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c. The Advantages of Note-Taking Pairs
There are some advantages of Note-Taking Pairs as follows: 1
enables the students to avoid unintentional plagiarism 2
helps the students to focus on what is important in what they are reading or hearing
3 helps the students to understand and remember material, and make
connections 4
helps the students to structure the assignments they are researching 5
provides a personal record of what the students have learnt more useful than their lecturers or friends notes and records their questions and ideas
6 sets the students up for exam revision
University of Reading, 2011 Barkley, et al. 2005: 139 state, “This technique can help reinforce course
concepts, but it can also reinforce inaccuracy if both students in a pair have faulty information. Repeat and emphasize the main concept frequently, and review and
assess the notes periodically to make sure that students are learning the correct information. It is important that each student take something from the other
student’s note to improve his or her own notes, that student will probably resent helping the student who is taking poor notes.”
To assess learning, ask student to respond in writing to two questions: i What is the most important suggestion you got from your peer? and ii What do
you think is the most helpful suggestion you gave to your peer? If the major purpose of the exercise is to improve written note-taking skills, occasionally
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collect notes before the peer conversation and again after. Or to simplify your review, ask students to highlight or indicate what changes they made as a result of
discussion with a peer. If you are more interested in assessing the quality of the peer suggestions, ask students to hand in one set of their notes with suggestions by
their peer made in a different color pencil.
d. The Disadvantages of Note-Taking Pairs
Besides the advantages, Note-Taking Pairs also bring the disadvantages to the students. They are as follows:
1 Note-taking can distract the students from listening to lectures or while
reading a text. 2
Note-taking can put additional stress on those who do not write naturally 3
The students can end up with so many notes that they have to spend twice the amount of time going through them again to find out the important points
University of Reading, 2011 Developing more effective note-taking practices will help you to avoid
these problems, and make your studying less stressful and time-consuming. To help the students in eliminating the disadvantages of using Note-Taking Pairs,
some suggestions are provided. Before the reading activity:
1 Get the general overview of main ideas, secondary points, and important
concepts by scanning the text. 2
Identify familiar terms with unfamiliar terms and concepts.
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3 Look for other gaps in information which should be clarified or filled in.
During the reading activity: 1
Each note is written in a different new page. 2
Notes should include all main ideas and enough subordinate points to clarify understanding.
3 Never use a sentence when it is possible to use a phrase or a phrase when it is
possible to use a word. 4
Attempt to differentiate fact from opinion. 5
Pay attention on the word clues. 6
Use abbreviations and symbols wherever possible. 7
Note down the unfamiliar vocabulary and unclear areas. 8
Develop a code system of note-marking to indicate special points. 9
Use graphic organizers. After reading activity:
1 Clear up illegibility in writing soon, check for errors by consulting the
partners. Immediate review is essential to retention. Retention will drop sharply and it will more sound as relearning rather than reviewing.
2 Rewrite the notes.
It is important to bring into consideration that the students are encouraged always recording the necessary details for any source they use as soon as they
start taking notes. Dont wait till they have finished reading – they may forget,
or misplace the text.
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3. Directed Reading – Thinking Activity Technique
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