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6 Reasons You Should Be Taking Your Notes in Microsoft OneNote

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at OK State chapter.

If you prefer to take your notes digitally rather than by hand then we have something in common.  When I first started college I took notes using Microsoft Word.  I realized it was really hard to locate my notes and was gonna take up a lot of space.  This was when I discovered that Microsoft had an even better program to take notes with, One Note.  If you haven’t tried One Note you are missing out on some great features that can optimize your note-taking experience.  Here are 6 reasons you should use One Note to take notes in college.

Different Notebooks

While I haven’t used this to it’s fullest extent, you can see that I have an entirely different notebook just for History notes.  Within these notebooks, I have my sections and pages.  This helps streamline where my notes are located.

Different Sections

In my opinion, the different sections are best used for each separate class or organization (go Her Campus!).

Different pages

I use a new page each class period.  The best part about this is that the pages are endless and you can keep scrolling down forever.

Record audio

Okay, while this has never worked for me in a lecture because my laptop picks up way too many sounds, it can be useful.  For instance, when I interviewed some people for a research paper I was able to record the audio directly into the document.  The best part about this is there is a play button beside each line of text so that you can start the audio from there instead of the beginning.

Write your notes by hand

If you have a laptop that can turn into a tablet like me, this feature is amazing.  I absolutely love combining the convenience of taking notes digitally with the memory retention benefits of taking notes by hand.

Links to everything you’ve copied

This is most useful when doing research for a paper.  Every quote you pull from a website is automatically linked below the text you paste.

Whether you take notes on your laptop or by hand, I hope this motivates you to give this underrated app a try!

Former President of Her Campus at Oklahoma State University.  Laney is a senior Graphic Design major.  Laney is passionate about philanthropy, activism, education, and art.  When she isn't writing articles for Her Campus she is painting, playing video games, or volunteering.