← 📝 English as a Second Language
Note-making
Picking out the relevant points from a text and writing them as brief, clear notes under the headings given.
📌 Key points
- Notes are short phrases, not full sentences: keep only the key words that carry the meaning.
- Read the headings first, then read the text and pick out only information that answers each heading.
- Each note must make a different point; repeating the same idea in other words gains no extra marks.
- Write each note under the correct heading — a correct point under the wrong heading does not earn the mark.
- Keep your notes accurate: do not change the meaning, and include important details such as 'only', 'not' or a number if they matter.
- Leave out examples, descriptions and opinions unless the heading asks for them.
- You can use words from the text, but notes must still make sense to someone who has not read the text.
- Give the number of points asked for under each heading; extra points will not earn extra marks.
- Use clear abbreviations and symbols only if their meaning is obvious, for example 'approx.', 'e.g.' or a number instead of a word.
📖 Key terms
- Note
- A brief phrase that records one key point from a text.
- Heading
- A title that tells you which kind of information to note under it.
- Relevant
- Directly connected to the heading or task.
- Key word
- A word that carries the main meaning of a point.
- Abbreviation
- A shortened form of a word or phrase, such as 'approx.' for 'approximately'.
- Main point
- An important idea, as opposed to an example or extra detail.
✏️ Worked example
Text: 'Walking to school has many benefits. It improves your fitness, and studies show that pupils who walk arrive more alert. It also saves families money on fuel. However, some parents worry about busy roads.'
Make notes under the heading Benefits of walking to school.
- Read the heading: you need benefits only, so the worry about busy roads is not relevant.
- Find the first benefit: 'It improves your fitness' — note: improves fitness.
- Find the second: 'pupils who walk arrive more alert' — note: more alert at school.
- Find the third: 'saves families money on fuel' — note: saves money on fuel.
- Check each note is short, different and correct. Answer: improves fitness; more alert at school; saves money on fuel.
Before writing, mark each point in the text with the number of the heading it belongs to. This stops you putting a correct point under the wrong heading.
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