On this page, you will consider two different sets of notes.   You will notice that in both samples the cues reflect the content of the notes and are written in a way that the information might be asked on a quiz or test. Later, when using cues like this to study for an exam, students will fold the cues section back so that they do not see the original notes while quizzing.  

The summaries show an understanding of the main theme or big idea from the lecture.  The summary lacks the detail of the rest of the notes, but acts like an umbrella covering all of the content.  Your summaries may be helpful on a quiz or test, but will also be important anytime you need to review the topic throughout the semester and perhaps need to refer back to this topic during other courses.

Look first at the sample math notes below.  Notice that the cues prompt recall of the information found in the notes directly to the right of the cues.  Notice the formatting of the cues written for math.  Here cues are limited to questions that prompt recall of facts or concepts.  However, the summary is not really about the facts themselves, but about the importance of definitions in effectively using math concepts.

You will not write summaries on every note page.  Look below to examine the at notes for a different class.

Notice that the first page has no summary, as the student continues through the process of recording the content for a main idea that covers both pages.  As you continue to the second page, you will see that the student has included the summary there. 

While the format of is the same for both sets of notes, you will see that the math notes are based almost entirely on rules and definitions.  The English notes include comments about human behavior, interests, and other subjective concepts.   Therefore, they are summarized differently.  The math notes include a summary that states the importance of accurate facts, while the English note summary reflects an analysis of concepts and ideas.  While both summaries explain why the content of the notes is important, the differences between the courses, math verses English are seen in formatting of the notes and level of detail in the cues, and summaries.