This study used e-notes, focus group interviews and a questionnaire to explore 51 participants' learning from e-notes in three courses in a northwest university in Taiwan. This study presents the following major findings. First, writing and reading e-notes, and providing comments on group members' e-notes, helped these emergent researchers become familiar with academic writing. Secondly, however, participants exhibited different levels of engagement in the academic community of practice, from simply writing e-notes as peripheral members to becoming fully engaged core members. Thirdly, the challenges and problems these emergent researchers faced in taking e-notes within the academic community of practice included organising the notes, the structure of the platform, participants' different levels of engagement, and participation. A model on helping emergent researchers become academic writers was proposed in terms of setting a goal-oriented community and being a core member.