In most situations, it may be wise for an individual to take notes from a textbook in addition to any notes that he or she takes during a lecture, instead of just taking notes in class alone. However, just as an individual needs to make sure that his or her lecture notes are complete and accurate, it is essential for an individual to make sure that his or her textbook notes are as complete and accurate as possible as well. In order for an individual to make sure that his or her notes are as complete, accurate, and ultimately as effective a study aid as possible, the individual must be able to identify the key concepts and main ideas of each chapter and only take notes on those specific points. As a result, an individual that is having difficulty identifying the key concepts for a particular chapter may want to look for certain signals in the textbook that a particular idea may be important.
First, the individual should look for any headings, subheadings, and titles in the chapter that he or she is attempting to take notes on and focus on the sentences closest to each heading or title. Headings and titles are usually a good indication of main ideas and key concepts that the chapter is attempting to discuss. Subheadings are usually a good indication of important details that describe each main idea and key concept that is described by the heading or title. The few first sentences that immediately follow a heading, subheading, or title, are usually an introduction that explains the main idea of the passage and the key concept that the individual needs to understand, so the individual should focus on these headings and sentences and note the ideas that each one is attempting to convey. Secondly, the individual should look for any diagrams, graphs, lists, maps, pictures, tables, timelines, or any other similar visual aids or obvious collections of data and note the main idea of each visual aid or set of information. These diagrams and data sets almost always cover information that the individual should note. Finally, if the chapter has a summary or list of key terms at the end of the chapter, the individual should note the main ideas included in the summary and attempt to define each of the key terms at the end of the chapter using the information covered in the chapter.