Page 196 - Keys To Community College Success

get creative

CRAFT YOUR OWN SHORTHAND

Complete the following on paper or in digital format.

Customize your shorthand to suit your needs.
1. Identify a class where you take a lot of notes or would like to take better notes.

2. Next, write 10 terms used often in this class. For instance, if you were creating a list of shorthand terms for your
psychology class, you might include terms like Sigmund Freud, child development, or neuropsychology.
3. Last, create a list of shorthand terms for the items you chose. Be creative, but make sure they are easy to remem-
ber and use. Thus, your shorthand should not be longer or more complex than the word itself. Your shorthand
could include numbers, symbols, or even small images (like a heart or smiley face). For the list of psychology terms,
the shorthand might look like the following:
■ Sigmund Freud = SigFrd

■ Child development = ChDev
■ Neuropsychology = nro-psych

6. Use standard or informal abbreviations for proper nouns such as places, people,
companies, scientif c substances, and events.
DC = Washington, D.C.
H O = water
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Moz. = Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
7. If you will be repeating a word or phrase frequently, write it once and then
establish an abbreviation. For example, the f rst time your political science in-
structor mentions the Iraq Study Group, the 2006 bipartisan commission that
issued recommendations to the president on the Iraq War, write the name in
full. After that, use the initials ISG.

In life, you never know where you may need to take notes—at the doctor’s office,
in a business meeting, or during a presentation. The ability to listen well means you
will be able to figure out what is important to write down, and the ability to take
effective notes rewards you with the ability to recall and use that information in
the future.

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