laboratory tests promise good material for a short popular talk? Surely the fifth division cannot be much condensed, for it is the heart of the whole subject. Something must go altogether, or be reduced to a subordinate position.

The student has learned by this time that it is well to reduce a five-minute talk to three points if possible. He therefore decides to introduce under the last heading the material bearing on damage by smoke. This can be done by naming among the practicable remedies the arousing of public sentiment against this preventable damage to the community. The laboratory tests, which constitute one of the principal points of the article, as is indicated by the space devoted to them, he combines with the division of causes by bringing it under the subhead of improper stoking. His altered cards are now headed as follows:

Causes of excessive smoke

(mention laboratory tests)

Unsuccessful attempts at prevention

Practicable remedies

(include here public sentiment as to damage)

A second reading essential. The article is now reread for the specific purpose of selecting the more significant material bearing upon these three divisions, brief memoranda of which are entered on the cards. Sections to which only a sentence can be given in the reports, such as that on the laboratory tests, should be scanned only to find a compact sentence summing up the conclusions reached. Detailed comparisons of smoke laws in force in various cities may be skipped in the second reading if the main point is that they have hitherto failed to accomplish their purpose. On the other hand, all that bears directly on the remedies urged for the future should be carefully read, and the several points noted in their proper place.

Oral rehearsal. Such preparation for an oral report is incomplete without an oral rehearsal. Either alone or in the presence of a friendly listener the student should speak from

his notes five minutes by the clock. For this rehearsal it is desirable to stand, and to refer to the notes as little as possible. The first sentence of each paragraph and the last sentence of the entire talk should be carefully framed, in the speaker's own words, and fixed in the mind. No other memorizing should be attempted. When the speaker appears before the class, he should announce his subject and the title and source of the article upon which his talk is based. Since it is understood that the entire address is based on borrowed thought, but not on borrowed phraseology, it is quite unnecessary to employ such vocal quotation marks as "he says," "the book says," ""another thing in the article," and the like. For the same reason the speaker will not mention himself in such phrases as it seems to me." Direct statements of fact or opinion, selected and condensed from the source, should be employed throughout. The last half-minute should be given to a carefully framed concluding summary.

-During the several

Taking notes from oral exposition. hours occupied by the oral expositions based on reading, the class should take brief notes of each report. To this end a reading of the next chapter, "Note-taking," will be assigned about the time the speaking begins. By the end of the period assigned to this branch of the work each student will have classroom notes of the twenty-five or thirty short talks made by the members of his section. These, if properly taken, should have the double value of conveying useful information and of affording practice in easy note-taking before attempting to report long lectures.

CHAPTER III

NOTE-TAKING

When found make a note of. - DICKENS.

To preserve by written memoranda a record of spoken discourse or of reading is called note-taking. It is one of the commonest and most important kinds of written exposition. Notes are of different kinds for different purposes: library notes and lecture notes; notes for a single temporary use and notes for permanent preservation. As a first exercise in proper note-taking, the oral expositions assigned in the previous chapter should be briefly reported by the class. Their reports should be in the form of outline notes in notebooks, which will later be submitted for inspection. The next practice in note-taking will be in a fuller notebook report of the instructor's lectures on the use of the library, the art of study, and other subjects. Notebook work in college increases as time goes on, reaching its height in junior and senior lecture courses. A right beginning will save the college student many wasted hours.

Purposes of note-taking. Note-taking may be considered with reference to purposes, general methods, and special applications. The purposes are various. They may be represented thus:

I. Notes may be taken for a specific personal use, such as

A. The next recitation.

B. The writing of an essay.

C. The making of a speech.

D. Review before examination.

II Notes may be taken for general uses, such as

A. To satisfy the instructor that proper attention is paid to

lectures.

B. To preserve a record for possible future use.

C. To fix subjects in the mind by the mental effort involved in selection and phrasing of statements, and by the physical effort of writing.

D. To gain the mental discipline noted under C, without regard to the intrinsic importance of the subject.

Such a distinction between the notes which one makes for strictly personal and temporary use and those which one makes for the inspection of others or for preservation must be frankly recognized. No student who is jotting down facts which he will use once for an immediate purpose and then discard can be expected to observe the same care as is demanded of the man who is taking an advanced technical course in which no textbook is used. For such cases as those included under I, a student may use cards, a small pocket memorandum book, or any writing material easily handled and arranged. For all other notes, however, a certain degree of care, uniformity, and neatness is essential. It is to the latter sort of notes that the following suggestions apply.

The choice of a notebook. Near the beginning of his college course the freshman should decide upon a size and style of notebook which his best judgment approves, and stick to it throughout the four years. The paper should be not less than five inches wide, if the student writes a small, neat hand, or six to eight inches if his writing is large. The objection to a smaller page is that it does not permit the margins essential for good notes, and that not enough can be put on a page to show the larger divisions of a lecture at one glance. A very large notebook, being inconvenient to carry in the hand with textbooks, is apt not to be at hand when unexpectedly needed. The side-opening book is much to be preferred to the end-opening type, even in a small size. Ruled paper is generally necessary for neatness, as it is in theme-writing, though unruled paper is of course better for those who can keep their lines horizontal without aid. As between the loose-leaf book,

used for all purposes, and a separate stitched or sewed book for each subject, personal preference may be allowed to decide. The arguments in favor of the loose-leaf book are convincing to those who take the pains to rearrange their books frequently and to file used sheets in some easily accessible form. Whatever style is adopted, it is highly desirable that the choice be carefully made and adhered to, and that all books or pages accumulated during college studies should be kept together on one shelf or in one drawer. For loose-leaf notes an ordinary thirty-five-cent cardboard letter file provides a neat and dustproof receptacle. The ordinary practice of using all sorts of odd shapes and sizes of books means that at the close of a term the notes are often mislaid and scattered.

Writing materials. Ink rather than pencil should be used in all note-taking. A good fountain pen is just as necessary a tool of the student as his textbooks. If, however, a pen cannot be used in the classroom, the pencil should be of good quality, rather soft, well sharpened, and long enough to permit good penmanship; and the paper should be unglazed pencilpaper, not ink-paper. Stenographic reporters' notebooks are suitable for the pencil user. It is astonishing how ignorant and indifferent students are as to the mechanics of handwriting; how they will try to write in a little five-cent memorandum book of cheap, glazed paper with a three-inch stub of a dull penny pencil, and then wonder why they get low marks. The same remark applies to written examinations. To make one's writing as comfortable to oneself and as legible to others as possible is the only safe rule.

Noting the main divisions. Suitably equipped with the tools for writing, the student of the art of note-taking begins as follows. At the top of a page he writes the subject, the name of the speaker, and the source from which the material is derived. He listens with care for the general division of the subject, which should appear in the second or third sentence of the oral exposition. Leaving a line blank beneath the head