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Nataphorn Sea Soontornworasate

Mr. Abel Cadias

English 10 / 1001

May 16, 2017

Is Writing on Paper Better than Typing on Laptop?

Taking note by handwriting leads MUIDS students for better memory retention compared to

taking note by typing on laptop. The purpose of this research is to find out which note taking tool is

better for MUIDS students. The importance of this research report is to provide information that

handwritten is better than typing on laptop. This research report is based on eight sources. First, the

article entitled A Learning Secret: Dont Take Notes with a Laptop shows that using laptop to

take notes allow the students to do more, like some online activities or access information on the

internet. Second, the article entitled Attention, Students: Put Your Laptops Away describes that

taking notes by laptop have more tendency to be distracting than taking note by handwritten. Third,

the article entitled Note-Taking: Writing vs. Typing Notes discusses about the student who take

notes by writing and typing, the students that take notes by handwritten can retain the information

more than the students who take notes by typing on laptop. Fourth, the article entitled 4 Benefits of

Handwriting Notes Vs. Typing on Laptops writes about the benefit of handwritten can builds

stronger conceptual understanding. Fifth, the article entitled Handwritten notes vs. typed notes: is

there a difference? explains that taking notes by writing lead our minds and bodies interact in the

learning process more than typing. Sixth, the article entitled Your Lousy Handwriting Might Actu-

ally Make You Smarter shows that the students that take note by take notes by using laptop is

faster than handwritten. Seventh, the article entitled Advantages of Typing Skills explains that

taking notes by typing makes the educational and working processes faster and saves time. Lastly,

the article entitled Take Notes by Hand for Better Long-Term Comprehension, this also describes
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that taking notes by hand is better than laptop for remembering the information over the long term.

Moreover, this research report also includes a survey from MUIDS students.

The Benefit of Taking Down Notes

Taking down notes provides several benefit for students. Lombardi (2017) stated that taking

notes is an incredible way to help students be able to recognize the significance of concepts covered

in class. Even though the students have an extraordinary memory, the students definitely wont have

the capacity to remember all of the information. Taking down notes also provides students for more

focus and attention. Sometimes in a dull class, or when students concentrate on something, their

mind may meander, particularly if the students are drained, or pre-involved. This skill definitely

helps students to concentrate and lead them involved in learning. Further, if the students are focus-

ing, you will probably comprehend what you are learning, reading or what is being talked about

(Pearson, N.D.). Moreover, the article entitled 8 Benefits of Taking Notes| During a Class or Sem-

inar from stated that everyone has a style, in understanding the point or subject. This if composed

among attending in to the class, it ends up plainly less demanding to comprehend and amend once

more. If students notice that when they refer at least two course books, they will see that each writer

has depicted the theme in his own particular style yet the conclusions are comparative. This is be-

cause everyone has his or her own style of understanding a theme and since it is composed in your

notes.

Handwriting vs. Typing

Pinola (2016) stated that taking notes by typing might be more suitable than handwriting,

but for learning and long-term memory retention, handwriting is better than typing. Also writing

can help students clarify their thoughts, remember things better, and reach the goals more surely.
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Taking notes by handwriting lead brain more active, handwriting requires different psychological

processing than typing.

According to May (2014), using laptop in class can provide students improve their scholas-

tic performance. Laptop allows students can take part in online exercise or some demonstration,

also access the information from internet. Those students who take notes using laptop in the class

tend to take more notes than those who take notes by handwriting. However, laptop also contains

disadvantage too. Laptop contains more tendency to be divert students, so its easy to click over

other websites which cause the distraction for students (Doubek, 2016).

Goodwin (2015) stated that handwriting is the better option for a long-term of memory re-

tention of information. Students are able to recall more information from handwriting than typing. It

seems that handwriting encourages more memory cues from writing. Taking abundant notes and

take all text word by word is not the effective way of taking notes which students cant be able to

recognize what theyre recording. Students are more careful and choosy about the information when

taking notes by writing. So, taking notes by typing provides less time as compared to handwriting,

but taking notes by handwriting provides the unique note which have more effective for memory

retention.

How MUIDS Students Take Notes

Based on survey from MUIDS students about Writing on paper or typing on laptop?

showed that from 10 students, 80% of them prefer to take notes by handwriting, and 20% prefer to

take notes by typing. According to six interviewer, most of them have their own unique

way of taking notes. Ms. Sarisa Kiettivuti said that taking note by hand is better for her, it provides

better memory retention compared to taking notes by typing on laptop because taking notes by typ-

ing leads her to record information without any analysis. Ms. Jiratchaya Mahatongkum prefers to
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take note by typing because typing is faster than writing and easier to read. Ms. Nataphan Soon-

tornworasate pointed towards the disadvantages of taking notes by typing on laptop. She thinks that

taking notes using laptop has more tendency to distract her which causes the loss of concentration.

Ms. Bralee Somyarak thinks that writing is better for her. She mentioned about the way how she

takes note. She said that handwriting is the easiest way for her, because she always uses many

colours and also draws some pictures is describing information. So, taking notes by handwriting be

able to provide her own unique notes which is better for her memory retention. Ms. Jidapa Wachi-

radejkul stated that writing makes her hand weary. So, she prefers to typing more than writing. Tak-

ing notes by typing can save her time compared to writing, which provides her more time to review

the information.

Conclusion

This research report aimed to find out which note taking tool is better for MUIDS students.

This concluded that MUIDS students preferred to take notes by writing more than typing. More-

over, taking notes by handwriting provided better memory retention and long term memory. In con-

clusion, the result of the survey from MUIDS students showed that 80% of MUIDS students chose

handwriting, and the other 20% chose typing. This research recommends further studies on how to

take notes effectively.

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References

Anderson, S. (n.d.). Handwritten notes vs. typed notes: is there a difference? Retrieved April 15,
2017, from https://www.studyright.net/blog/handwritten-notes/

Chew, J. (2016, April 6). Your Lousy Handwriting Might Actually Make You Smarter. Retrieved
April 20, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2016/04/05/handwriting-typing-studies/

Lombardi, E. (2017, February 26). The Case for the Importance of Taking Notes. Retrived May 11,
2017, from https://www.thoughtco.com/why-take-notes-in-literature-class-735173

May, C. (2014, June 3). A Learning Secret: Dont Take Notes with a Laptop. Retrieved Arpil 28,
2017, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-
with-a-laptop/

Mueller, P. (2014, April 24). Take Notes by Hand for Better Long-Term Comprehension. Retrieved
May 9, 2017, from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/take-notes-by-hand-
for-better-long-term-comprehension.html#.WNm9JRhh3q0

Pen, Z. (2014, September 2). 4 Benefits of Handwriting Notes Vs. Typing on Laptops. Retrieved
May 2, 2017, from http://www.zebrapen.com/4-benefits-of-handwriting-notes-vs-typing-on-
laptops/

Shwartz, A. (n.d.). Advantages of Typing Skills. Retrieved April 11, 2017 from
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/117329/technology/
advantages_of_typing_skills.html

Wong, K. (2017, May 3). Journaling Showdown: Writing Vs. Typing. Retrieved May 9, 2017, from
http://lifehacker.com/journaling-showdown-writing-vs-typing-1792942629