How to Use OneNote for Better Class Note Organization

Are you looking for ways to organize your class notes? Check out How to Use OneNote for Better Class Note Organization

 

How to Use OneNote for Better Class Note Organization

Actively writing down the key information from lectures is an integral part of studying. Students have been taking notes for decades. Throughout this time, it has been repeatedly proven that this process has a number of significant benefits. It helps students focus during class and understand the core concepts better. Besides, studies confirm that it helps create stronger connections in your brain and, thus, retain the studied material better.

Apart from this, records play a pivotal role during your at-home study sessions. They serve as invaluable references when you’re attempting to write your college paper or when you’re diving deep into research topics. If you’re not confident in your paper-writing skills, you might opt to hire professionals to write my college paper. In addition, these records can be instrumental during test prep, helping you brush up on key concepts and details. One way or another, note-taking is an indispensable skill for students who are keen on achieving academic success. And with the right tools like the OneNote app, you can elevate the quality and organization of your notes.

Figuring Out Notebooks, Sections, and Pages

In order to start using the app effectively, you need to understand how it works from the “inside.” So let’s take it from there.

OneNote consists of three primary elements:

• Notebooks. These are the largest blocks inside the app. They are there to help you keep all spheres of your life, studies, work, and projects organized separately. They also make it easier to keep some notes private and others shareable. For example, you can create separate blocks for your studies, work, travel, etc.
• Sections. These are smaller blocks that are located inside notebooks. They are used to organize big units of data into specific sections. As a student, you might want to create separate sections for each subject you study. 
• Pages. Although this is not obvious, “pages” are actually your records. They are located inside dedicated sections.

These are the primary app elements that you must figure out to start using OneNote effectively. Additionally, there are also subpages. These are smaller subtopics attached to your primary pages. If needed, you can use them to complement your files with additional information and comments.

Leverage Built-In Tags

For excellent organization and navigation, the application offers you an opportunity to arrange your pages logically using special tags. The application features 12 general, built-in tags that you can assign to your pages:

1. To do;
2. Important;
3. Idea;
4. Definition;
5. Question;
6. Remember for later;
7. Highlight;
8. Password;
9. Website to visit;
10. Contact;
11. Phone number;
12. Address.

All in all, these tags are just enough for organizing your personal and study records. So be sure to try using them.

In case you find them insufficient, you can also create custom tags. This opportunity is available to Mac and Windows users who use the app. However, it’s not available for web app users, at least for now.

Master the Search Feature

Organizing your records effectively is crucial for being productive during your classes and study sessions, and now you know how to do this in OneNote. However, if you want to maximize your productivity, you need to know not only how to organize the information efficiently but also how to search for it within the app.

Luckily, this tool offers a very convenient search feature. If you don’t want to waste your precious time and look for the needed information manually, you can look it up by tags. And even that’s not all. The app also allows you to search for the needed pages using related keywords and phrases contained in them. This feature can save you a lot of time and help you find the needed information with no stress.

Extra Tips for Using OneNote Productively in College

Knowing the primary organizational tips will help you keep your study records in perfect order and access them seamlessly whenever you need them. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Although proper organization is crucial for academic success, there are other important productivity hacks that can help you make even more out of using OneNote.

Here are a few extra tips that will help you:

Add media to your pages 

The app allows you to complement your pages with different extras, such as audio files, images or photos, links, and documents.

Try a dictation feature 

The app offers you a handy dictation feature. In your toolbar, you can find a microphone icon. If you click on it, you can dictate the information you want to save, and the app will transform it into text, which can help you save a lot of time.

Check out the equation feature 

Not many users know this, but this tool can help you solve complex math equations right inside the app. To use this feature, go to Insert → Equation and get an instant solution. This can be very handy for math students.

Share your pages with others

Do you have a group project to do for college? Or maybe you just have a study buddy with whom you want to share your files? You can easily do this with this great tool. You can easily share your pages or even entire sections with others and study together.

Install Web Clipper

When doing research for your academic project, looking for the research paper writing services , or simply browsing some products on the web, typically, you will visit dozens of pages before you find exactly what you need. Needless to say, it would be a pity to lose the results of your research. To prevent this, you can install OneNote’s handy Web Clipper extension. This free tool will help you save important websites right to your pages in a relevant section.

The Bottom Line

Without any doubt, OneNote is a great app that can help students make their daily lives better and simpler. The application comes with a wide range of handy features that will help you take effective records during your lectures, organize them efficiently, and study using them to achieve your academic goals.

Now, you have everything you need to start making the most out of this tool. Use the tips and hacks from this article to gain control over your pages and start studying smarter, not harder.