Wednesday, June 18, 2014

More evidence: Lawyers should be taking notes by hand

Yet another study showing that long-hand note taking is superior as a means of retention than note taking via laptops.

Article here.  (via the Lawyerist).

It turns out that typing speed is a big part of the problem. When you have a keyboard, you have a very strong tendency to transcribe what you hear, even if you try not to. But when taking notes by hand, you have to (a) pay attention and (b) decide what is important.

2 comments:

  1. I've been taking notes using the stylus on my Galaxy Note 10.1" tablet lately. I'm finding it's a nice balance between pen/paper's help with remembering/understanding, and electronic's benefit of being portable and easy to find later. Wish I had it back in law school.

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  2. Hi Steve. My technique is to have different color note pads for different things. This makes it easier to remember. Color is an extra aid to memory then (I'm very old school about this, can you tell? I think this is the third blog topic on studying/note taking via long-hand as a superior aid to memory.) Also I think the ability of the mind to wander when you're using an electronic device is higher. Oh, the teacher/judge/client is blathering on, maybe I will check email. Wait, d'oh! I should have been listening and now I don't know what they just said! how can I ask without letting them know I wasn't paying attention?

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