If you master this skill early in your academic career, you will thank yourself the rest of your life!
Taking notes is not writing down everything you read or everything your instructor says. It is learning how to discriminate useful information from information you already know or information that you don't need to remember.
As you continue your education, your instructors will be less and less inclined to tell you directly, "You need to know this". If an instructor takes the time to discuss the topic, chances are fairly high that the topic is important enough to know, and more directly, is going to appear either on a quiz/test, or is required information for a task that you will have to accomplish correctly for your grade. In other words, to make it 'worth your while': if the instructor takes up limited class time to discuss a topic, you need to know it for your grade.
One of the most effective styles of note-taking is called "Cornell Notes", and is based on a note-taking system developed at Cornell University.
When you use Cornell notes, you basically divide your paper into two columns with a 2" space at the bottom of the page for your summary. While there are several different formats, I recommend you use this format for taking notes while you are reading: In the left-hand column, you write the important points with space between them. In the right-hand column, you provide details on these points. As you are taking notes, you can also put burning questions or items you don't understand in the left-hand column and when you find the answer, write them opposite the questions in the right-hand column. The bottom of the paper is an area for you to write a short summary. Hint: these short summaries can be used to complete the reading assignment summary papers!
In class, when there is a lecture period, you should also take notes. You can work from your reading notes or you can have a second style of Cornell notes. For this example, we'll visit the "Study Habits" (updated link-old one was dead) web site. No, it's not time to panic... this note-taking format will allow you to get the most important information down, and then review the information after class!
Regardless of where you are taking these notes, as you are reading or in class, you should review them within 24 hours of writing, and add to the left-hand column any questions that arise when you review. That way, when you come to class next, you can ask the questions and resolve any outstanding issues on the information covered in the readings or lecture.
The first thing we will do in class is practice taking notes. You will need notepaper for this class!