Two of the biggest problems in note-taking from a written source is to select what information to write down and to understand how they help develop the author's argument. Sequence lists (bullet points or numbering of information), however, provide a good writing strategy for note-taking that is particularly useful to ESL readers. When students are not as familiar with the writing style of the English language, comprehending the sequence of thoughts in a text can be challenging. A useful way, then, to break down and dissect the text is to underline key points with the help of a tutor and write them down using sequence lists in a way that shows how the author's argument progresses.
Many students have trouble writing grammatically and spelling correctly, particularly when they are starting to learn a language. Taking notes carelessly, however, can be a dangerous way to reinforce a certain writing pattern that is problematic. Under the guidance of a tutor, ESL students know to some extent what are the most challenging words and sentences for them, therefore registering them down on a personal notebook often helps students monitor their notes and improves their attention on the text they are reading, as they search for mistakes they could be making while note-taking. This personal notebook, then, becomes a private dictionary that records the student's most common mistakes.
Note-taking requires a considerable level of attention on the student's part. Notes, then, often gradually improve when the reader is more attentive to the text he is reading. A strategy to allow the student to self-scrutinize his understanding of the text, however, is to read it as carefully as possible and then to write down what he thought were the key points, though without searching in the text while note taking. These key points should match in content the argument in the text, if the reader carefully read the text.
Writing down notes as the student reads it might be a good learning strategy to understand and imitate how the writing was structured, but it can be challenging for students who are not as confident about the meaning of certain words and what was the author's argument. Note-taking often improves, however, when ESL students learn to be more familiarized with the text they want to take notes from. Reading it at least twice and trying to mentally process the information taken from it allows students more confidence in recognizing key points and writing them down for future reference.