I find that the doodle, also known as sketchnoting, helps me to focus and comprehend large quantities of information. I have sketchnoted all my life. There are a lot of myths out there about sketchnoting aka doodling. Here are some links and videos about sketchnoting:

Links:
Sketchnote Army
SketchNote Power Point
RohDesign

I have a lot to say about this but I think that the experts and research is more substantial than what I have to say.