Our Notes Leave too Much to Say: Investigating Note-Taking Practices and Technological Tools in Academia

Yannic Jäckel, Daniel Schiffner, Jan Schneider

2025

Abstract

This paper explores the role of note-taking as a critical, yet under-researched, practice in academic scholarship, focusing on how researchers organize, synthesize, and reuse their notes in the context of knowledge production. While previous technological advancements such as large language models (LLMs) have transformed aspects of academic writing, fundamental cognitive tasks—such as capturing and synthesizing information through note-taking—remain relatively unchanged. Drawing from existing research, we highlight how poor or ineffective note-taking practices in both students and early-career researchers can lead to inefficient work processes and diminished synthesis of knowledge. Our study involves a small-scale survey of academic researchers to examine their note-taking techniques, tool usage, and strategies for synthesis. Our findings reveal that many researchers employ unstructured methods, such as the Sentence and Outline Methods, and lack formal training in effective note-taking. Furthermore, despite the availability of advanced digital tools, most participants continue to rely on familiar word processors, often limiting the reusability and efficacy of their notes. We argue that structured methods and better tool utilization could significantly enhance academic writing and synthesis. The paper suggests that future research should focus on developing note-taking tools tailored to researchers’ needs, enabling more effective synthesis and the reuse of notes. Such tools could potentially integrate with LLMs to reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks and improve the quality of scientific output. This shift could lead to a paradigm where notes evolve from simple memory aids to valuable data that contributes directly to scientific advancement.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Jäckel Y., Schiffner D. and Schneider J. (2025). Our Notes Leave too Much to Say: Investigating Note-Taking Practices and Technological Tools in Academia. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU; ISBN 978-989-758-746-7, SciTePress, pages 493-503. DOI: 10.5220/0013218600003932

in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu25,
author={Yannic Jäckel and Daniel Schiffner and Jan Schneider},
title={Our Notes Leave too Much to Say: Investigating Note-Taking Practices and Technological Tools in Academia},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU},
year={2025},
pages={493-503},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013218600003932},
isbn={978-989-758-746-7},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU
TI - Our Notes Leave too Much to Say: Investigating Note-Taking Practices and Technological Tools in Academia
SN - 978-989-758-746-7
AU - Jäckel Y.
AU - Schiffner D.
AU - Schneider J.
PY - 2025
SP - 493
EP - 503
DO - 10.5220/0013218600003932
PB - SciTePress