Cornell Notes

On being systematic: I wonder how many variations on Cornell notes there are, and how to identify which students should use which method...What We Learned Today: Cornell Notes

the note-taking page is set up in a specific way. There is a wide left column for questions, keywords, or cues. The wider right column is where the main notes are taken. At the bottom of the page, there is an area to summarize the notes taken on that page.
Step One: When you’re taking notes in class or from another source, take notes on the right side of the page. Don’t use complete sentences, and abbreviate what you can. Write down the key ideas, and pay special attention to things written on the blackboard, if you are using this for school.
Step Two: Soon after you are finished taking notes, on the left side of the page write questions, keywords, main ideas, or cues to remind you about the notes. This will reinforce the learning in your mind, and help you make it all clear, connecting related bits of information. It is also a good opportunity to see if you have any questions about the material yourself.
Step Three: Within the next day, on the bottom of the page summarize the material in the notes column.

Maybe everybody should do things that way, or in some other specific way. I am more inclined to suspect that everybody (including me, at age 60) should spend part of each year trying to look for (and measure) a better way, even if it's a way that wasn't better before.
Or then again, maybe not.

Update 2014: Noticed that the wired.com link had succumbed to linkrot, asked Google to find the article on wired.com, and replaced the link target with the "archive.wired.com" value.