Source: đź“– How to Take Smart Notes
Writing while reading is essential for maximising one's understanding and long-term learning—we tend to think we've understood an idea or concept until we try to write it down in our own words. Writing is the main facilitator of thinking, learning and understanding. It is by writing and turning what we read into our own words that we force ourselves to think about the topics at hand and truly assimilate the knowledge consumed. Reading alone feels rewarding but compared to reading and writing done together it's largely vacuous, meaning we can fool ourselves into thinking we've understood something just because we've read it once or even several times. Writing ensures that your thinking makes sense—inconsistencies will become apparent if you attempt to articulate them linearly on a page.
By following this approach, notes will build up as you read, think and write.