The Informal Keywords System

The  informal outline / key words system

You should use only the keywords that fit your needs and that you will remember easily. A good idea is to introduce only a few abbreviations into your note taking at a time. Overuse may leave you with notes that are difficult to read.

1. Symbols are especially helpful to students in engineering and mathematics. Lists of commonly used symbols are given in most textbooks and reference books.

 ≠ does not equal f frequency

2. Create a family of symbols. O organism Is  individuals  I individual

3. Leave out the periods in standard abbreviations.

cf compare      dept department          eg for example            NYC New York City

4. Use only the first syllable of a word.

pol politics      lib liberal       dem democracy      cap capitalism

5. Use the entire first syllable and only the first letter of a second syllable,

subj subject                 ind individual             cons conservative       tot totalitarianism

6. Eliminate final letters. Use just enough of the beginning of a word to form an easily recognizable abbreviation. assoc associate, associated chem chemistry

ach achievement         cone concentration  biol biological            max maximum

info information         rep repetition              intro introduction

7. Omit vowels from the middle of words, and retain only enough consonants to provide a recognizable skeleton of the word.

bkgd background                    estmt estimate                      ppd prepared  

gvt government                      prblm problem

8. Use an apostrophe.

gov't government        cont'd continued        am't amount    educat' leducational

 

9. Form the plural of a symbol or abbreviated word by adding "s."

[] s areas chaps chapters                     co-ops cooperatives

fs frequencies                                     /s ratios

10. Use "g" to represent -ing endings.

decrg decreasing                    ckg checking

estg establishing                     exptg experimenting

11. Use a dot placed over a symbol or word to indicate the word rate.  

V. vibration rate                     F frequency rate

12. Generally, spell out short words such as in, at, to, but, for, and key. Symbols, signs, or abbreviations for short words will make the notes too dense with "shorthand."

13. Leave out unimportant verbs.

14. Leave out the words a and the.

15. If a term, phrase, or name is initially written out in full during the lecture, substitute initials whenever the term, phrase, or name is used again.

Initial writing: Modern Massachusetts Party

Subsequently: MMP

16. Use symbols for commonly recurring connective or transitional words.

& and                          w/ with                        w/o without

vs against                    .°.  therefore