Nam Đỗ Blog

SECTION 3 

---

Nam Đỗ Blog | 
Dohoangnam.com
 
69 | 
P a g e
Dylan: Hi, Emily. What did you think of that lecture? 
Emily: A bit hard to follow, but I have some good lecture-listening note-taking strategies 
which really help, so I can review the lecturer’s message later. 
Dylan: Lecture-listening note-taking strategies? Review it later? That sounds interesting. 
I must admit, I struggle a bit to take down the gist of what I hear. Look at my notes. 
Emily: Well, I can see a basic problem immediately. You’re writing full words, such as 
‘century’ when all you need is a ‘C’, And don’t write ‘increase’; just draw an ‘up’ arrow. 
And why write ‘thousand’ when a ‘th’ will do? 
Dylan: I see. Just use symbols. That’s not a bad idea at all. 
Emily: It’s the most basic strategy, allowing you to record information at a faster pace. 
These lecturers can talk faster than others, too, so you don’t want to waste any time. But 
you need to be very familiar with your set of symbols. 
Dylan: Why? 
Emily: Because you’ll have to look at these notes days, weeks, or even months 
afterwards, when you begin writing your essay, so you’ll need to be able to interpret them 
at a later stage. 
Dylan: I think I can do this, even by looking at your notes. ‘Immed’ must 
mean immediately. 
Emily: But regarding the lecture as a whole, I knew the professor would be giving a set of 
specific recommendations, and comparing two alternative approaches, so I formatted my 
page in advance, adding the features consistent with the nature of what I was going to 
hear. 
Dylan: Ah ... I think I need an example of what you mean. 
Emily: Well, look at my page. Before the lecture, I drew large headings saying 
‘recommendations’. You should always draw these, and I drew a table saying, ‘Approach 

---