The Effects of Notetaking and Subsequent Use on Long‐term Recall

Abstract

Abstract: The notes of a group of first‐year psychology students, which were taken in a lecture on theories of intelligence, were photocopied and analysed. The students were given a questionnaire three weeks later to establish what use they might have made of their notes in the intervening period and their attitudes to notetaking in general. This was immediately followed by a factual recall test. The questionnaire results indicated that the majority of students had made little use of their notes once the lecture was over, but intercorrelations between attitudes to notetaking, the number of words noted and subsequent use of notes were all significantly related to test performance. Combining these measures resulted in even higher correlations with test scores. Men and women students did not differ significantly on any of the measures taken, but women students performed significantly better on the recall test.