Among the new sessions at this year’s UChicago Law Orientation was “Notetaking 101,” designed to help 1Ls develop an essential law-school skill. Dean of Students Brandi Welch led the session, along with four upper-class student mentors, known as dean’s fellows: Malaysia Atwater, ’28, Raina Jain, ’28, Reed Caney, ’28, and Amira Abboud, ’28.

“We have offered notetaking sessions in the past during the first week of classes, but thought it would be especially helpful this year during Orientation as digital natives may be handwriting notes for the first time,” said Welch, referencing the Law School’s new AI strategy that went into effect this Autumn Quarter. 

The AI strategy, released in July, aims to enhance student learning with and without AI. One tactic outlined in the strategy is removing laptops and other technology devices from 1L classrooms to safeguard foundational skill-building.

“While it’s important to take notes in class,” continued Welch, “that activity is really secondary to what every law student should be doing in class: playing along inside your head. Students should be answering the questions, even if they are not being cold called. Handwriting notes helps students slow down and evaluate what they are writing down, instead of trying to create a transcription of class.”

Welch continued: “Professor Genevieve Lakier said it best in one of the Orientation sessions this year: Law students are not passive recipients of information. Knowing what to write down is an important skill for every law student.”

Below are five notetaking tips from Dean Welch and the dean’s fellows.

Go to class prepared.

Figure out what supplies you’ll need; experiment with different types of highlighters and pens (ballpoint, gel pens, markers) and notebooks and papers (lined, blank, graph), until you find a combination that works for you. Even though it seems trivial, having a setup that you enjoy makes handwriting notes significantly more manageable.

Take time to read your notes from the previous class before the start of the next one. This helps you prepare so that you're ready to start listening and taking notes as class begins. 

Find an organization style that works for you. 

Everyone's organization of their notes is going to look different, and finding the best strategy for you in the first few weeks of the quarter will pay off when it's time to review your notes for exams. 

Make your notes brief. Abbreviate aggressively. Note unfamiliar words and concepts to look up later. Use diagrams and arrows. Use underlines and stars in your notes to indicate key points from class.

Consider utilizing a color-coding system. For example, put cases in blue, rules in red, hypotheticals in pink. If you pick a system and stick with it, you can train your brain to recognize patterns and themes in a class.

Try the Cornell method.

Don’t try to write down everything said in class.

Your notes should help you remember what was discussed in class; they should not be a verbatim account of everything the professor said. 

Knowing what to write down can be hard, but it’s important to be intentional. Write down important points; do not simply transcribe. 

Focus on writing down details, facts, definitions, examples, or explanations that expand or explain main points. Information that is repeated or explicitly spelled out is also helpful to write down. Summarize.

If you miss something—don’t stress! Your classmates will be a huge resource. 

Improve your listening and focusing skills. 

Often, the better you can actively listen to your professors and digest what they're saying before writing your notes, the better your notes will be. 

The point of class is to play along in your head, so focus on following the discussion. Meditation can help improve your focusing skills. 

Doodling is ok—it’s a form of fidgeting. In one reported study, doodlers remembered 29% more than those who did not doodle. Doodling may help keep you focused when your brain is tired.

Review and edit your notes after class.

Reviewing and editing your notes after class—ideally within 24 hours—can reinforce what you learned and help identify gaps in your understanding. 

Edit words or phrases in your notes that don’t make sense or aren’t legible. Fill in key words and make note of anything you don’t understand so you can ask the professor later. 

It can be helpful to edit with a different color pen to distinguish original notes from your revisions. 

The process of reviewing and editing your notes is just as important as the notetaking itself.