A page of notes can be easy to collect and difficult to use. The Cornell layout gives different jobs to three parts of the page: a main notes area, a cue column and a summary section. The useful part is what you do with those spaces after you have written in them.
Set up the page for your subject
Choose a paper size that fits your folder or notebook. Use wider ruling if you write large or need room for equations. The template has an open cue column so you can add short questions, symbols or references without squeezing them between horizontal lines.
Write the topic and date before you start. In the main area, capture the explanation in words you understand. Leave space between ideas so there is room for a correction or example later. You do not need to fill every line.
A worked example
Imagine a lesson on the water cycle. The main column might contain a small diagram and your explanation of evaporation and condensation. After the lesson, the cue column could ask: “What causes evaporation?” and “How does condensation differ?” The summary might connect both processes in two sentences.
Now cover the main column. Read one cue and try explaining the answer aloud. Uncover the notes, compare, and mark any missing connection. This is more informative than deciding you understand a page because its words look familiar.
Keep the cues short
A cue is a doorway back to an idea, not a second copy of your notes. If a question needs several paragraphs to answer, split it into smaller questions. For a maths topic, one cue might name the kind of problem and another might ask when a formula applies. Leave actual worked steps in the larger column.
Write the summary after you have checked the main ideas. Try explaining how those ideas fit together. If you cannot, that is a useful signal to revisit a passage or ask for clarification.
Make a return visit easy
Place a small mark beside cues that you could not answer. On a later visit, start with those marks. When you update an explanation, keep the correction visible so you know what changed. A simple pencil annotation is enough; elaborate colour coding is optional.
For the original method, see Cornell University’s Learning Strategies Center. Paperwise is independent and its adjustable template is not an official university publication.
Make your cornell notes ↗