Reading, PDFs and Notetaking

I was going to talk about discussion forums today, as they are my other chosen technology for this all important EMA. However, when I started studying this morning, I realised that there is something very simple that my studying could not survive without. Fellow students on Facebook groups often ask whether we prefer to read course materials on paper or on the screen and how we take notes. So that's where I'm going with this one.

Let's start at the very beginning... (cue for a song). When I search for resources online, I'm really hoping to find PDFs. Fortunately, most articles are available in PDF (Portable Document Format) and can be downloaded and saved as such. So I save it to my One Drive, using an easy to find file name: the author's surname, the year of publication and the first few words of the title. This not only makes it easy to locate, but it gives me a head start when writing my reference list too.


Screen shot of a folder containing three PDFs, all named as described in the above paragraph.


I prefer to read on-screen, with SS overlay, a coloured filter that reduces visual stress. Whilst reading, I turn on the 'comments' feature of my PDF reader and use it to highlight bits that might be useful later on. Sometimes that's quotes for assignments or that I might want to use for something work-related. When I've highlighted, I have the option of adding a comment. I often do that to remind myself why I've highlighted. Really, this is like using a highlighter pen and making notes in the margin but with the advantage that I can take all my reading materials with me wherever I go.

Screen shot of PDF with sections highlighted and linked to notes at the side.

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