english

• Notetaking

  The practice of writing down or otherwise recording key points of information
• Notetaking

  • Involves active listening
  • Connecting and relating info to ideas you already know
  • Involves seeking answers to questions
  • Helps improve understanding by putting it in your own words
  • Helps prepare for writing fuller and better connected arguments
  • Helps you be more focused and time-efficient
  • Helps you assess your progress
• Effective notetaking


  1. Recognize main ideas

  2. Identify the information relevant to your task

  3. Have a system

  4. Reduce to note and diagram format

  5. Put info in your own words

  6. Record source of the information
• Reading and note taking strategies

  • Be selective and systematic
  • Think of the purpose
  • Skim the text
  • Highlight or mark the main points
  • Read the relevant sections of text carefully
  • Use columns that distinguish the source of info
  • Use headings that include bibliographic reference of the sources of info
  • Use colour
• Identify the purpose and function of a text

  1. Read the title and abstract

  2. Read the intro or 1st paragraph

  3. Skim over the next topic

  4. Read graphic material and predict its purpose
• Identifying how information is organized

  • Organising principles: Past ideas to present ideas, Steps/stages of a process or event, Most important point to least, Well known to least known, Simple to complex ideas
  • Organising principles: General ideas to specific, Largest parts to smallest, Problems and solutions, Causes and results
• Including your own thoughts

  • Record your thoughts at the time
  • Do it in a separate column or margin in a different colour
• General tips for notetaking


  1. Have a clear purpose

  2. Recognise main ideas

  3. Select what is relevant

  4. Have a system for recording info
• Strategies to increase comprehension and improve note taking - Before


  1. Revise previous notes

  2. Pre-read about the topic

  3. Check pronunciation of any new words or discipline

  4. Rule up pages according to your note-taking system
• Strategies to increase comprehension and improve note taking - During


  1. Be on time

  2. Distinguish between main points, elaboration, examples

  3. Listen for structural cues (verbal, non-verbal, visual, phonological)
• Strategies to increase comprehension and improve note taking - After

  1. Revise the lecture notes within 24 hours

  2. Write a short summary of the lecture

  3. Attach any handout notes
• Common abbreviations

  c.f.=compare, i.e= that is, e.g= for example, NB+ note well, No.= number, Etc= and so on
• Discipline-specific abbreviations

  Au=gold, Mg= magnesium, Greek letters (a is alpha)
• Personal abbreviations

  Diff=different, Gov=government
• The mapping method


  • Helps visually track your lecture
  • Little thinking is needed and relationships can be easily be seen
  • Edit your notes by adding numbers, marks and colour coding
  • Review will call you to restructure thought processes which will force you to check understanding
  • Review by covering lines for memory drill and relationships
  • Main points can be written on flash cards and pierced into a table
• Disadvantages of the mapping method

  • You may not hear changes in content from major points to facts
• When to use the mapping method

  • When content is heavy and well-organised
  • When there is a guest lecturer and you have no idea in the direction the lecture will go
• The carting method

  • Lecture format is distinct. Set up your paper by drawing columns and labelling appropriate headings in the table
  • Determine the categories to be covered in the lecture
  • Set up the paper in advance
  • As you listen record the info into the appropriate category
• When to use the sentence method


  • Lecture is somewhat organised but heavy content which comes fast. You hear different points but don't know how they it together
  • Instructor tends to present in point fashion
• Strategies to increase comprehension and improve note-taking

  1. Use symbols and abbreviations: Develop a system, be consistent

  2. Use concept maps and diagrams: Set down info, begin in the middle, use arrows and words, use colour and symbols
• 10 Life Skills Every university Student Needs to Know

  • Keep a Clean Space
  • Make Healthy Friendships
  • Know How to Stay Safe
• Cleaning


  1. Launder clothes

  2. Wash your sheets

  3. Scrub a bathroom

  4. Clean a kitchen

  5. Tidy up your bedroom

  6. Disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as countertops and door handles, once a day
• This is also a good opportunity to learn more about healthy eating habits for university students
• Ideal way to meet someone

  Do what you love
• Ideal conversation starter

  "What keeps you busy?"
• Ideal number of friends

  There is none. Choose quality over quantity, and invest in people who have a positive impact on your life
• Staying safe

  Trusting your intuition and preparing for potentially dangerous situations in advance
• Staying safe

  1. Drink responsibly

  2. Understand the risks of binge-drinking and how to prevent it

  3. Never drive tipsy

  4. Download a rideshare app like Uber before you leave for your place of residence and budget for it, just in case
• Drinking alcohol can lower your immune system, making it more likely you'll contract COVID-19 and other infectious diseases
• Effective communication in healthcare

  Empowers patients and their family members to participate and is demonstrated to improve adherence to treatment and measurably improve healthcare delivery
• Effective communication in healthcare

  Has a direct, or indirect, impact on the health and social care provided, the overall wellbeing of the patient and on the relationships with patients, family members or colleagues
• Effective communication enables

  • The exchanges of clear information and instructions on care needs
  • The provision of direct (or indirect) emotional support to the patient (or family members) or colleague's
  • The development of positive relationships
• The healthcare environment can be a source of anxiety and fear for patients due to worries about health and life, distance from family and daily habits, noises, considerable limitation of personal space and privacy, and an impersonal and cold environment
• How healthcare workers can support patients


  1. Listening to the patients and creating some space to let them vent their emotions

  2. Reassuring and calming patients in moments of fear

  3. Helping patients to stay active and facilitate connection with others, if applicable, to prevent isolation
• Forms of communication in healthcare

  • Verbal communication
  • Non-verbal communication (or body language)
  • Written communication
  • Formal communication
• Practices for effective communication in healthcare

  • Establish eye contact
  • Create space for questions and double-check if the message has been understood
  • Accompany verbal language with coherent body language
  • Face the receiver at the same height, not from a dominant position
  • Try to take a positive approach
  • Show care, maintaining professionalism and respect at all times
  • Call the receiver by their name
• Strategies for effective communication in healthcare

  • Speak clearly and slowly
  • Use very short, simple and concrete words and phrases
  • Give one message at a time
  • Use affirmative sentences
  • Encourage the patient to speak
  • Take time to capture the emotions the patients or family members express and create space if required
  • Empathise
  • Avoid pointing out mistakes unnecessarily
  • Adapt to the patient's language style if needed to ensure understanding
  • Use an interpreter if there is a language barrier
• Barriers to communication in healthcare

  • Patient Distrust and Discomfort
  • Common Language Barriers
• Patients may not feel comfortable disclosing sensitive information, such as substance misuse or sexual dysfunction, to their care providers due to feeling intimidated, believing their provider won't listen to them, feeling disrespected, questioning medical advice in general, or struggling with physical or psychological trauma
• Patients often have difficulty communicating needs or symptoms when their provider does not speak their language or when the healthcare organization has not supplied an interpreter