Students are rarely taught how to study. When study strategy instruction occurs, weak strategies are often advocated or strategies are presented in a hodgepodge leaving students without a systematic study plan. This experiment investigated a systematic study plan called SOAR that includes the components of "S"election, "O"rganization,…

Summarizes research on the advantages of students taking their own notes, with suggestions for ways to take good notes. (AEA)

Two experiments, involving 195 undergraduates, investigated how different note-taking formats influenced student note taking. Results reconfirmed that a flexible outline framework in which the order of subtopics corresponds to the order of lecture presentation produces more note taking than a collapsed matrix framework presenting fewer subtopics.…

Two experiments involving 153 college students indicated that, given enough time, students studying graphic organizers learned more hierarchical and coordinate relations. As a result, they were more successful in applying the knowledge and in writing integrated essays than were students studying outlines or text alone. (SLD)

Offers a model of study skills instruction embedded within high school and college level classrooms, discussing strategies appropriate for four learning components: notetaking, organizing, relating, and monitoring (NORM). The article asserts that NORM is not the norm for most college students, who are never taught to learn, addressing each NORM…

Note-taking functions (encoding, encoding plus storage, and storage) and note-taking techniques (conventional, linear, and matrix) were studied for 96 college undergraduates. Results are explained in relation to repetition, generative processing, note completeness, and the potential of note-taking techniques to facilitate performance. (SLD)

Examines theories and research related to notetaking and review, including levels of processing, transfer-appropriate processing, schema theory, long-term memory and forgetting, and metacognition. Reports findings from interviews with five university professors who have developed and teach courses in study skills or learning strategies regarding…

Reviews the literature on student notetaking and review behaviors and the effects of these behaviors on academic achievement. Ten factors that may constrain notetaking and review are presented, and their implications for improving study skills and conducting further research are discussed. (Author/CLB)

Students tend to emphasize important information more than less important information in their lecture notes. Whether this strategy changes with lecture repetition was investigated in 3 experiments with 71 undergraduate students. Students' assessments and shifts of strategy with lecture repetition are discussed. (SLD)

Forty-four undergraduates received different types of notes for review of a lecture (complete text, linear outline, or matrix), or received no notes. Any form of notes increased performance over no notes, with matrix and outline notes producing higher recall and matrix notes producing greatest transfer. (SLD)

Discussion of the functions of note-taking and reviewing notes in the learning process highlights two studies of undergraduates that were conducted with three treatment groups: (1) note-taking only; (2) note-taking and review; and (3) review only with borrowed notes. One study involved learning from a videotaped lecture, and one from a printed…