While you can take notes with any word processing software, or even on paper, special note taking software exists that helps make your notes more useful and effective, such as by linking your written notes and audio recordings of the session. Once you have created your notes, you can store them online and access them from any device and in any location, as well as add additional information to them over time. 

Introduction to Microsoft OneNote

OneNote software allows you to organise your work into digital notebooks that can be shared across devices using OneDrive for cloud storage. These digital notebooks can include text, pictures, video and audio recordings, and are ideal for assignment organisation or revision notes. As OneNote is a Microsoft product it is easy to gather material from Word and PowerPoint, by linking back to products. Using OneNote allows you develop efficient workflow practices and its function of saving automatically means less information is lost!

How to access

Microsoft OneNote is part of the Office 365 package, which all students and staff can download for free. This will give you the latest version of Microsoft OneNote.

LinkedIn Learning course

LinkedIn Learning offer a course which will show you how to use the latest version of OneNote to create, edit, and save notes and keep your information organised. The functions covered include copying and pasting content, attaching files, searching notebooks and converting handwriting to type.

There is also a quick tips video for those who are already familiar with OneNote and want to learn more.

Notion

Notion is a free note-taking application available through online browsers and apps, with an option to use it offline as well. It allows you to take notes, organise information in a database, and add multimedia files. You can even add up to five other people for free and collaborate on notes in a group.

See the video below for an introduction to Notion.

To use Notion, simply sign up on the website, or download the app on your mobile device. There are several guides on their youtube page to get you started. 

You can also check out this LinkedIn learning course.