Step away from the paraphrase: teaching note-taking as a gateway to knowledge transformation

Abstract

In this presentation, we examined the role note-taking can play as a gateway to knowledge transformation in the reading-to-write process and challenged an academic focus on the teaching of paraphrasing. Much research has been done into the role that note-taking plays in lectures (Morehead et al., 2019), the impact of longhand notes compared with digital (Allen et al., 2020) and student writing strategies (Wingate and Harper, 2021). Although notes play an important role in evidence-based writing, in both providing a clear record of a student’s reading and increasing encoding and engagement (Voyer et al., 2022), very little research directly addresses the impact of note-taking strategies in the reading-to-write process. This study builds on work done in educational psychology by Cuevas et al. (2016) examining writing beliefs. It aims to understand student approaches to evidence gathering and explore links between their current practices and their writing beliefs.

Understanding current student practices and the link with epistemological beliefs will allow us, as learning developers, to more effectively create targeted activities and interventions to support student understanding and engagement with texts in the reading-to-write process. It will also provide a foundation for explicit discussion and reflection of student beliefs about the nature of reading and writing and the link between these beliefs and note-taking practices, encouraging students to see reading and writing as knowledge construction and, importantly, encouraging deeper cognitive engagement and learning.

The study builds on work done in educational psychology by Cuevas et al. (2016) examining the link between writing beliefs and students’ ability to create argumentation and synthesis and attempts to answer the questions: (1) In the reading-to-write process, what common strategies are students using to record information from their reading? (2) What potential impacts do common practices have on learning, focus, source integration and academic integrity? (3) How are students’ epistemological beliefs about reading and writing reflected in their notetaking practices? (4) How do common practices impact students’ ability to transform knowledge and incorporate it into existing beliefs?

Understanding current student practices and the link with epistemological beliefs will allow us, as learning developers, to more effectively create targeted activities and interventions to support student understanding and engagement with texts in the reading-to-write process. It will also provide a foundation for explicit discussion and reflection of student beliefs about the nature of reading and writing and the link between these beliefs and notetaking practices, encouraging students to see reading and writing as knowledge construction and, importantly, encouraging deeper cognitive engagement and learning.