For the NOTEBOOK-TAKING STUDENTS in higher level education...

How do you take notes with your notebook (what program)? I'm soon getting a notebook to take with me to class because I'm convinced it's portability and I type faster and understand better than writing is gonna help me.

I'm an engineering major so that means physics classes and I'll use a paper to draw out the diagrams but for the lectures, would Word suffice?

 

Yes, I use Word, with bullet points. However, if you want to take the time to learn Microsoft OneNote, One Note is better; so I've heard. I never got used to it and Word is simple and effective for me.

 

OneNote (or its free analog, EverNote) is highly touted for exactly that purpose. I use OneNote for upper-level biomedical coursework -- it's been a recent change for me since I, up to now, have been a spiral-and-pen fan. My first degree was entirely spiral-and-pen; no notebook usage beyond a day or two.

Between OneNote/EverNote and taking notes within the notes field of a Powerpoint, I'd think you're covered.

(Ever consider a tablet?)

 

OneNote FTW! I only use it for classes where equations aren't involved, but if I had a tablet PC I would use it there too. It's pretty awesome, it even lets you record lectures (get permission from your professors though first )

 

You can't beat OneNote with a Tablet!

 

I have to add in my 1 cent too, OneNote is definitely a winner for me here. I used to use Word in my first year of university and it was fine but I found myself with too many notes and documents. OneNote organizes all the notes into one place, one file and can be opened instantly. And you don't have to worry about saving.

One thing I hope Microsoft will do is provide more flexibility and options for Tables and the awesome math formula maker from Word 07.

 

I suggest using Microsoft One Note to take notes.

You type like any other word processsing program such as Microsoft Word and you can draw your diagrams with the digital scribe pen in onenote and on paper at the same time.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5996533

 

Take a look at Wikindx. It is a bibliography manager/word processor, and has the ability to add your notes and comments as well. I'm using it to keep my dissertation organized 9alas, it won't write it for me...). I have it running on a WOS portable web server on a flash drive.

 

Its posts like these that make me want to learn OneNote. Is there any good guide out there? It is kind of common sense, but still feels weird and I don't completely understand how to use it.

 

The guide built into onenote is pretty good, it's called getting started with onenote. If you want, I can send it to ya (it's just a onenote notebook)

 

Is that the one with 12 tabs? If so, I have it.

 

Yep

tenchar

 

OneNote's great, but like McGrady I haven't really gotten used to using it for notes. Perhaps when I graduate and attend a university I'll have to get a tablet PC...

 

Microsoft One Note demo videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5bHf_pV-ZM&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FNoZ7ZpzAQ&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Q16uP2ER8&feature=channel_page

 

OneNote is an amazing program for taking notes, epsecially if you have a tablet pc.

 

I only tried taking notes with a notebook a few times. I first was using Evernote. After I gave up on that I started just typing things in Open Office. I eventually gave up on the entire digital note-taking idea. It just wasn't working for me. I am certain that One Note would be a good application for someone that does like typing notes, and your college should offer it at a great discount.

I can't imagine ever being comfortable using a tablet. I was in a calculus class and some kid did all of his assignments on his humongous tablet PC. When we turned them in, my homework was on about three pages while his took up nearly eight. There are probably ways to make things smaller and still legible, though. I will, however, be scarred by that occurrence for the rest of my days.

 

How hard is it to get used to OneNote?

I took my notebook to my HS class a couple of times, and simply took notes/organizing by using bold, underline, tabs, enter, and numbering/bullets.

I just use all the hotkeys so basically i'm typing the whole time. Would it be difficult to get used to OneNote? It seems like there is a lot of mouse use.

 

For me, I will take the time out and learn it this summer. I'm currently in Finals week so no need to take anymore notes right now. I'll be OneNote master by the time Fall semester comes along.

 

Go with OneNote, take some time to learn it and the benefits over Word are numerous

I messed around with OneNote for about an hour and learnt some things, but you will just develop over time really.

 

Not hard at all, yes there is a slight learning curve but keyboard shortcuts alleviate the mouse thing a bit.

The biggest thing I had to get used to was the fact that, even though the main typing area looks like a Word doc, it doesn't act like one. Think of that space as a table upon which you put diffrerent "boxes" (one for text, another for images, another for sounds) and it helps out a bit. Also remember that a OneNote page is limitless (at least i haven't run into a barrier yet) and doesn't let you know how many real pieces of paper your notes from a OneNote page will take until you print preview.

 

Hmmm....even though I carried a notebook throughout year 1 I was writing on good old paper with a good old fountainpen...