Why You Should Write Out Your Notes

You have that great, expensive laptop to use for school.  You see other students taking notes in class, making concept lists, taking reading notes, and other learning tasks on their laptops—so why not do the same?

Here's the reason it's a good idea to skip the laptop and write out your notes:

You learn better when you write it out.  

Our brains just work that way.  If we slow down to write things out, it's easier for all that information to be fully processed by our brains—and makes it more likely that we'll remember it.

Besides that, by using the part of our brains that functions in the act of writing words and drawing sketches, we not only process the information in another way—we have another place in our brain to reinforce and remember the information for the long term.

Sure, if things are going too fast for you to keep up, it's a struggle.  But your brain works to sort out the essential information and how to condense it.  That helps you learn it even better!  If you do write out your notes, you'll struggle less in the long run.

This a great strategy for learning the overwhelming amount of new information you encounter in your A&P course, eh?

Want to know more?

Strategy: Here's Why Writing Things Out By Hand Makes You Smarter

• D. Baer  Business Insider  DEC. 16, 2014, 10:56 AM
• A brief article summarizing why this technique works.
• my-ap.us/15TWn6i

The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking

• P. Mueller & D. Oppenheimer Psychological Science January 16, 2014
• Abstract of a recent research report summarizing experimental results.
• my-ap.us/15PGwVt

Here are some related posts from The A&P Student

• Record with your pen!
• Star power
• Running concept lists
• Getting a Good Start in your Anatomy & Physiology course

Image: Wellcome Trust - William Harvey's lecture notes