question of notebook work, there will always be a considerable
difference of opinion. It is much easier to state what notebook work
should not be than to outline precisely how it should be conducted.
Certainly it should not be overdone. It should not be an exercise
usurping time disproportionate to its value. It should not be required
primarily for exhibition purposes, although such notes as are kept
should be kept neatly and spelled correctly.

Students should be encouraged to keep their envelope of note paper
always at hand during recitation and while reading. The habit of jotting
down facts, opinions, statistics, comparisons, and contradictions _while
they are being read_ is most desirable and worthy of cultivation. The
student should be taught the wisdom of keeping his notes in a neat,
legible, and easily available form. Shorthand methods should be
discouraged. With a little tactful direction early in the year, the
student may be led to form a most useful habit. The greater the
proportion of intelligent note-taking that is done without compulsion,
the better. No more notes should be _required_ than the teacher can
honestly look over, correct, and grade. It is better to require no notes
at all than to accept careless, superficial inaccuracies as honest work.
One curse of high school history teaching is the tendency of young
teachers trained in college history classes to assign more work than the
student can honestly do or the teacher properly correct.

As has already been intimated, history notes should not be kept in a
book. The required notes should be kept on separate sheets of paper. The
topics should be clearly indicated at the top of each sheet. The
authorities used in arriving at the answer should always be given, with
the volume, chapter, and page. The notes on related topics should be put
into an envelope and properly labeled. After the recitation the student
can make any necessary corrections in his notes without spoiling their
appearance. He will simply substitute a new sheet for the old. If the
teacher discovers in his periodic examination of the notes that some of
the matter asked for has not been properly covered or that errors have
not been corrected, the notes needing revision can be detained for use
in a conference with the student, while the others are returned. If at
any time after completing his high school work the student desires to
use the data contained in his notes or to add to them matter w