HOW TO TAKE NOTES

1. HOW TO TAKE NOTES • Why do we take notes? • Reference/tool to study for test. • Organize the reading to help us understand the material. Before you start reading the text, you should do a few things: Look at the “Main Idea, Why It Matters Now, and Terms and Names.” 2. Look at the section names: look for patterns, sequence, and/or main idea.

2. Main Idea: Lets you know what the focus of the reading is. Notice that the title is: “Problems with Foreign Powers” and the Main Idea is: “Jefferson tried to avoid involvement in the problems of other nations.” So before you even start reading, what can you infer? Based on the title and Main Idea, did the U.S. have problems with other countries? YES! Even though Jefferson didn’t want to get involved in the problems of other nations, the U.S. nevertheless ended up having problems with other countries. Now as you’re reading the text, what should you be looking for? Which events created these problems, and how come the U.S. was unable to avoid them.

3. In fact, you already can get an idea just by reading the Why It Matters Now: “British interference with the affairs of the U.S. led to the War of 1812.” Ok, right now you’re thinking all of this takes too long and is basically a waste of time. But let’s be honest, most of you have a hard time figuring out what’s important, what to write down, what to study for. Some of you don’t know what to highlight, some of you highlight EVERYTHING!

4. Before you start reading the text, you should do a few things: Look at the Main Idea, Why It Matters Now, and Terms and Names. Look at the section names. Ask yourself, what is the focus of this section, what’s the main idea? Now you’ll know what’s important by seeing if it relates to the main idea or section! Ok, lets try this now. We’re going to read One American Story, remembering that the Main Idea is: “Jefferson tried to avoid involvement in the problems of other nations.”

5. STEPS OF NOTE TAKING: • Read the entire section first. • Summarize each paragraph into a sentence by focusing on the most important info. If there’s a “key term,” highlight and define it. • Index your summarized sentence P1, P2, P3, etc. • Code: Put a + (and highlight it) if you think it’s really important. • Create 1-2 question(s) for each subsection. Highlight your questions so it stands out. • Look at the pictures and maps and describe them! Don’t worry about describing the portraits. • ** Use abbreviations so that you can write faster. You might want to have a key/legend at the bottom so you can remember what the abbreviations are! • GB: Great Britain FR: France TJ: Thomas Jefferson • FT: Foreign Trade

7. ONE AMERICAN STORY P1-2: B/c of attacks on American merchant ships, the U.S. went to war against Tripoli in 1804. P3: War w/ Tripoli showed how difficult it was to stay out of conflicts w/ other countries because of our FT. Q: What were American ships doing near the coast of North Africa? Weren’t America’s major trading partners GB and FR? Now, was there anything in this first section that is REALLY important, that you think will be on the test?

9. JEFFERSON’S FOREIGN POLICY P1: TJ wanted to focus on things in US and to not get involved with other countries. P2-3: Keeping the U.S. isolated was difficult b/c 1) American merchants were trading all over the world 2) westward expansion would bring us in contact with countries 3) U.S. can’t control what other countries do. Q: Why did Jefferson want to keep us isolated? Is this a good idea? + How do you know that P2-3 are important? It relates directly with the subtitle and the “Main Idea”!