For years, my notes were a useless mess — tons of writing, zero retention. Then I found three methods that actually helped, making studying way more effective (especially for writing essays and research papers 📚):
📌 Cornell Notes – The best note-taking strategy for structured review:
Main Notes (right side) → Key info
Cues (left side) → Keywords & questions
Summary (bottom) → Quick recap
Makes revising much easier and is great for preparing essays or even an annotated bibliography!
🧠 Mind Maps – Perfect for complex topics. Start with a central idea, branch out concepts, and connect them visually. This method is amazing for brainstorming research paper writing or structuring arguments in an analytical essay.
📖 SQ3R – The hack for reading-heavy subjects:
1️⃣ Survey (skim first)
2️⃣ Question (turn headings into Qs)
3️⃣ Read (with those Qs in mind)
4️⃣ Recite (summarize in your own words)
5️⃣ Review (go over regularly)
This stopped me from passively reading and actually helped me retain what I learned—especially useful when tackling college essay writing!
Try one for a week—your future self will thank you. What’s your go-to note-taking method? 🚀