Sarah was a diligent college student at a renowned university. Every day, she found herself inundated with lectures and discussions, her fingers constantly cramping as she struggled to scribble down notes in longhand. Despite her dedication and hard work, she found it impossible to keep up with her lecturers, often missing key points and leaving lectures feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.
Her traditional method of note-taking, writing out full words and complete sentences, simply wasn’t fast enough for the rapid-fire world of university lectures. Worse yet, she was spending so much time reading and editing her notes that her study schedule was in disarray, putting her at risk of falling behind in her coursework.
One day, Sarah stumbled upon an article discussing the concept of speedwriting and its benefits for students like her. Intrigued, she decided to explore this alternative method, hoping it could be the solution to her note-taking woes.
As she delved into the world of shorthand systems, she was fascinated by how these alphabetic systems could drastically simplify the note-taking process. She decided to learn the basics of Gregg shorthand, the most popular system known for its efficiency and simple strokes, hoping it would help her keep up with her fast-talking lecturers.
Sarah spent weeks practicing, starting first with common words and phrases and gradually working her way up to more complex structures. The key to this system was its focus on sounds rather than spelling, using simple symbols to represent the sounds that words make. It was a challenge, no doubt, but Sarah was motivated to master this art, hopeful that it would improve her note-taking efficiency and, by extension, her academic performance.
Over time, she realized that she could develop her own shorthand system, using elements from Gregg and other alphabetic shorthand systems and even incorporating arrows, symbols, and diagrams. She customized it to fit her own way of thinking and understanding, making her notes even more personalized and legible.
Her investment paid off handsomely. Not only did she write faster during lectures, but she was also able to jot down thoughts, ideas, and key points in record time without missing a beat. Her notes became her lifeline, a rich tapestry of information and concepts now more accessible and manageable than ever before.
Sarah had not only unlocked the power of speedwriting for lightning-fast note-taking, but she had elevated her academic performance and transformed her university experience entirely. Sarah’s story is a testament to the transformative potential of speedwriting and the power it holds to change the academic landscape for countless students worldwide.
Mastering the Art of Speedwriting: A Transformative Approach to Accelerated Note-Taking
In the fast-paced, information-dense world of lectures, classes, and meetings, one must harness the power of speedwriting for lightning-fast note-taking to stay ahead of the curve. Speedwriting, the sibling of traditional longhand writing, is an incredibly efficient way of transcribing speech and ideas quickly without losing the essence of the information.
It is an art that, when mastered, can drastically transform your note-taking game. While most people rely on typing or classic handwritten text, speedwriting goes beyond the conventional means, utilizing alphabetic shorthand systems for faster, more effective note-taking.
Alphabetic shorthand systems like Gregg shorthand and Pitman shorthand are popular for their efficiency and speed. They are abbreviated systems of writing that increase speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language.
Shorthand systems employ symbols to represent words, phrases, or even parts of words, allowing you to capture a lecturer’s words or a speaker’s idea as they’re spoken. This rapid writing technique replaces common words with symbols or abbreviations, facilitating the creation of better notes and elevating the note-taking process.
The strength of speedwriting lies in its adaptability. You can develop your own system based on alphabetic systems, incorporating various formats to suit your needs. This might be as simple as omitting silent letters, using brief forms for common words, or replacing full words with a symbol or two.
In fact, tens of thousands of students have developed their own styles of shorthand, each catering to the unique way their brain processes information. Whether you’re jotting down key points in a meeting or making notes for a university course, having your own style of shorthand can help you write quickly and effectively.
One essential aspect of speedwriting is understanding the phonetics of language — the way words sound — which is the basis of any good alphabetic shorthand system. For instance, Gregg shorthand uses curved lines and loops to represent common sounds, while Pitman shorthand employs straight lines and varying pen pressure.
Some systems even eliminate vowels or utilize one symbol to represent common prefixes or suffixes. Exploring these systems and experimenting with your own can unlock the possibility of taking notes a lot faster than you currently do, ensuring you never miss any crucial points in a fast-paced lecture or meeting.
Yet mastering speedwriting isn’t just about taking dictation or converting speech into symbols. It’s about understanding the context, picking out the key ideas, and turning a blank page into a clear and concise record of the lecture, meeting, or discussion. It’s about developing your own system, refining it over time, and using it as a powerful tool for learning, remembering, and even creating.
As we explore the power of speedwriting for lightning-fast note-taking, we hope this blog serves as a valuable guide to staying ahead of the lecture and ultimately enhancing your note-taking skills. So, pick up your pen and get ready to dive into the wonderful world of speedwriting, a game-changer that has the potential to redefine the way you take notes and transform your learning experience altogether.
The Basics of Shorthand
Imagine being able to capture entire conversations perfectly! What a boon that would be to your note-taking journey. Shorthand is able to take detailed notes without writing out entire words or even letters; instead, it uses a system in which words are condensed or abbreviated based on phonetics.
Stenography is the fancy name for shorthand and has a rich history going back all the way to Ancient Egypt, where they developed a writing system that would be faster than hieroglyphs.
Today’s stenographers, often found in the courtroom or newsroom, follow their example. These professionals can type over 200 words per minute while taking notes word for word — twice as fast as an adept typist can type on a keyboard and at least 50 words faster than the average person talks per minute. They often use a special abbreviation machine that uses sets of letters rather than the entire alphabet.
The title “stenographer” is typically reserved for these professionals who use an abbreviation machine. If you’re performing stenography by hand, you’re more likely to be associated with the term “shorthand.” Instead of using a machine to abbreviate words and sentences, you are the abbreviation machine. There are three main formats of modern shorthand: Gregg, Pitman, and Teeline. With these tools under your belt, diction and taking effective notes have never been easier.
Gregg Shorthand
Here’s the problem: traditional English spelling requires using multiple vertical, horizontal, and angled or curved lines for each letter of the alphabet. Because of this, it’s impossible to write faster than around 40 words per minute if you’re spelling them all out perfectly. You have to keep lifting your pencil, sometimes multiple times per letter.
Consider the letter “p”; first, you must make a long downward stroke and then either retrace the line or pick up your pencil and place it back at the top to make a clockwise loop. This takes more time than you think it does and slows your handwriting speed considerably.
Enter the Gregg shorthand system, the most common shorthand system used in the United States and one that was invented in 1888. This system solves the problem of letters by replacing them with simplified strokes. Instead of a “p” you’d write a straight line or simple curve that denotes “p.” For vowels, you’d write a hook or loop. Gregg also uses phonetic spelling, so you write symbols for each sound rather than for each letter.
Pitman Shorthand
This style of shorthand was created by Sir Isaac Pitman in 1837. It represents common words and sounds with slanted and squiggling lines. When possible, the consonant symbols are combined; for example, “p” is represented by a light, slanted line, while “b” is represented by a heavier slanted line. Vowels are represented by dots and dashes placed in specific positions relative to the consonants.
It’s a complex system, for sure, but those highly skilled in this system can write over 275 words per minute. And you might find that it feels similar to writing in cursive, which might make the transition easier for you if you are adept at that style of penmanship.
Teeline Shorthand
Of the three styles of shorthand that we’re discussing today, Teeline is supposed to be the easiest to learn for beginners. It was developed in 1968 by James Hill, a practitioner and teacher of the Pitman style. This system removes unnecessary letters and makes the remaining letters easier to write.
It has a number of shortcuts for writing, such as ignoring silent letters, grouping letters into single symbols, and removing vowels from the middle of words.
It’s not as fast as the other systems, though, only allowing for around 150 words per minute. This may be because it’s a spelling-based system rather than phonetic like the others, so you’ll have to learn a new “alphabet.”
The Problem With Shorthand
If these systems are so great, then why isn’t everyone using them? Excellent question! The answer is quite simple: they’re not easy to learn. They’re actually quite hard to memorize and put into action, since it takes months of practice to not only learn the system but to train your mind to think about language differently. Not many people have time for this, outside of those professions where shorthand comes in hand on a daily basis.
The average person, including the note-taker, needs a system that can shorten words and help you write and take notes faster without taking years to learn. They still need to be able to capture a conversation without losing the essence of what’s being said. And that’s where speedwriting comes in.
Why You Should Use Speedwriting
Unlike shorthand, which requires you to learn a new system of symbols and shortcuts, speedwriting works with what you already know. It’s super easy to learn because it uses the normal alphabet and common abbreviations and symbols instead of requiring you to learn an entirely new format or structure.
It has the same effect as longhand but is much faster and easier to write due to the number of its shortcuts. You can even modify it to fit your own needs, adding your own shortcuts as they suit you. It’s commonsense and straightforward.
According to a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 25% of employed men and 33% of employed women in America reported that they always feel rushed. Luckily, that is just the issue that speedwriting addresses. By helping learners keep up with spoken content and quickly produce a high-quality document, it helps to lower their stress rates. You don’t have to worry about whether you’ll get everything on the page or not; you’ll have new confidence in your note-taking ability.
Almost a fourth of the population struggles with chronic procrastination, and as many as 95% of all students struggle with putting off work until the last minute. Speedwriting can help you avoid that trap by giving you confidence and competence. And by helping to make your note-taking more effective and timely, it will improve your quality of life. If the entire point of taking great notes is to give yourself a comprehensive record of knowledge that you can later refer back to, then speedwriting is just the tool to help you do that.
You’re going to love it.
Creating Your Own Speedwriting System
Remember, speedwriting is all about speed, efficiency, and ease of use. You can always look up one of the already-established methods, such as the BakerWrite speedwriting system that was created by Heather Baker in 2004. This style skips the squiggly lines of Gregg and Pitman shorthand in favor of using alphabets and letters. It’s so simple that you can learn it in a matter of days.
It may not be as fast as the traditional shorthand formats, but it will still boost your writing speed considerably. That’s what you want in a speedwriting system: an efficient way to reduce the number of letters you write so that you can save time. There are some informal rules, but all you really need to worry about is whether your approach can speed up your handwriting without compromising legibility or comprehension. If the method you use accomplishes that, then you’re on the right track.
Here’s a list of elements to include and things to consider when developing your speedwriting system.
Abbreviation Is Key
The best way to make your method a success is to create a list of abbreviations for commonly used words. Remember that speedwriting is all about cutting down on letter usage, so feel free to use classics such as the following:
- you = u
- your = ur
- with = w/
- without = w/o
- because = bc
- estimate = est
- approximate = apx
- continue = cont
- schedule = sch
- meeting = mtb
- Excel = xl
- end of day = EOD
- for your information = FYI
- government = govt
You’ll notice that these abbreviations are quite easy to decode at first sight; there’s no need to be overly cryptic or complex. Feel free to use all of the common abbreviations you can find, adapt them from texting shorthand, and also come up with your own.
Symbolize Words or Phrases
If a word doesn’t have a common or obvious abbreviation, you can always swap it out for a symbol. Other words have a meaning that lends itself to a symbol. Again, the entire point is to minimize the time it takes to write a word because the last thing you want is to miss out on what’s being said because it takes forever to write a word or phrase. Here are some examples of common symbols:
- at = @
- money = $
- and/with = +
- more than = >
- less than = <
- number of = #
- thousand = K
- million = M
As you can see from these examples, a symbol can also represent several words at the same time, making it a particularly efficient act for your note-taking performance.
Drop the Vowels
You may recall that dropping vowels from the middle of words is a feature of the Teeline shorthand system. Well, it’s also a function of speedwriting and one that you can feel more than welcome to adopt for yourself. Remember, speedwriting is all about cutting out unnecessary letters, and vowels are quite often not needed to understand a sentence. Observe:
U cn stll undstnd ths sntnce w/o the vwls.
See? Your brain doesn’t need to see the vowels to fill in the words. You may have seen something like this before; it’s a concept that’s been floating around on the internet since the early 2000s when a meme with the following text went viral:
“Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe and the biran fguiers it out aynawy.”
This obviously isn’t the same as speedwriting since it merely reordered the vowels to demonstrate the brain’s ability to organize words without proper spelling, but you get the idea. In fact, shall we rewrite this paragraph so you can see what it would look like in a speedwriting system? See if you can’t do it yourself first, and then take a look at this:
“Accrdng to rsrch at Cmbrdge Uni, it dsn’t mttr in wht ordr the lttrs in a wrd r, the only imprtnt thng is tht the frst and lst lttr b at the rght plce. The rst cn be a ttl mss and u cn stll rd it w/o a prblm. Ths is bc the hmn mnd ds not read evry lttr by itslf, bt the wrd as a whle and the brain fgrs it out anywy.”
Pretty neat, huh?
Keep a Word Log
It may go without saying, but we’re going to say it anyway: keep a list of all of your abbreviations and symbols. That way, if in the future you look back at your notes and can’t decipher or remember your own system, you can easily look it up and retain that information. We don’t want you scrambling while interpreting your notes! It will also make it easier to remember new abbreviations as you create them, along with any new words or terminology you gain access to.
Note-Taking Is a Strategy, Speedwriting a Tactic
Now remember: speedwriting is a tool, not a magic wand. It can help you capture information quickly in a way that still makes sense, which is a fantastic aid when taking notes. However, it’s not the sole technique that’s going to make your notes a success. Good note-taking has its own fundamentals that need to be included in addition to fast and comprehensive writing, such as a clear method of organization and prioritizing the right information. Consider the following elements to optimize both your note-taking and your speedwriting.
You Don’t Need to Include Every Word
Just because speedwriting is designed to allow you to write down every word if you want to, that doesn’t mean that’s actually what you should do. Good note-taking isn’t about transcribing what the speaker says word for word; instead, it’s about you listening to and thinking about what is said and then paraphrasing the content in your own words. You’re just trying to interpret and record it in a way that will be understandable and useful for future reference. Grab the topic, main points, and key concepts, and don’t feel the need to go overboard.
Choose an Organizational Method
Speedwriting is all about being able to record information well; it doesn’t help you at all when it comes to organizing that information. For that, you’ll need to turn to an established note-taking method. There are many to choose from, and we’re not going to go into detail in this blog post, but it should be said that the outlining method lends itself particularly well to speedwriting.
For this method, you use headings, subheadings, and bulleted subpoints to list content in a logical sequence, with each point following from the last. It’s one of the fastest styles of note-taking, so pair it with speedwriting to become unstoppable!
Don’t Be a Perfectionist
With all of this speed going on, you’re bound to make mistakes. That’s okay, don’t get hung up on it! Just like accidentally making typos when writing longhand, your speedwriting is not always going to be perfect. Stopping to edit what you’ve written in the middle of a note-taking session will only compromise the power of speedwriting for lightning-fast note-taking.
Wait until the end of the session to read over your notes and correct any mistakes. According to experts, you should be reviewing your notes immediately after the session anyway to optimize your understanding of the content and establish it deeper in your memory.
Conclusion
For a blog post on speedwriting, we sure have used a lot of words, haven’t we? But no matter, you’ve made it to the end of this overview of speedwriting, shorthand, note-taking, and everything in between. We looked at the difference between stenography and shorthand, then critiqued the top three shorthand styles, which taught us that these systems often create their own alphabet of symbols or geometric shapes to represent the phonetic sounds of letters and words. The result is an extremely fast writing system that can even outpace the spoken word — but the downfall is that it can be very challenging to memorize these complex shorthand systems.
Speedwriting is a nice middle ground for the nonprofessional note-taker who wants a way to improve their writing speed without having to spend years learning how. It’s not quite as fast as shorthand, but it will get the job done. All you have to do is develop a list of abbreviations and symbols to replace full words with and take the vowels out of the middle of words.
Those few steps will make a world of difference. And the best part is that you don’t have to memorize a new alphabet, because speedwriting works with your native language. It’s not about replacing words, but optimizing them. Just like your notes, speedwriting offers a way to meld efficiency and effectiveness for lightning-fast note-taking that remains clear, comprehensible, and productive.