Note-taking is not transcription but a cognitive act that forces active engagement with material — deciding what matters, translating it into one's own language, connecting it to existing knowledge. Different philosophies — the Cornell method, sketchnoting, the slip-box, linear outlining — each represent a theory of how knowledge is structured and how the mind best interacts with it during learning. The most effective note-taking system is the one that converts passive exposure into active processing, regardless of its formal structure.
Each step builds on the last.