I always hand-write my notes. I know of a girl that lost her notes for all of her classes because of computer problems. Knowing my luck, it’s better for me to write my notes.
It’s good practice, in general, to back-up your computer. Even if you don’t keep your notes electronically, you will likely have to write a paper or a lab report or make a presentation or do any number of assignments at some point on a computer. It’s always good to have a backup copy of important documents, if not your whole computer.
I also know a student who lost all of their notes because they misplaced their notebook. Another student I know had her backpack stolen, which had all of her notes in it. I have lots of stories of students losing their handwritten notes. I think it’s a little silly to base how you take your notes based on a story of someone losing theirs. Nothing is fool-proof.
I’m not really basing how I take my notes because of her experience. I just know that her experience would be something that would happen to me. I’ve misplaced notebooks, too, and yes, nothing is fool-proof.
I originally thought I would take my notes on a laptop, but I found it impractical. If anything I bring my laptop to class to stave off boredom but I still take notes on paper.
Much of the time, I take notes just to look “busy” during lecture because I normally go to the book later and read (usually) much better organized and more detailed information on the topic.
But I take notes with pen and paper. I’ve tried typing but I find that I just never go back and read them to begin with.
I type pretty quickly, but I find it so much easier to write everything in my notebook. I just sloppily jot everything down, then after class, if I’m not feeling lazy, I’ll either rewrite and format it neatly, or I’ll just input the information on Quizlet. Sometimes I do both, because it makes it easier to retain everything.