Part 2 reading skills for academic study: note-taking

Task 5. Share your personal experience with you fellows. Say, why taking notes is an important part of the life of every student.

Task 6. Complete the text with the given words related, revising, sensible, relationship, permanent, important, interactive, concentrate, notes,

There are two main reasons why note-taking is __________:

When you are reading or listening, taking notes helps you ________. In order to take notes - to write something _________ – you must understand the text. As listening and reading are _________ tasks, taking notes help you make sense of the text. Taking notes does not mean writing down every word you hear; you need to actively decide what is important and how is _________ to what you have already written.

Notes help you to maintain a _________ record of what you have read or listened to. This is useful when _________ in the future for examinations or other reasons.

Good _______ should be accurate, clear and concise. They should show the organization of the text, and this should show the _________ between the ideas.

Task 7. Read the instructions and complete them with your personal recommendations.

How to take notes

When you're reading, first survey the text to find the main points and how they are related. Then read for the subsidiary points; see how they are related to the main points and to each other. Then, reduce the points to notes. Make sure links and relationships between the ideas are shown.

Good notes need to be organized appropriately. There are two main methods for this:

1. List

The topic is summarized one point after another, using numbers and letters and indentation to organize information in order of importance. The numbers and letters can be used by themselves or in combination.

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X,

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I,

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8,9,10,

(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x),

a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i,

Or using decimals:

1.1, 1.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

2. __________________

3. __________________

4. __________________

Task 8. Read the following text and study the notes below. Notice how the three main kinds of oil form the three main categories and other aspects are related to these.

Oils

There are three main groups of oils: animal, vegetable and mineral. Great quantities of animal oil come from whales, those enormous creatures of the sea which are the largest remaining animals in the world. To protect the whale from the cold of the Arctic seas, nature has provided it with a thick covering of fat called blubber. When the whale is killed, the blubber is stripped off and boiled down, either on board ship or on shore. It produces a great quantity of oil which can be made into food for human consumption. A few other creatures yield oil, but none so much as the whale. The livers of the cod and the halibut, two kinds of fish, yield nourishing oil. Both cod liver oil and halibut liver oil are given to sick children and other invalids who need certain vitamins. These oils may be bought at any chemist's.

Vegetable oil has been known from antiquity. No household can get on without it, for it is used in cooking. Perfumes may be made from the oils of certain flowers. Soaps are made from vegetable and animal oils.

To the ordinary man, one kind of oil may be as important as another. But when the politician or the engineer refers to oil, he almost always means mineral oil, the oil that drives tanks, aero planes and warships, motor-cars and diesel locomotives; the oil that is used to lubricate all kinds of machinery. This is the oil that has changed the life of the common man. When it is refined into petrol it is used to drive the internal combustion engine. To it we owe the existence of the motorcar, which has replaced the private carriage drawn by the horse. To it we owe the possibility of flying. It has changed the methods of warfare on land and sea. This kind of oil comes out of the earth. Because it burns well, it is used as fuel and in some ways it is superior to coal in this respect. Many big ships now burn oil instead of coal. Because it burns brightly, it is used for illumination; countless homes are still illuminated with oil-burning lamps. Because it is very slippery, it is used for lubrication. Two metal surfaces rubbing together cause friction and heat; but if they are separated by a thin film of oil, the friction and heat are reduced. No machine would work for long if it were not properly lubricated. The oil used for this purpose must be of the correct thickness; if it is too thin it will not give sufficient lubrication, and if it is too thick it will not reach all parts that must be lubricated.

(Adapted from Power and Progress by G. C. Thornley (Longman))

Possible notes

	Oils
	I. animal	A. from	1. mainly whales - fat called blubber protect from cold 2. also livers of cod and halibut
		B. use	1. given to e.g. sick children etc. who need vitamins. 2. soap
	II. vegetable	A. known from antiquity
		B. use	1. in cooking 2. oils of certain flowers perfumes 3. for soap
	III. mineral	A. most common - mineral oil
		B. from earth
		C. use	1. for tanks, aero planes and warships, motor-cars and diesel locomotives 2. to lubricate all kinds of machinery 3. owe the existence of the motorcar, possibility of flying
		D. properties	1. burns well fuel 2. burns brightly illumination 3. slippery lubrication

Task 9. Make your notes to the text. Present your notes to your partners.