Cornell Notes Template

A way of organizing notes devised by Walter Pauk, an education professor at Cornell University, and described in his book How to Study in College. The page is divided into three parts: a wide column on the right for notes taken during the lecture or reading, a narrow cue column on the left for questions and key words added afterwards, and a summary area at the bottom for a few sentences in your own words.

During class, write notes in the right-hand column — short phrases, not full sentences. Soon after, reread them and write questions or key terms in the cue column next to each idea. Then write a two- to four-sentence summary at the bottom. To review, cover the notes column and answer the questions in the cue column out loud; this self-testing is the part that makes the method effective.

The cue column is 30% of the writing width — about 2¼ inches on US Letter with ½-inch margins — and the summary area takes roughly the bottom fifth of the page. Pauk's original sheet had a 2½-inch cue column and a 2-inch summary on an 8½ × 11 page; the proportions here are similar and scale to any paper size.

Yes. The lines run across both columns, like the classic Cornell sheet, so cue words line up with the notes they refer to. The summary area has its own lines.

Yes. The method works for textbook chapters, videos and online lectures as well as live classes. Many students print a stack of pages at the start of a term, three-hole punch them and keep one section per course.