Note Taking Part 2: General Outlining

In my first note taking instructional post, I showed you some snapshots of my notes. As you probably noticed, there was little in the way of a structure of the book of Genesis. If you looked at my notes and compared them with the instructions that I provided before we started, you may be asking yourself, "How does that accomplish what you want everyone to be doing?" The answer is: It does not. That is to say, it does not, until you combine it with another piece.

In this snapshot, I have provided a general outline of Genesis. It is by no means a perfect one, but it proves helpful in grouping the entire book into manageable portions. So, though titling 27:1-37:1 "Jacob" hardly clues me into the fact that chapter 34 contains the story of Dinah, this title is very basic to the section as a whole. For the time being I just want you all to be making a very rough, general outline of each book you have completed on the reflection day . (I refer to this step as General Outlining.)



You will remember in my first note taking post that I demonstrated the ways that I was recording repeating themes, words, and phrases in the book of Genesis. This is the step I call Thematic Outlining. My goal (and I hope it is yours as well by the end), is to combine this Thematic Outline with the General Outline to create a structural and thematic representation of Genesis and eventually Exodus through Deuteronomy as well. In this final representation, I will assign each theme, word, and phrase a color and write them inside each bubble on the General Outline. Then, when I put all of the outlines (Genesis - Deuteronomy) together, I will see the sections that have the most commonality by their common colors. This, in turn, will allow me to make connections that I may not have made before.

Let me give you an example. I have notice that the word "remember" occurs at several key points in Genesis: in the Noah story, God remembers Noah and the flood waters recede; in the story of Rebekah, God remembers Rebekah and she conceives; and, in the Joseph story, the cup-bearer remembers Joseph and he is released from prison. Likewise, in Exodus, it is not until God hears and remembers Israel that he begins the process of deliverance. So when I outline these two books and write the word "remember" in a particular color on my outline under each of the major sections, I will be able to connect them in a way that I may not have seen before. This will aid me as I continue to read, providing landmarks for orientation in the text.

I hope this has been a helpful tip for you as you continue to read. Please do not get too detailed and specific in your General Outlines . General is the operative term. The only specifics needed are those pertaining to the themes, words, and phrases that you are keeping track of.

P.S. for a further example, please see my General Outline and Thematic Outline for Exodus below.

P.S.S. Do not feel obligated to use the titles of have given to each section, they are helpful for me, but they may not work for you. By all means, if you want to title Exodus 1-12 "Peaches" because it helps you remember what it is about, then do so.