
There are many ways of taking notes in school or other organizations. It depends on the person. Some may use a structured approach and use an outline method to take notes. Often some prefer a visual form and draw mind maps, or some may even use no structure at all, instead used to write everything in a book.
Writing everything in a book is a pretty tricky job for a student. However, there is a technique called “Cornell notes” that is highly preferred by many students which simplifies your work in an easy way. By reading this article, you ought to know what Cornell notes are and how to take Cornell notes on Google Docs.
Table Of Contents
Why should we use Cornell Notes and how to take Cornell notes?
A very efficient way of taking notes in class is using Cornell Notes. In addition, Cornell Note-taking is the perfect tip for exam preparation.
The Cornell note itself encourages you to reflect on your notes by actively summarizing them in your own words. It is enough to remember study notes and to plan an exam successfully. By using Cornell notes on Google Docs, you can quickly review your own notes.
The idea behind this is straightforward. Cornell Note-taking needs a tiny amount of time which makes it ideal for class. The page will be divided into four parts or three parts for different sections. First, Leave a space at the top of the page that will be used for Title, Date, and Course Name. Similarly, for Bottom of the page, it will be used as a summary section.
Between the top and bottom of the page, Split the remaining space into two columns, leaving a small column on the left side corner.
The smaller column on the left side is for questions about the note, which can be answered when reviewing or keywords and comments that make the whole reviewing process more accessible. And the more immense columns on the right side are for writing Notes.
The general format of Cornell Note Template
Several interesting studies have found that students who have written notes by hand have learned more than those who typed them. The strength of this method is page layout. Research has proven that this method is not only efficient but also makes it a lot easier. Kindly follow the below rules to understand the general format of the Cornell note template.
- Divide the page into four parts. Draw a dark horizontal line about five lines above the bottom of the page(use dark borderline)
- Now draw a dark vertical line of 2 inches from the left side of the paper from the top of the horizontal line.
- Mention your topic, date, and course name at the top of each page
- The box, which is larger used for writing notes
- Skip a line between ideas and topics.
- The Cornell notes taking method discourages the use of long sentences
- Instead of writing the full sentence, use abbreviations and symbols if possible. Make a Shorthand notes of your own such as using “&” for the word “ and”
- After taking notes try to review your notes as much as possible. T in the Cornell note-taking method was not complete.
- Pull out main ideas, keynotes, dates, people and write these in the left side column.
- In the bottom space, summarise your main ideas in a short form.
- Re-read your notes in the right column.
- Try to spend most of the time studying the ideas at the left corner and the summary at the bottom. These are the most important ideas, including most of the information you will be tested on.
How to use this Cornell notes taking technique?
Record: During the class/meeting, use the note-taking column to take notes using telegraphic sentences.
Questions: You can formulate questions based on the notes in the right-hand column. It helps to clarify meaning and strengthen memory. In addition, you are writing questions set up a perfect stage for subsequent analysis later.
Recite: Reflect on the material by asking yourself questions like
- What’s the significance of these facts?
- How can I apply them?
- What principle are they based on?
- How do they fit in the context that already knows?
Review: You need to review your notes so that you can retain a great deal with your notes, and identify improvements or best practices for future engagements.
How to create Cornell notes on Google docs?
To create Cornell notes on Google docs follow the below steps,
Step1: Open Google in the browser and sign in to your account. You will find the Google apps in the right corner. Click “Docs,” and Google docs is opened now.
Step 2: create a new document and give the name to your document.
Step 3: Go to insert -> select table -> click on it.
Step 4: you will be able to see the column and row size under the table—select column size as 2 and row as 3.

Step 5: Now your table is created. You can now resize your table by dragging it. First, select the table and make the column on your left side small.
Step 6: Select the top row and right-click. You may find merge cells. Just click on it.

Step 7: On the top box write your name, topic, and date as your wish.
Step 8: You can also change font size and color for better readability.
Step 9: Now, you have two columns on the left side and the other on the right side. On the left side column, make your question about the note. On the bigger column make your notes in a short form such as abbreviations.
Step 10: Select the bottom row and right-click ->merge cell. Now your row is merged. In that box, summarize your essential points.

In this way, you can create your own Cornell notes in Google docs.
Cornell Notes template general format
Title: Date:Subject: | |
Cue column | Note Taking Column |
Summary: |
You may also like following the below articles
Voila! You have now learned about Cornell notes and how to create Cornell notes in Google Docs in detail. Now it’s your time to make your own Cornell notes using Google Docs.

I am Rajkishore, and I have over 14 years of experience in the Software Industry. For a long time, I have been using Google Docs, Google Drive, and Google Sheets for my document usage, and I am sharing all the tips and tricks, the challenges I have come across, and their solutions to use Google Docs for your day-to-day use. I hope you will learn from these practical Google Docs tutorials. Read more.