Three-Column Notes: The Simple System That Transforms Essay Writing

If you've ever looked at a textbook covered in highlighter streaks and wondered why your essays still feel like pulling teeth, you're not alone. Highlighting feels productive, but it rarely helps you think about the material—and it certainly doesn't write your paragraphs for you. Three-column notes do. By splitting your reading notes into claim, evidence, and your question, you turn passive reading time into active draft-building time. Here's how this deceptively simple system changes everything.

How to Set Up Your Three-Column System

Start by creating a simple grid in your notebook or document with three clear headings: Claim, Evidence, and Your Question. This takes seconds, but the structure does all the heavy lifting.

• In the first column, jot down the author's main claim or argument in your own words. Don't copy—rephrase it to check you've understood.
• In the second column, capture the key evidence or example the author uses to support that claim. A quote, a statistic, a case study—whatever underpins the point.
• In the third column, add your evaluation. This is where the magic happens: write a question, note a doubt, flag a link to your essay question, or jot how you might use this material in your own argument.

That third column transforms you from a passive reader into an active thinker. You're not just recording—you're already analysing.

Why Three-Column Notes Transform Your Reading

As you work through a text using this method, something remarkable happens: weak evidence and logical leaps start to stand out. When you're forced to separate an author's claim from their evidence, you notice when the evidence doesn't quite match the boldness of the claim. You spot gaps. You question assumptions.

At the same time, strong material becomes infinitely easier to retrieve. Instead of scrolling through a sea of yellow highlights wondering 'Where was that bit about...?', you have ready-made blocks: a clear point, its supporting evidence, and your own critical take. Each row in your notes is a potential paragraph waiting to be drafted.

Turn Your Notes Into Draft-Ready Material

When it's time to draft your essay, scan the third column for the points that serve your thesis. You'll find you have less to invent and more to assemble. The structure is already there: claim, support, and your analysis. This speeds up writing without flattening your thinking—in fact, it sharpens it, because you've been building your argument as you read, not scrambling to create one from scratch.

• Strong evaluations from column three become topic sentences.
• Claims and evidence from columns one and two slot in as supporting material.
• You spend less time staring at a blank page and more time refining your ideas.

Your essays don't just get written faster—they get written better, because the critical thinking happened during reading, not in a panic the night before the deadline.

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