Notes and note taking

I was an awful note taker at the university and in law school.Especially in law school, I would watch the other students scribblefuriously in their notebooks, so I would copy their behavior and writecopious notes from every class. There was just one problem, when I gothome and went back through my notes, they were absolutely meaningless.It was not that I couldn't write legibly, it was just that whatever Iwrote down made no sense. I finally got to the point of simply listeningmore carefully and trying to accurately record the assignments.

This problem with note taking carried over to my genealogicalinvestigations. I go to the libraries and find information on my familyand write down meaningful notes (at the time) and when I go back to thenotes later, they are gibberish. I have no idea what I wrote about oreven what I have done. So, recognizing my dilemma, I started an entirelydifferent way of taking notes. I now use my digital camera to recordeverything of interest. By clicking away at the books and materials, Ican record everything I see of interest and I don't have to rely onindecipherable notes for information. I simply go back to the originalmaterials any time I need to refer to them.

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Notes and note taking

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