the arm to repeat a simple motion like moving a part from one work-bench to another. Because its memory can store a collection of such motions, the robot can switch quickly from one simple task to another. It will not complain of boredom, bulk at job demarcation lines, takes as tea-break or go sick.

This faithful servant is also a stupid one. It has no problem-solving intelligence. Also it lacks our senses that would alert it. If say, the part that it was meant to pick up was upside down - or not there at all. A robot is less capable than a man groping in the dark. At least a man can tell by touch if he merely bumps into something.

Although robots are gradually gaining more senses and more brains, today's growth in robotics has come about largely because industry has learnt how to accommodate these mindless, mechanical workers. The automobile industry, which employs some sixty percent of the world's 20,000 robots, has been leading the way to applications.

That should be no surprise. Assembly-line production is repeated with the sort of simple, repetitive jobs that robots can do so well. Robots are being put to work loading and unloading conveyors, welding car bodies together and spray -painting the finished product. Parts of a car have long been carried to human workers on conveyor belts. It takes only a bit of careful engineering to ensure that the parts sent along to robots are presented in precisely the same position each time. Given that accommodation to their senseless, robots can boost productivity with their untiring speed, and boost quality with their mindless ability to do the same job in exactly the same way every time.

Even smaller manufacturers are finding, places for robots in their factories. Some are simply using robots to perform tasks like loading and unloading moulds and presses, which are similar to the jobs, jobs robots do in assembly-line plants. Answer:

ROBOTS

            Today robots

1.a. mechanical arm 1.b. computer memory

1.b. i. repeat simple motions like moving a part from one bench to another 1.b. ii. Store collections of such motions

            Advantages

2.a. Switch quickly

2.b. no boredom complaint 2.c. no tea break

2.d. bulk at job demarcation line 2.e. faithful servant

            Disadvantages

3.a. no problem-solving intelligence

3.a. i. if a part is upside down - don't know what to do 3.a. ii. Not equal to man

            Today's robots

4.a. gain more senses and more "brains" 4.b. industry learnt to accommodate 4.c. automobile industry

4.c. i. employs 60% of 20000 robots 4.c. ii. Used in assembly line production 4.c. ii. A. Simple, repetitive jobs

4.c. ii. B. loading & unloading conveyors 4.c. ii. C. welding car bodies

4.c. ii. D. spray-painting finished products 4.d. i. to boost productivity

4.d. ii. Care to present parts precisely with their speed and mindless nature 4.e. smaller manufacturers

4.e.i. loading & unloading moulds and presses

Read the following passage carefully and make notes.

The work of the heart can never be interrupted. The heart's job is to keep oxygen rich blood flowing through the body. All the body's cells need a constant supply of Oxygen,especially those in the brain. The brain cells live only four to five minutes after their oxygen is cut off, and death comes to the entire body.

The heart is a specialized muscle that serves as a pump. This pump is divided into four chambers connected by tiny doors called valves. The chambers work to keep the blood flowing round the body in a circle.

At the end of each circuit, veins carry that blood to the right atrium, the first of the four chambers 2/5 oxygen by then is used up and it is on its way back to the lung to pick up a fresh supply and to give up the carbon dioxide it has accumulated. From the right atrium the blood flows through the tricuspid valve into the second chamber, the right ventricle. The right ventricle contracts when it is filled, pushing the blood through the pulmonary artery, which leads to the lungs - in the lungs the blood gives up its carbon dioxide and picks up fresh oxygen. Then it travels to the third chamber the left atrium. When this chamber is filled it forces the blood through a valve to the left ventricle. From here is it pushed into a big blood vessel called aorta and sent round the body by way of arteries.

Heart diseases can result from any damage to the heart muscle, the valves or the pacemaker. If the muscle is damaged, the heart is unable to pump properly. If the valves are damaged blood cannot flow normally and easily from one chamber to another, and if the pacemaker is defective, the contractions of the chambers will become un-coordinated.

Until the twentieth century, few doctors dared to touch the heart. In 1953 all this changed after twenty years of work, Dr. John Gibbon in the USA had developed a machine that could take over temporarily from the heart and lungs. Blood could be routed through the machine bypassing the heart so that surgeons could work inside it and see what they were doing. The era of open heart surgery had begun.

In the operation theatre, it gives surgeons the chance to repair or replace a defective heart. Many parties have had plastic valves inserted in their hearts when their own was faulty. Many people are being kept alive with tiny battery operated pacemakers; none of these repairs could

have been made without the heart -lung machine. But valuable as it is to the surgeons, the heart lung machine has certain limitations. It can be used only for a few hours at a time because its pumping gradually damages the blood cells. Answer:

Heart

            Function of Heart

                       Vital for living

                       Supplies oxygen rich blood to different parts of the body.

            Structure of the heart

       Divided 4 chambers connected by valves

                       Blood purified in the lungs

                     Arteries carry pure blood to different parts of the body.

            Heart disease - cause

                       Weak muscles

                       Defective valves

                       Defective pace maker

            History of open heart surgery

                        1953 - Dr. Gibbon invented Heart lung machine

                        Blood could pass through the machine

                        Enabled open heart surgery

                        Limitation

            Can be used only for a few hours at a time.

            Damages blood cells.