How to Take Notes on a Laptop
Laptops are more popular (and portable) now than they've ever been. Whether you're a student or professional, note-taking will never go away. Taking good notes is all about being clear and concise with your thoughts and transferring those thoughts to the page, but let's face it, not everyone has the best handwriting. A laptop can be a great personal assistant, so don't be afraid to use it for taking notes.
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Things You'll Need
- Fully charged laptop battery (optional) or access to a power source
- Word processing software
Instructions
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Use your operating system's text editor program. On a PC, the text editor is Note Pad and on a Mac it is TextEdit. Using a text editor is particularly good for when you need time to prepare a blog post or an important email. Internet connections sometimes fail, so you want to be sure that your work is safe and sound until you're done. Using your text editor is also good in the classroom because it fits neatly on your desktop and is unobtrusive if you have other windows open simultaneously. If you're taking distance learning courses at home, a text editor is handy when you need to copy and paste selections from online material. Just be sure to copy the URL so you can track back to check your notes, if necessary.
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Take your notes in MS Word. Whether you have a PC or a Mac, MS Word is a great way to take notes. With this program you can highlight selections, format special words or passages or change the font color to differentiate between your words and your professor's or boss's words. Just remember you'll need to be on your toes because formatting can take a second or two. Also, something MS Word does that your text editor can't, is hyperlink URLs automatically when you paste them. When you come back to your work later and need to link to a site, just click the link in MS Word and you'll get there. The only drawback to taking notes in MS Word is window size. The MS Word workspace can be obtrusive if you have other windows open simultaneously.
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Post your notes to your blog. Not all blogs need to be for the world to see. If you'd prefer to keep your notes for your eyes only, just set your blog to private. Depending on your subject matter, it might be beneficial to invite comments from readers, but whether or not you choose to broadcast your notes via your blog, there are a few good reasons to use this method. If for some reason you don't have your laptop with you and need to continue or consult your notes, many educational institutions have computers for public use (as do Internet cafes), so you can always log on and log off as needed. Taking notes via the web is also convenient because you can use your smartphone to view them, if necessary.
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Use social networking to take important notes. Social networks like Twitter (more accurately, microblogs) are perfect for quickly jotting down sentence fragments or keeping track of web addresses at special conferences or during radio or television programs. Microblogs are also good because you can see in real time the notes your colleagues or classmates are posting. This encourages collaboration and can be an inspiration when you need it most. Just remember, with Twitter you have exactly 140 characters for each post, so be succinct!
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Save your instant messages. This may not be the note-taker of choice when you're in the classroom (mainly because it requires at least two participants), but if you're a student asking your professor to explain a tough concept, instant messaging can be a real lifesaver. Many instant messengers, like Skype, allow you to save your conversations. And because not everyone can be the best at typing, Skype lets you edit once you've sent a message. Instant messenger chats also usually pick up where they left off, so you can access your conversation with little hassle.
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Tips & Warnings
To use the Skype feature mentioned above, all chat participants need to be using the latest version of the software.
When taking notes with Twitter, it is also possible to link back to a site. But links can be long (remember you only have 140 characters!), so use a URL shortener like TinyURL. Long links can be shortened to a mere 25 characters---great if you're in a tight spot!
If you're away from home and don't plan to use a wall outlet or other source to power your laptop, make sure that your battery is at full power. Most batteries last only a few hours, so you should be fine for a class or two. But there's nothing fun about losing power (and your notes) half way through a presentation, so be prepared!
References
Resources
- Photo Credit laptop image by Angie Lingnau from Fotolia.com
