Uni History notes whilst reading

I'm in my first year of uni studying history. A semester in, I've been trying to figure out some good ways to take notes. Not in the lectures but rather, when reading an article or book or something.

Does anyone have any advice? Any questions that I can try and answer that work for every or almost every source. Also any note taking styles that may be better than just the standard bullet lines on a page?

Thanks!

Reply 1

ageshallnot

21

Original post by lewis twist

You don't have to struggle I can type your notes neatly and send the via email and also do research. I'm here to help you if you need any assistance

How much?

Original post by S.Em22

I'm in my first year of uni studying history. A semester in, I've been trying to figure out some good ways to take notes. Not in the lectures but rather, when reading an article or book or something.

Does anyone have any advice? Any questions that I can try and answer that work for every or almost every source. Also any note taking styles that may be better than just the standard bullet lines on a page?

Thanks!

Hi @S.Em22

I studied History undergraduate and I found that the best way to take notes was firstly to find the key arguments in the texts. If you can find an abstract these are usually a great place to start as they tell you the key arguments in a short space (usually about 200 words). Academic reviews of books are also good as they are usually short summaries of the main arguments. When you understand a bit about what the person/s are trying to argue, you can look out and make notes on what they are arguing and what evidence they are using to back that up.

If it is a primary source some good starting places to analyse is to consider a few questions:
1) who wrote the source? what can that tell you about the purpose and perspective of the source?
2) what is the source - is it a newspaper? a government report? a poster? e.g. what does that tell you about its purpose?
3) who is the audience of the source? a government report would have a different audience to a newspaper for example, what does the audience tell you about how the source was written, what was its intended message? etc.

From these questions hopefully you can start to understand the nature and purpose of a source, and they can apply to most primary and some secondary sources too to help you understand them and start making notes about them.

I hope this helps!
Grace :smile:

BA History
MA Nineteenth Century Studies (History and English Literature)

Original post by S.Em22

I'm in my first year of uni studying history. A semester in, I've been trying to figure out some good ways to take notes. Not in the lectures but rather, when reading an article or book or something.

Does anyone have any advice? Any questions that I can try and answer that work for every or almost every source. Also any note taking styles that may be better than just the standard bullet lines on a page?

Thanks!

@S.Em22

So exicitng you're studying History at university!

There are loads of ways people take notes but annotating slides, planning around essay questions or literally writing down what the lecturer says verbatim.

the best way I take notes to focus on the recommended reading suggested. I make sure I note down the reading and the general argument it’s making. This makes finding reading for my essays easier as I know what the argument is and what paragraph/essay it would suit. I also make sure to note the different arguments that the lecturer makes and references and also the general historiography of the topic. Your lecturers are a wealth of knowledge and are always making compelling points you should consider and build upon.

I normally come to a lecture with all the lecture slides typed out as it’s normally released earlier at Durham. This saves time and allows me to focus on what the lecturer is actually saying. It also means I come to the lecture with an understanding of the content so I engage more with the topic. I also make sure all sections are clearly subtitled so I can add to the relevant section during the lecture.

Hope this was helpful!

-Lamesha (DU Offical Rep)

Uni History notes whilst reading

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you