Page 208 - Keys to College Success

KEY 7.2 An informal outline is useful for taking notes in class.

Tropical Rain Forests

- What are tropical rain forests?
-Areas in South America and Africa, along the equator
- Average temperatures between 25° and 30° C (77°–86° F)
- Average annual rainfalls range between 250 and 400 centimeters (100–160 inches)
- Conditions combine to create the Earth’s richest, most biodiverse ecosystem. Note Taking, Memory, and Studying
- A biodiverse ecosystem has a great number of organisms coexisting within a defined area.
- Examples of rain forest biodiversity
- 2 ½ acres in the Amazon rain forest has 283 species of trees
- a 3-square-mile section of a Peruvian rain forest has more than 1,300 butterfly species and 600 bird species.
- Compare this biodiversity to what is found in the entire U.S.
- only 400 butterfly species and 700 bird species

- How are humans changing the rain forest?
- Humans have already destroyed about 40% of all rain forests.
- They are cutting down trees for lumber or clearing the land for ranching or agriculture.
- Biologist Edwin O. Wilson estimates that this destruction may lead to the extinction of 27,000 species.
- Rainforest removal is also linked to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, which worsens the greenhouse effect.
- The greenhouse effect refers to process in which gases such as carbon dioxide trap the sun’s energy in the Earth’s atmosphere
as heat resulting in global warming.
- Recognition of the crisis is growing, as are conservation efforts.

Source: Audesirk, Teresa, Gerald Audesirk, and Bruce E. Byers. Life on Earth, 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2011, pp. 559–561.

■ Record your notes in the notes section during class, in whatever form you choose.
■ When reviewing the notes, fill in the cue column with key words or comments,
questions, examples, links to ideas, or diagrams—whatever expands or clarifies
your notes.
■ In the summary area, rewrite the most critical points from the notes section.

Key 7.3 shows how the Cornell system is used in a business course.

Think Links

A think link, also known as a mind map or word web, is a visual and flexible form of
note taking that links ideas with supporting details and examples using lines and
shapes. To create a think link, start by circling or boxing your topic in the middle of the
paper. Next, draw a line from the topic and write the name of one major idea at the end
of the line. Circle that idea. Then, jot down specific facts related to the idea, linking
them to the idea with lines. Continue the process, connecting thoughts to one another
with circles, lines, and words. Key 7.4, a think link on the sociological concept called
stratification, follows this structure.
Think links can take a wide variety of forms. Designs include stair steps showing
connected ideas that build toward a conclusion, and a tree with trunk and roots as
central concepts and branches as examples. Another type, called a “jellyfish,” shows a
central idea at the top with connecting ideas and examples hanging down from it
like tentacles.

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