6 Tips and for Taking Notes via Marginalia as You Read

Today, I want to talk specifically about marginalia, or marginal notes. Marginalia can look exactly like it's definition - as notes in the pages' margins - or as highlighted/underlined text. It can also be seen in notes on post-it notes within the book, but I'll talk about post-it notes specifically in tomorrow's post.

As the title of today's post says, I'll be discussing 6 tips and for note taking as you read via marginalia.

As with any post including tips that I post here to my blog, there is no "right" or "wrong" way to take notes as you read. Additionally, you can use a combination of 2+ note taking methods. Be consistent.

If you're inconsistent in your note taking - i.e. how you take notes, when you take notes - it can be difficult to remember what your thoughts were on a specific part or chapter. If you want to take notes on your reading, do so through the entire book. You don't have to take notes on every book you read, but when you do decide to take notes on a book, do so until you finish it.

Tip 1: Use pencil rather than pen.

Unless you're using post-it notes, using pen for your marginalia can make this note-taking method a bit tough. With pencil, you can erase spelling or grammar mistakes that you'd have to cross out if you wrote in pen.

Tip 2: Always have a writing utensil easily accessible and on hand.

No matter where you are - at home, or out doing something where reading is a possibility - having a writing utensil on hand can really help. Even if it's a pen, although I recommend using a pencil in Tip 1, having something on hand will help you out in the end.

Tip 3: If you're writing on a specific quote, mark that quote somehow.

Whether you underline or highlight, marking a quote you're commenting on will help you make a connection between the actual text and your own commentary. And you're also not reading through trying to figure out what you were commenting on.

Tip 4: Write small.

If you're writing in the margins of your book, I highly recommend writing small. This way, you can fit more into what is already a small space.

Tip 5: Keep your notes short and sweet.

As mentioned in Tip 4, the margins of your book are relatively small. So keeping your notes short and sweet will help preserve space for more notes for different points on the same page.

Tip 6: If your notes are on the side of the page (rather than the top or bottom), write your notes perpendicular to the page's text.

Doing this can help you write more notes on the page without having to write one word under another under another.