Definition
There is often a common misconception - among students, teachers, and even administrators - that SQ3R and Cornell Notes are the same strategy. I chose to highlight both of these strategies so that I can explain and exemplify their differences. Some believe that SQ3R is a strategy to use when comprehending written texts and Cornell Notes is a strategy to be used when listening to a live lecture or an auditory text. Others consider Cornell Notes to be a form of summarizing, or note making, and assert that it can be used with expository or detail-rich text (Miller & Veatch, 2011). It is important to convey to students that there is no correct way to take notes. Students need to "use a note-taking strategy that best fits [their] style of learning and processing text" (Ryder & Graves, 2003). Our role as teachers is to equip them with multiple strategies, so they can choose the one that best fits them. Utilizing Cornell Notes can help students summarize texts and can provide them with the beginnings of a study guide in the form of the summaries. The format of Cornell Notes is a bit more structured than SQ3R.
Examples
There is often a common misconception - among students, teachers, and even administrators - that SQ3R and Cornell Notes are the same strategy. I chose to highlight both of these strategies so that I can explain and exemplify their differences. Some believe that SQ3R is a strategy to use when comprehending written texts and Cornell Notes is a strategy to be used when listening to a live lecture or an auditory text. Others consider Cornell Notes to be a form of summarizing, or note making, and assert that it can be used with expository or detail-rich text (Miller & Veatch, 2011). It is important to convey to students that there is no correct way to take notes. Students need to "use a note-taking strategy that best fits [their] style of learning and processing text" (Ryder & Graves, 2003). Our role as teachers is to equip them with multiple strategies, so they can choose the one that best fits them. Utilizing Cornell Notes can help students summarize texts and can provide them with the beginnings of a study guide in the form of the summaries. The format of Cornell Notes is a bit more structured than SQ3R.
Examples
This is an example of how to set up the paper for Cornell Notes. It is important to post this somewhere in your classroom so students can refer back to it as they learn and begin to implement the strategy.
This picture is an example of a completed Cornell Notes page in science. As you can see, this is a nice way for students to record notes and keywords or headings during a reading or a lecture and then return to them later to review and summarize at the bottom of the page. This summary can then be used to help students review for tests, thereby teaching them valuable study skills.
Link to Writing
Like SQ3R, this is a great strategy for students to use when they are consulting sources to answer questions. Writing Standard 8 for Grades 6-8 states that students need to be able to "gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism" (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010, p. 44). In grade 6, students need to provide basic bibliographic information and in grades 7 and 8, students need to move into using standard citation formats. Cornell Notes is one effective way for students to gather this information in a way that is accurate, organized, and easy to refer back to and incorporate into writing at a later time.
Video Examples
Like SQ3R, this is a great strategy for students to use when they are consulting sources to answer questions. Writing Standard 8 for Grades 6-8 states that students need to be able to "gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism" (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010, p. 44). In grade 6, students need to provide basic bibliographic information and in grades 7 and 8, students need to move into using standard citation formats. Cornell Notes is one effective way for students to gather this information in a way that is accurate, organized, and easy to refer back to and incorporate into writing at a later time.
Video Examples
This video contains a great explanation of how to format the paper for Cornell Notes and potential ways a student might decide to take notes. This video also does a great job of highlighting the importance of vocabulary words in Cornell Notes. If that is a focus of your course and/or the specific content you are teaching, it's a great idea to require students to pull out vocabulary words and/or words they do not know during the reading.
There are a couple of key elements to point out in this video. This instructor tells her students to identify the headings, key ideas, vocabulary, and other important elements after the reading, whereas some other resources believe that students should identify them before reading based on the subheadings of a text. While either might work, this instructor's method seems more valuable because it is a more active form of reading the text and it allows students to create their own overarching ideas about the text. I also really like the way this instructor explains summarizing: "Ask yourself, 'If I was going to explain this to someone else, what would I say?'" That seems to be a succinct and valuable way to explain that portion of note-taking to students.