I'm partial to writing key words to help refresh my thoughts at the end. Sometimes a questions that isn't relevant to my current purpose shows up. I write it down so I can stick to my original purpose for tha pass.
I think of my reminder notes as spiders with boots. I draw a circle to represent the activation pass thene lines to represent the question, words form the boots. One coloured pen. Paper scraps the size of a business card.
It's enough to allow me to pad it out and if I want clarification I know where to look. The reason for the spider is simple a sense of order. I know which one came first and the question it relates to. I have a habit of starting my mind maps at 1 0'clock.
Some people might work better without notes. Frankly we haven't learned to trust or work with the other than conscious so to me it makes sense to do some of what you are already doing. That works for you when you study. But aim to do less. That is if you're in the habit of writing 10 pages of notes for one book. See if you can reduce it to three. Experiement with adding colour. Try mind maps.
As I've repeatedly told the Stewed Ant and others who have contacted me through MSN. Don't put rules into PhotoReading that are not there. If you have a study method that works don't create the rule that you're not allowed to use any part of it to do PhotoReading right.
It's not true that you're doing it wrong by using techniques that worked for you. The System teaches a method from the ground up. For people who never learned good study skills or never found one that worked for them.
If you already have a system you've already trained your other than conscious mind to do things a certain way. It may not be the most effient but why dump totally?
If you want to learn to use more of your other than conscious mind you have to change your approach. That means experiment with mind mapping if you don't mind map. Experiement to find out how long you can hold off on writing notes. Find out if you can use just 3 or 4 words from the author instead of copying whole sentences or paragraphs. Tip; put the page number next to the words or phrase if you think you're going to need it for an essay or even to refer back to it.
I know I've had questions that came up while activating that I needed to put aside to focus on later. Or When something wasn't making sense. I found when I wrote it down and left it. Then started the next activation with that question or problem in mind I can find the answer and solve the problem in under a minute. I'm not sure if writing it down tells my other than conscious mind to work on it while I continue with activation. I think it does because for me writing my question is a statement of my intent to find the answer.
Alex
) It seems to me that what you are saying overall is: During activation, one writes new trigger words and new questions. These tell the OTC mind what to look for, and are based on what is exciting and related to one's purpose. At the end of an activation session, one can summarize what one has learned in connection with the words or questions, and add to the mind map(s). This ensures that one is learning and not simply copying. It also helps build the collaboration between the conscious mind and the OTC mind, by requiring or at least inviting reliance upon the reservoir of material in the subconscious. So the point is not just to PhotoRead but also to process the material in such a way as to induce greater collaboration between the two areas of mind. This goal influences what and when one writes. Some note-taking practices may thwart or at least fail to utilize the OTC mind. Of course, we also must adapt the process and see what works for us individually. It may be that writing a key word or two during the activation pass, not a trigger word nor a new question but a word or two reflecting part of an answer to a question, may help learning without thwarting our efforts to learn to activate. Or, would you say that it is actually very important not to write during the pass itself, except for new trigger words and new questions? No exceptions? I don't want to cheat myself. What works best, in your experience? I think that even if I tried to limit myself to writing a key word or two in answer to a question during the pass, I would end up taking notes. I'd say to myself, just another word or two, just another word or two! And soon I'd be thwarting activation.