OneNote for Note-taking: Yay or Nay?
So this was my first semester at uni and I took all my notes on OneNote. I would take some quick notes while in a lecture but mostly, I focused on listening to the lecturer. Then when I came home I would make another set of notes using the Cornell Note-taking Method (Well, partially. I don’t find the summary taking effective so I skip that).
I also made it a point to add all the important information regarding my subjects in the first week. All my assessment dates, lecturer contact details etc.
The reason I found it effective was:
I could quickly take notes during lectures and just as quickly type them out using the Cornell method. Also, adding pictures definitely helped me remember stuff better.
I could put a reminder via Outlook which helped me stay on top of things several times.
The tags like the to do tag, important tag etc., made it easier for me to quickly go through my notes because I can actually search stuff up using that.
Sometimes, I’d add my lecture slides to the notes but the great thing is that with OneNote when you search for something, the text on pictures automatically becomes searchable.
OneNote works great with Office Lens. We all have those lecturers who don’t put the pictures on the slides but add it during the lectures. I found it super convenient to take a picture using Office Lens which then linked the picture directly to the page I wanted.
Aesthetic. Not gonna lie. My handwritten notes can get a bit messy but that was never an issue with OneNote. Also, THEY HAVE GLITTER AND GALAXY COLOURED PENS. I REPEAT GLITTER AND GALAXY COLOURED PENS. THIS IS DEFCON ONE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
Haha all that aside, I thought it was great. It helped and I did awesome this semester. But I think for semester 2, I’ll probably stick to a mixture of written and online notes.
I think I would find it easier to remember stuff if I took notes on my computer during the lecture and then I could come home and take handwritten Cornell notes.
