Hierarchical strategies

You could use these formats to arrange information from an inclusive category to more and more exclusive categories. There are various formats in this category including column, network and tree. They are useful for helping you to understand the relationships among related terms or ideas. They are often arranged in a ‘top-down’ manner; in other words, the main concept is placed at the top of the page and the subdivisions are placed below it. They may also be drawn with the main concept on the left-hand side of the page and the subdivisions to the right of it. Some examples are shown hereunder.

Example 1: Network hierarchy: Computer Science

Example 2: Tree hierarchy: Sociology

Example 3: Tree hierarchy: Biology

Images on this page supplied by Muskingum college

This section has presented a number of different formats that you can use for taking notes in lectures. Click each of the links above to view five different formats.
There is a very large arsenal of approaches at your disposal and only a few have been presented here. There is no ‘best format’. You may want to use elements of a few different approaches. Ultimately, you will discover a strategy that best fits your personal needs: this will be the format that enhances and enriches your learning experience

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