Why You Should Curate Your Notes and How to Do It



There are many instances where you must take effective notes to learn a new topic or skill. While it may seem easier to simply jot down information in an unorganized manner, you're actually hurting yourself in the long run. Whether you are in a college lecture, work conference, or a number of other scenarios that require you to document and retain information, concise, well-organized notes are crucial to success.

Therefore, following every note-taking session, you should curate your notes in a way that allows for effective studying, memorization, and retention of the information noted. For this reason, we have listed some benefits you can experience from curating your notes and how to take better notes to increase your chances of success.

What Are Curated Notes?

Essentially, curated notes are notes that have been extensively edited and reorganized to best showcase the information. While this may seem annoying and time-consuming, the process of curating your notes is actually very simple, and the ultimate result in terms of a more efficient and comprehensive reference base is undoubtedly worth the effort.

Benefits of Carefully Choosing and Organizing Notes

There are several benefits that come with curating your notes. First, once you have completed the process of filtering and reorganizing your notes, you’re left with a personalized knowledge base that you can access in the future. In addition, you know that your knowledge base contains high-quality information and notes that are devoid of irrelevant information. Furthermore, when in a college class, rather than deciphering through difficult-to-understand textbook jargon, your curated notes are much easier to interpret, as you have rewritten them for yourself to utilize.

How to Curate Your Notes 101

Avoid Perfection While Taking Notes

Of course, you should always remain conscious of the quality of the notes you are taking by only documenting relevant information. However, do not focus too much on achieving perfectly written and organized notes as you are in the process of receiving the information. Instead, you can strive for perfection during the curating phase that will take place after.

Edit and Reorganize At a Later Time

After you have taken notes, you must devote time soon after that you can begin the process of curating. Simply start out by editing your notes and comparing them to other sources of information so that you can develop a foundation of knowledge for whatever topic you’re focusing on. Once you finish the process of elevating your notes with additional content, now it is time to reorganize. On a new page, begin grouping information by topic and relevancy and linking ideas that are connected or contribute to one another. Finally, what you are left with is a customized set of high-quality notes designed for you.

Optimize Your Curated Notes with Lightmap

The best way to take notes involves curating your documented information to achieve the highest quality notes possible, and we know that these tips for how to take notes will improve your workflow and productivity. For even better results, consider incorporating the intelligent note-taking computer application Lightmap, which offers an array of tools and benefits when it comes to taking notes.

In addition to providing tools for curating your notes, the app also includes collaboration tools that you can use to work on projects with classmates or colleagues, even when not together. Create personal knowledge databases that contain valuable information on particular classes and topics you’re interested in for future use. And use the app’s online sharing options to share your work to Lightmap Cloud for others to access.

If you are interested in learning more about Lightmap, please see our website.