It’s back to school time! And while you are no longer taking notes in history class or using flashcards to prep before a Spanish vocabulary quiz, there’s still a role for putting pen to paper in your professional life – and it might just deepen your knowledge and increase your productivity.

In a groundbreaking 2024 study by Teachers College, Columbia University, neuroscience researchers scientifically confirmed what many have suspected for years. After studying the brain reactions of middle schoolers who were asked to consume words by both paper and by screen, researchers found what they termed a “Print Advantage” to paper-based retention. In other words, reading printed words led to a deeper level of cognition than did viewing those words as digital text.

An article by Studies Weekly found yet another benefit of learning via printed materials: a sense of ownership. Activities like underlining sight words, writing notes next to written margins, or circling key words about which they wanted to know more all led to kids feeling like their work was “their own.”

So, should we adults give it a try?

According to the Paper + Packaging Board (P+PB), yes, we should. The paper industry organization, through its public awareness campaign “How Life Unfolds,” published an article outlining three specific methods that working adults can use to rock notetaking in our daily jobs.

The article highlights three popular methods: sketchnoting, bullet journaling, and the Cornell notetaking system, providing a description and listing the benefits of each. Plus, it provides at-your-fingertips video lessons and downloadable tools to help you get started on one of these paper-based notetaking and retention methods.

So if you haven’t thought about notetaking since study hall (or spent more time “passing notes” than taking them; ’80s kids: I see you!), this article is a great jump-start to renew the activity.  And if you have a tried-and-true notetaking system already or tend to rely solely on digital tools at the office, it’s worth exploring how one of these systems might enhance the good thing you’ve already got going.