It's easy to get overwhelmed by assigned readings for college classes, and to feel like you'll never remember all of it anyway... so why bother? 

Detailed note taking can save enormous amounts of work later on. If you know an assigned book in depth, and can quickly find quotes to support your ideas or arguments, you will be well on your way to having a useful source document both for your current class and for future assignments. 

This is my process for taking notes in assigned books. It's made a huge difference in my studies, and I bet it works for you too!