Read again to take notes
Try taking notes from memory
Mark directly on the text
annotate as necessary
Summarize key points in your own words
Circle key concepts and phrases
Write brief comments and questions in the margins
Other tips
Avoid over-highlighting. Highlighting doesn’t actively engage the brain, so it’s not the most useful strategy. Also, highlighting too much can keep you from focusing on the main ideas.
Wait until the end of a page to take notes so that you can better focus on what you are reading and so that you can try to summarize in your own words rather than copy.
Preview the chapter before you start reading by looking at the text features to gain clues about the main ideas of the chapter.