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I am starting as a 1L this fall and I am sure there is a similar thread about this somewhere in the archives, but I wanted to start a thread about the benefits and disadvantages of handwritten and typewritten notes for incoming 1Ls. Please post your experiences with either if you feel you have an opinion on this topic.

I will start.

Handwritten:
You can see the professor and don't have a big screen in front of your face, thus impeding learning.
You don't have distractions such as the Internet, etc.
You remember things in your own handwriting best - proven fact.
You don't have to kill your back lugging around a laptop everyday and aren't at risk of damaging your laptop.
You can always type them along with your study notes later.

Typewritten
It saves time.
You can get almost word for word transcriptions and not miss anything and possibly be at a disadvantage among your peers.
It is probably easier on your hand.

I am leaning towards handwritten myself and I don't have the best handwriting. I took notes on a laptop in college for a semester and didn't do any better.

I would love to hear others' thoughts

HOPEFORCHANGE wrote: You can get almost word for word transcriptions and not miss anything.

If you are doing this, you are doing it wrong. Outside of the review days that some professors did at the end of the semester, my notes were generally half to a one full page per class handwritten. The purpose of class is to help you understand what you are reading, if you spend your time transcribing, you can't spend your time analyzing and comprehending the material.

First semester, I used a two legal pad system. One had mini-case briefs from the reading, just in case I was put on call. The other I actually took notes on, and I made sure to date both so I could line them up in my outline.

Second semester, I stopped taking notes entirely, except for the occasional highlighting or magin note in my casebook. I found that it is much more important to be engaged in the class, and that taking notes causes you to miss things, or to doodle, or if you have a laptop to gchat. Regardless of your notes, it is important to review everything from scratch at the end of the semester.

Also, there was a significant movement second semester to handwritten notes. 90% or so used laptops first semester, except in our one class that banned them. Second semester, only 30-40% had laptops in class, mostly because they found the handwritten notes they were forced to take in civ-pro were more useful.

I have taken all hand written notes. I found that hand writing notes helps me to be more engaged in the class. Also I organize what is being said in me head and only write down the things that are important since hand writing is a little slower. I take a lot of notes, but I take notes on the case discussion in class as opposed to highlighting or briefing the cases. I probably wouldn't advocate my method but I always made sure I was prepared for class and I did fairly well.

Long story short - I think had written notes are more organized and get the meat of what is being said. Also, if you have a no computer professor you won't be shocked.

Thanks, Cupidity - that input was great

typed notes are the only way to go. Saves time to copy and paste later into an outline, and you;ll have faster access to the internet. Westlaw headnotes, black's law dictionary, and wiki come in handy during class. Typed notes are much more legible as well.

This probably boils down to how disciplined you are. If you are the type who can take notes on a laptop without being tempted to just mindlessly transcribe what the prof is saying and without being distracted at all by the interwebz then go for it. If you're not (like me) then I'd recommend handwriting.

I have generally done mine handwritten and its worked pretty well. The only exception is if I have a decent electronic outline (say from a student who had the professor previously), then just type/add my own thoughts as appropriate. That's probably the best of both worlds in my opinion.

Hadlendale wrote:This probably boils down to how disciplined you are. If you are the type who can take notes on a laptop without being tempted to just mindlessly transcribe what the prof is saying and without being distracted at all by the interwebz then go for it. If you're not (like me) then I'd recommend handwriting.

this. and personal preference.

i just don't have the discipline to not gchat or shop for clothes or something during class. but on top of that i think i learn better by focusing on rewording what the professor is saying into a synthesized, single note to write in my notebook. it forces me to spend more time interrogating the ideas and less time trying to do rote memorization (which just doesn't work for me).

these debates are kind of silly, because you shouldn't do anything different than you did in UG or you do under any circumstance where notetaking is an option. if laptops have worked for you before keep doing them, they will probably continue to work. if all you ever did was hand write, do that. just because law school has a different two letters/sheet of paper at the end doesn't mean you need to completely change they way you learn that material.

Hadlendale wrote:This probably boils down to how disciplined you are. If you are the type who can take notes on a laptop without being tempted to just mindlessly transcribe what the prof is saying and without being distracted at all by the interwebz then go for it. If you're not (like me) then I'd recommend handwriting.

This. If you can take advantage of the speed of typing whiel still being engaged in the class (i.e. not mindlessly transcribing or surfing the Internet), then you'll be much better off. In the end, you know your habits best.

I switched to handwriting notes second semester and my grades went up. Of course there are other factors played a greater role but handwriting helped. When I went back to my handwritten notes I actually remembered prof. talking about the topic. When I looked at my typed notes I forgot that even covered that topic in class.

I typed my notes and placed near the top of my class. I know people who handwrote and typed their notes who performed similarly. Most law students type their notes, so the fact that most high performing students type their notes is not conclusive.


Do what you feel is better. If you are one of those word for word typers, then write out your notes. You want succinct notes. My notes were about 10% longer than my outline at the end of class. I tend to take extremely short notes and it worked well for me. Longer notes are fine, but you end up spending more time outlining. Just don't go crazy and transcribe everything because then you will spend more time creating an outline than the time you have to actually study.

people who have boxes and other figures on their outlines, are they doing that separately from taking notes or do they make flow charts while typing in class?

There are no advantages to hand written notes when they are not even legible. And that would be the case for me. When it's time to take notes, it's time to take notes. Facebook or whatever will be there at the conclusion of the class session. It's really not that hard to focus for an hour on something that will directly affect my grade which will directly affect my future career. Besides, when I would write notes in college, there was still a temptation to scribble or day dream. But to each his own.

I bring a typewriter to class.

List of current United States Supreme Court justices who took handwritten notes

John G. Roberts, Jr.
Antonin Scalia
Anthony Kennedy
Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan

List of current United States Supreme Court justices who typed their notes

...

That's all.

Cavalier wrote:List of current United States Supreme Court justices who took handwritten notes

John G. Roberts, Jr.
Antonin Scalia
Anthony Kennedy
Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan

List of current United States Supreme Court justices who typed their notes

...

That's all.

List of current Supreme Court Justices who graduated from law school after laptops were commonly available? None.

random5483 wrote:

Cavalier wrote:List of current United States Supreme Court justices who took handwritten notes

John G. Roberts, Jr.
Antonin Scalia
Anthony Kennedy
Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan

List of current United States Supreme Court justices who typed their notes

...

That's all.

List of current Supreme Court Justices who graduated from law school after laptops were commonly available? None.

List of people who got the joke: Not you

HOPEFORCHANGE wrote:I am starting as a 1L this fall and I am sure there is a similar thread about this somewhere in the archives, but I wanted to start a thread about the benefits and disadvantages of handwritten and typewritten notes for incoming 1Ls. Please post your experiences with either if you feel you have an opinion on this topic.

I will start.

Handwritten:
You can see the professor and don't have a big screen in front of your face, thus impeding learning.
You don't have distractions such as the Internet, etc.
You remember things in your own handwriting best - proven fact.
You don't have to kill your back lugging around a laptop everyday and aren't at risk of damaging your laptop.
You can always type them along with your study notes later.

Typewritten
It saves time.
You can get almost word for word transcriptions and not miss anything and possibly be at a disadvantage among your peers.
It is probably easier on your hand.

I am leaning towards handwritten myself and I don't have the best handwriting. I took notes on a laptop in college for a semester and didn't do any better.

I would love to hear others' thoughts

Hahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahah

Next up: toilet paper or grass thread

HOPEFORCHANGE wrote:don't have a big screen in front of your face

how short are you?

Hahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahah

Next up: toilet paper or grass thread

After re-reading the OP, I am quite embarrassed that I answered this seriously.

Asspie thread alert.

I never post, but this was worth chiming in on. ipad, capacitative stylus, and notes plus. It's the best of both worlds. You can move text around, and draw charts. Upload pdfs to google docs. Keeps you more organized, and has a keyboard function as well.

Question for those who handwrite notes:

I've been struggling to find the best system for me over the last two weeks. I began by typing (using Circus Ponies) but found that I just wasted time formatting and such compared to handwriting. Handwriting, I've been writing in black when I'm reading and then in class I'll add notes in blue to differentiate. By the end of the week, however, the notebook seems cluttered to me. I feel like I should be typing my notes up at the end of the week to get everything organized, but wondering what everyone else who handwrites does. Type soon after to clean everything up, or go with the flow and wait until later in the semester to outline?

Thanks.

Just f*cking hand write your notes and stop concerning yourself with stupid stuff like what color pen to use and/or whether to use felt tip or ball point.