Critical reasoning shorthand

[jtapper]

What is the best source to find common abbreviations that I can incorporate into my CR note-taking for the skeletal sketches and headline lists? I have tried to find a source online but nothing is really surfacing. Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

Rather than trying to learn an existing shorthand, it's really better to create your own. You need to default to things that automatically come to your mind. When you're done trying a CR problem, go back and re-do the diagram. What could you have abbreviated that you didn't? How should you abbreviate? Did you use any abbreviations that then didn't make sense to you while you were doing the rest of the problem? What should you have used instead? Did you use any abbreviations that you thought were perfectly suited to the situation? Add that to your little "my abbreviation techniques" log (the one you're going to create in a notebook or on your computer!).

If nothing else, if there are big words, names, places, anything like that in the argument, abbreviate simply with a capitalized first letter. You only need to remember this stuff for 2 minutes, and your short-term memory will retain enough for you to say "C" - that was for Coco Corporation - or "M wants D" was for Mayor wants Deregulation - or whatever. :)