Use Abbreviations

Taking complete notes will require you to write fairly quickly and, as a consequence, to use abbreviations. Here are some that I use (many of which I stole from other students and teachers), to give you an idea of how you can abbreviate. If you send text messages on your cell phone, then you know the sort of abbreviations I'm talking about. Use them when you take notes in class!

 

ABBREVIATION	MEANING
betw	between
ccpt	concept
cd	could
compn	computation
compnl	computational
comp	complete
dn	description
fn	function
h.	human
...g (e.g., contg)	...ing (continuing)
...l (e.g., compnl)	...al (computational)
lg	language
mn	mean
mng	meaning
...n (e.g., abbrvn)	...tion (abbreviation)
NB:	note/note well/nota bene
pn	proposition
prop	property
re	about (from Latin)
reln	relation
qn	question
...r (e.g., compr)	...er (computer)
shd	should
s.t.	something/sometimes (context should make it clear which you mean)
stmt	statement
thot	thought
w/	with
w/o	without
wd	would
wh	which
&	and
v	or (this is a symbol from logic)
¬	not/negation sign (this is a symbol from logic)
	possible/possibly (this is a symbol from logic)
	must/necessary/necessarily (this is a symbol from logic)
	all/for all/every (this is a symbol from logic)
	some/there is/there are/there exists (this is a symbol from logic)

A related idea is based on a system of shorthand called Speedwriting: There used to be ads in the New York City subway system that read something like this:

 

if u cn rd ths, u cn lrn spdwrtg

The key idea in abbreviating is to use abbreviations that will make sense to you. You can put an abbreviation key in the margin of your notebook for any abbreviations that you make up on the spot.