Of Note making

Of Note-making

An exercise in making short notes of a given passage with the help of headline, subheadings, recognizable abbreviations and arithmetic symbols

By Mukesh Sharma

When there were no tape-recorders/mobiles,  jotting down notes was the only option for the journos to cover any interview, event, incident or happening. However with the advent of internet, life has changed phenomenally. But to students, note-making is still a popular choice to take down notes in the class. And, of course, in academic exams at senior secondary level, note-making is also one of the questions in English paper as per CBSE syllabus where examinees are asked to make notes of a given passage; it is also one of the compulsory questions in several competitive exams for government services.

Note-making

As far as exams are concerned, note-making is an exercise in making short-notes of a given passage with the help of headline, subheadings, recognizable abbreviations and arithmetic symbols.

Ground rules

While making notes of a given passage, the student must keep in mind certain important points that reflect the characteristic of notes, as follows:

1.       All important sentences/main points of the given passage must be given an appropriate sub- heading.

2.       If the main point under sub-heading  has many other important details, it must be mentioned through points.

3.       If point has other inevitable details, it must be mentioned with proper indentation.

4.       Use keywords to denote certain ideas with the help of abbreviation e.g. UNO, NCERT, etc. and arithmetic symbols such as > <,  kg, %, etc.

5.       As used by the newspaper, use coined short words e.g. SC, govt., Eng., etc.

6.       Use invented words e.g. edu., mfg, etc.

7.       Must follow the logical sequence of ideas/thoughts discussed in the passage.

8.       Must include important information in brief.

9.       Must be short to the point.

10.   Give a suitable headline/title to the given passage.

Suggest standardized format

Though a student can go by his/her own format that conforms to all above said important characteristics of  note-making, generally speaking, the under mentioned suggested standardized format may help the students in attempting the question on note-making, easily, comfortably and confidently.

Note-making format

How to start

1.        Read the passage carefully to have the idea of theme/central idea under discussion.

2.       Underline the leading sentence/outline in each para that leads to development of a fact in the para.

3.       Look at the last para that concludes the theme/central idea.

4.       Give the central idea/theme discussed in the passage a headline.

5.       Now give each para a sub-heading based on the fact/idea discussed.

6.       Mark related/relevant details and mention it as point-1, point-2, and so on.

 7.       Underline the words/key words that can be abbreviated and any increase or decrease of something may be mentioned through arithmetic symbols

Specimen

Question:

On the basis of your reading of the passage, make notes on it using recognizable abbreviation (minimum-4) wherever necessary. Use a format that you consider appropriate. Also suggest a suitable title.

Write a summary of the passage in 80 words.

Toddlers with graying hair, an 8 year old with high pressure and cholesterol, a pre-adolescent who has the physique of a 20 year old – the sign are ominous. Biological clocks in children are ticking rapidly and the rate at which their organs are aging in faster than their chronological age.

The country’s medical fraternity may take pride in improving life expectancy, but  the spurt in life style disease, especially among children has resulted in premature aging. This means the increase life expectancy doesn’t necessary translate into improved quality of life. Every organ in human body has an age and when a child suffers from life style disease like cholesterol and diabetes, his or her organ takes a beating. Thus the functionality of eight year old child’s organ is that of a 30 years old. Manifestation of their problems are evident, with children as young as sporting glasses, early sign of facial hair in boys.

Doctors in India say that they are treating more children with ailments usually associated with adults.

Diabetes and hypertension is leading to stress on organs. Children’s organ are aging, though they may be young in terms of years. Genetic factors account for a meager 20 % of premature aging. The main reasons are the environmental and dietary. Pediatric obesity, which is reaching epidemic proportion, high stress level, sedentary and changing lifestyles and various chemical used in food contribute to premature aging.

When diabetes sets in at an early stage, the child’s blood vessels start stiffening which happens only in older people. Technically, we are starting at a scenario where the child is aging much faster than his chronological age.

Courtesy: Times of India

                                                                                                                                                           

Answer

Premature Aging

Toddler with grey hair -1

      a)      BC > CA -1

Lifestyle disease – 2

       a)      Chol and Diabetes

        b)      Org. has age

Main reasons – 3

        a)      Env and diet – 1

        b)      Genetics – 20% - 2

        c)       PO (Pediatric obesity) –3

         d)      Sedentary lifestyle – 4

Diabetes early age-4

       a)      Aging of CA(chronological age)

Keywords:

BC – Biological Clock

CA – Chronological Age

Org- Organs

PO- Pediatric obesity

Summary 

PREMATURE AGING

Biological clocks in children are ticking faster than chronological age. Children with grey hair, high BP and cholesterol, are getting older than their age. Life style disease like diabetes and cholesterol are causing pre mature aging. Genetics is responsible just 20%. But environment and diet coupled with sedentary lifestyle are causing pre mature aging among children.

Mind you, practice improves the skill. All kinds of writing needs only three things : practice, practice and practice.

Reading an English Newspaper

Reading an English Newspaper

A student-reader must learn how to separate wheat from chaff, how to distinguish between facts and fiction, and read between the lines

By Mukesh Sharma

Gone are days when newspapers used to be the surrogate of public opinion, and the main business was to collect and disseminate the information in the largest interest of the people. Now, the most of the newspapers are partisan; news are tweaked and twisted with vested interest; the ‘salad’ is made out of raw ‘vegetables’ and served to the synthetic mass of readers. Though the most of the readers succumb to ‘spices’ and ‘dressing’, only a few matured readers are able to distinguish between apple and orange, cucumber and carrot, tomato and turnip. But to student-readers who look at the world through the eyes of the newspapers, and read it to augment their vocabulary, brush up their English, increase their general awareness and keep themselves up- to-date from the point of view of various competition exams for government services, it (newspaper) remains rather as confusing as the grammar of English language. Student- readers read an English newspaper like the contents of a text book, and lots of precious time is wasted in the reading exercise. In fact, with the sheer knowledge of the standardized format and content which are followed by all the newspapers, one can understand and read it quickly and comfortably within 30-45 minutes maximum.

Reading an English Newspaper

The common contents of most of the newspaper are: News Story, Editorial, Column, Letter-to-Editor, News Article, Feature Article, Weekly Magazine Section, and Advertisements.

Each write-up in a newspaper is ‘crowned’ by an attractive and catchy  HEADLINE; it reflects the purpose and proclivity of a newspaper; it can be ‘offensive’ and ‘submissive’ depending on target audience; it can be informative or commentative.  What a human face is to emotions, headline is to a newspaper. In other words, true 'character' of a newspaper can better be ‘understood’ and ‘recognized’ by its headlines.

A headline of a story is always in present tense; it is anti-grammar and anti-syntax; it has timeliness, for, a news is news so long as it is new; over and above, it is complete story in nutshell. Just by reading a headline of a story, one can learn about the content of news. If one flips through the pages and just cast cursory glance on the headline of each story/news, one can have fair idea of all the important news of the day. Furthermore, if any headline catches the interest, and a reader wants to know more details, one can go further and read highlight which is usually written beneath the headlines. A highlight further elaborates the headline. Look at a news story published in a newspaper:

The very first PARA of a news story is usually described as INTRO in journalistic parlance that conforms to 5W and 1 H – who, what, when, why, where and how. In other words, an INTRO of news story also gives complete information about the news in question in nutshell. If one reads a story up to INTRO only, one can have good referable knowledge about an event/incident/happening unfolded in the news.

A news story is a collection of different but relevant facts. Each fact is couched in a separate PARA. And the facts are arranged in descending order of importance and follow a pattern of inverted pyramid; it means the most important fact goes to top and the least important one to bottom or tail. What is noteworthy, the PARAS that represent different facts are not inter-connected or linked. There is no flow of thoughts from one PARA to another; there is flow of different facts which are independent. If a reader misses any PARA , particularly, the tail-ender, one loses nothing except a few inconsequential facts. So, if a students-readers just concentrate on headline, highlights and intro of each story, it will suffice his/her knowledge of event/incident/happenings delineated in the story.

Editorial of a newspaper is always commentative; it reflects the stand or viewpoint of the newspaper on a particular development; it is usually carried at extreme left on the middle pages of the newspaper. A student reader must read the editorial thoroughly, for, it helps to develop the critical bent of mind in the matter of national or international importance. Editorials are also headed by headline and supported by one or two liner highlighter. Through an editorial, a newspaper seeks to delve deep into a subject matter, and dissects and discusses it ‘subjectively’ and concludes it ‘objectively’.

Though a newspaper derives its power of ‘persuasion’ from its circulation among supposedly faithful readers – exposure makes target vulnerable, letter-to-editor is the only small space provided to so called ‘valued’ readers on the editorial page itself where they register their duly ‘selected’ responses.

News Articles, usually carried on Editorial page, are written by an experienced ‘staffer’ or by the renowned ‘guest’ with immense social and political clout. A News article is an interesting amalgamation of news and comments with an objective. It acquaints a student-reader with diverse views on the subject-matter. News articles are published on an opportune time.

Feature articles are purely revelatory in nature, predominantly, written on a topic of social or geographical importance. Such articles have no timeliness e.g. an article on Himalayan venture can go to press on any day.

The most of the newspapers also bring out weekly magazine section on Sunday. It is full of gossip and scoops about the cine stars. It caters to the saucy needs of young readers, not the serious one.

Advertisements are the main source of revenue for a newspaper. But it is an open secret that the newspapers have other ‘sources’ also. How come a newspaper that costs Rs.80-90 per copy, is sold out just for Rs 5 per copy. Though as per PRB Act 1860, the ratio between news and ads should be 60:40 but it is just vice-versa.

Journalism is described as a literature in hurry. And of course, it can be read also hurriedly. A student reader must read at least two newspapers daily. A comparative study shall reveal how the newspapers play up or play down the news stories. The people allege that newspapers are no longer the watch dogs of democracy; they wag and turn tail purposefully; they bark and bite selectively.

A student-reader must learn how to separate wheat from chaff, how to distinguish between fact and fiction, and read between the lines.