I’m sorry it’s been a while! I haven’t been studying from textbooks lately.
There are so many ways to write summaries. I will shortly outline my experience with both typed and handwritten summaries.
Using a computer with Microsoft
(Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with a Mac or tablets, so I will not pretend I have knowledge about these topics and just stick to this.)
If you use Microsoft Word, you can use different levels of headings to distinguish between chapters, subsections, etc. I like to begin by outlining the entire chapter using headings or lists
Myheadingslook like this:
Afterwards, I fill in the actual summaries under the subheadings. There’s many ways to do this, of which I’ve outline a few in this picture:
Lists look like this:
I prefer the first option, because it’s easy to change the layout of the headings AND because you can create a content page automatically, which can be super useful if you want to jump to a certain topic, week or chapter.
There are several apps out there that let you automatically store your files in the cloud as well as on your device and sync your devices, like Dropbox,GoogleDrive, and OneDrive. 10/10 recommend, you just don’t want to lose your stuff, plus you can work from any other computer. They’re all good.
You can print your summaries if you want to, if this helps you study (but you don’t have to of course)
Online summaries go well with online flashcards
You can include pictures, diagrams, drawings as well. Sometimes I copy pictures from pictures from powerpoint slides from lectures if I find it useful
Pros of using the computer:
You can change things later on easily, for example to add lecture notes to your summaries or clarify something if you understand it better now.
If you don’t have a very neat handwriting, it’s more neat
You can print them and highlight them as many times as you want
It’s faster (unless you’re me and suck at typing)
Cons of using the computer:
You can’t use pretty pens
You can’t add formulas as easily (other than y = ax + b)
You can’t draw diagrams as easily. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I would take longer figuring out how to get it right than actually studying
Handwriting summaries
Of course, you can also make summaries the old school way, a.k.a. with a pen. It is often useful to write a rough outline on a draft paper, so you know more or less what you want to write so it doesn’t get a big mess.
Some options:
Make it super neat and colourfull, like @reviseordie. Take a look at her archive, but don’t be overwhelmed! My summaries will neverlook that pretty
You can also just write them with a simple pen of your preferred kind. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with that.
Colour coding is cool. You can use highlighers or coloured pens or pencils. If you use highlighters, you can highlight while reviewing your summary later on, or do a lot of highlighting at once, and you don’t always have to have a lot of pens with you. Just the basic colour, your reading, and a notebook. Coloured pens, on the other hand, can sections look different without having that blinding effect of an entire paragraph being marked fluorescent yellow.
Loose papers or a notebook? In a notebook you have all your things together, but once it’s there it’s there forever. You can’t really rip out a page and start over, or do chapters in different orders, or start chapter 8, then do chapter 4, then finish chapter 8. Buy a binder and you can still have all your notes in one place.
In my opinion, this is more flexible to your own needs than a computer
You can be creative
You don’t have to spend even more time looking at a screen.
Cons of handwritten summaries:
Can be time consuming
Can hurt your hand
Can be less useful if your handwriting is awful
If you lose it, it’s gone
One final tip:
Be sure to be conciseandclear. You don’t want to reread summaries that are almost as long as the reading itself, but you also don’t want to look back at your summary and not have a clue what “Piaget pleasure accomplishment” meant.
