The Cornell Note-Taking System

When you take notes at a meeting, conference or training session, are you confident that you'll actually be able to use them?

Perhaps your notes are clear and concise, and you can rely on them to help you to recall key points. Or maybe they're a nonsensical jumble of sentences. If so, it might be time to change your note-taking approach.

One tried-and-true method is the Cornell Note-Taking System. It was developed in the 1940s by education professor Walter Pauk at Cornell University, New York. Created to help students to learn, it found widespread popularity in his 1962 book, "How to Study in College," co-authored with Ross Owens.

The Cornell Note-Taking System is a simple and effective way to organize your notes as you write them, so that you can easily identify key points and actions later. [1]

In this article, we look at how to use the Cornell system, and give a worked example.

The Structure of the Cornell Note-Taking System

The Cornell format is very specific, but straightforward. It uses a page layout that you can create by using these three steps:

1. Use a full-sized piece of paper and allow plenty of space, so that your notes don't become fragmented and disorderly.
2. Divide the page into two portions by drawing a line down the page, roughly 2.5 inches (6 cm) from the left margin. This is the cue column, where you'll add prompts to highlight important parts of your notes. On the right of the page is the note-taking column, where you write your notes or comments.
3. Around 2 inches (5 cm) from the bottom of the page, draw a horizontal line. This creates your summary section, where you recap your notes.

Cue Column

← 2.5 inches →

(5 cm)

Note-Taking Column

↑

2 inches (4 cm) For Summary

↓

From Pauk/Owens, How to Study in College, 11E. © 2014 South-Western, a part of Cengage, Inc. Reproduced by permission, www.cengage.com/permissions.

How to Use the Cornell Note-Taking System

Now that you've set up your page, it's time to add your notes. There are three basic stages to this:

1. Observing: listening and deciding what to write down, based on what you hear, read or discuss.
2. Recording: writing down your notes and observations, both during and after the event.
3. Reviewing: reviewing what you've written, to help you to learn the information and recall it in the future.

Observation and Recording Your Notes

It's best to do this on the day of the event so that your notes are fresh and relevant. Follow the four steps, below, to make your notes as useful as possible:

1. Create a note-taking page in the Cornell format.
2. Write down your notes in the note-taking column. Make them as detailed as necessary, noting any examples and sketching any diagrams that will make them more meaningful.
3. Immediately after the event, write down key words and key phrases or actions in the cue column. These should sum up the detailed notes in your note-taking column. You can turn your key words/key phrases into questions, too.
4. Now revisit the notes and write a summary in the bottom section of your page while the whole event is still fresh in your mind.

Figure 1, below, shows notes about SWOT Analysis, compiled after watching the MindTools video resource on the subject.

Figure 1 – Cornell Note-Taking Example

Reviewing Information

The Cornell Note-Taking System is designed to help you to remember important points by using handy cues. But research shows that you can also use it to check and improve your recall whenever you need to memorize information – if you're revising for a test, for example. [2]

Here's a quick guide to using the Cornell system for reviewing information and testing your recall:

• Cover up the notes in the note-taking column with a blank sheet of paper or with your hand.
• Use your cues to form questions. (In the example, above, you might ask, "What does SWOT stand for?" or "How would I explain SWOT to someone who's never heard of it?")
• Answer the questions by trying to recall the information in your notes.
• Check your answers against your notes in the note-taking column.
• Keep repeating the process until you can easily recall the information that you need.
• To ensure that you have long-term recall of the information, repeat the process again several days later, and then a few weeks later.