Organizing your class notes, handouts etc.

[Psy1]

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In your opinion, is it easier to by a large binder with dividers and have everything(notes, handouts, supplemental readings) for one class in one portables place. Or, have a hanging file folder with separate file folders in side for different things. Any other ideas? I am trying to decide the best way to organize everything. In undergrad I used binders but I will have much more information flowing in now and researching more for each class. I am also thinking how best to organize my information that will make studying for comps easier. Thanks!

 

[PsyDr]

i took all my notes in a hardbound journal type things. admittedly, it was a gift and i was poor and needed the paper at the time.


turned out wonderfully, as every note i ever made in grad school was then hardbound and accessible for years.

 

[psybee]

i'll see how it goes but i'm thinking ring about journals with perforated edges for notes, and binders for articles and for later putting my notes. a great study tactic for me is to type out and detail my in-class notes, so my notebook doesn't really matter. i'll have to see though if i carry them around to study from or carry the binder with the printed out notes. i think i'm getting a file cabinet though for longer term storage of notes and articles.

 

[deleted190534]

Any other veterans/O.G.s 😉 have a suggestion? I'm curious about this too!

 

[KillerDiller]

I buy a notebook for each class or, sometimes, a five subject notebook that I use all semester. I take all my class notes in these. I prefer notebooks that are a bit smaller than regulation size (think stenographer's notebooks), but I don't even have a concrete reason for this, I simply prefer them. I also keep a file folder for each class that is color coded to help me easily grab the right one. I keep my articles, handouts, etc. in here. I prefer this to keeping a separate binder for each class. Binders are just too unwieldy in my opinion. If a particular file folder gets too thick, I empty some of the materials into the hanging files I keep at home.

Another thing that keeps me sane and organized? Once I'm done with a class, I prefer to collect electronic copies of the articles I used as opposed to keeping the hard copy. I store these in a gmail account.

 

[Ollie123]

None of the above.

I do just about everything on the computer, I've found it to work alot better. The only exception is I do print out articles sometimes, depending on my mood and the location I'm going to be doing work. I started out purely electronic for articles, but I drift from that a bit, mostly when I'm writing papers. For note-taking, you can invest in the full version of Adobe Acrobat, which lets you highlight and add sticky notes for comments.

If I'm printing, its usually for a clearly defined project (with an impending deadline), so they usually sit in a pile on my desk while the paper is underway, then get filed by endnote number afterwards. Everything I do gets backed up to an external HD, my desktop computer, some stuff gets backed up to the school server, and I keep meaning to subscribe to an online data backup service (yes, I'm massively paranoid).

Most profs know better than to only give out paper copies of things these days, but occasionally you come across someone who doesn't. I use the copy machine in the lab to scan things in (I have a tiny one at home I can use for something that's just a page or two).

If you can pull it off, I have to say I REALLY recommend this approach. I did the binder and notes thing throughout undergrad and this has worked so much better in almost every way. Paper is too easily lost even if you're careful with it, and leave that binder in the library once and you are screwed. What really sealed the deal was search functions. Instead of flipping through 200 pages looking for one line I wrote a year ago, I can just hit ctrl-F and be there in 2 seconds🙂

 

[myelin]

I buy a notebook for each class or, sometimes, a five subject notebook that I use all semester. I take all my class notes in these. I prefer notebooks that are a bit smaller than regulation size (think stenographer's notebooks), but I don't even have a concrete reason for this, I simply prefer them. I also keep a file folder for each class that is color coded to help me easily grab the right one. I keep my articles, handouts, etc. in here. I prefer this to keeping a separate binder for each class. Binders are just too unwieldy in my opinion. If a particular file folder gets too thick, I empty some of the materials into the hanging files I keep at home.

Another thing that keeps me sane and organized? Once I'm done with a class, I prefer to collect electronic copies of the articles I used as opposed to keeping the hard copy. I store these in a gmail account.

I do the same thing. I tried to take notes on my laptop one semester and didn't really like it. I buy a small spiral notebook for each class that I'm taking. I try to get different colors so that I know which notebook is for which class. At the end of the class, I'll purchase 3-ring binder and place all of the notes along with the respective spiral in that binder and put in on the bookshelf for quick reference - but mostly to collect dust.