Taking Notes

The easiest way to prepare your research project is to base it on NOTES which you make as you consult your sources.

Don’t take notes on EVERY fact. Read carefully and choose ideas that matched your original questions. Before you start your note-taking, write on an index card:

  • A statement of what you tentatively plan to prove about your topic.
  • Four to five general questions which will help you focus your research.

 

Examples:

Your Name

Topic: Alice McDermott, Charming Billy

Prove: Why was Billy an alcoholic?
Questions:

  • Could Billy have had another illness?
  • Why did McDermott choose Maeve as a character that Billy would marry?
  • What were the main themes of the book?
  • What was the significance of Dennis’s mother wanting Billy to visit the summer house?

Your Name

Topic: Allan Guaranus, White People

Prove: What did the reader learn from Vesta Lotte Battle?

Questions:

  • Was her blindness a metaphor?
  • What power or wisdom did she have?
  • Why was Funerary Eventualities eating Jerry alive?

Taking Notes

  • If you prepare your notes properly, you will find it MUCH easier to organize your material later and to complete your project. Make clear, on each note card, from what SOURCE your notes came and from what PAGE. Also make your notes clear. Doing this from the beginning will save you time later. You shouldn't need to go back to find information you missed.
  • Here are some important points to remember:
  • Write your notes on 4 X 6 index cards.
  • Write on ONE side of the card only -unless you have just one or two lines left, in which case, use the back.
  • On any one card, write notes ONLY on ONE NARROW TOPIC and from only ONE REFERENCE SOURCE. This will simplify organizing your paper later.
  • Include on each card:
    • Identification of the source (which can be a code letter matching your source card, the author's name, a shortened title, or whatever you need for positive identification).
    • a label for the topic covered on this card.
    • your actual notes.
    • the page number(s) where you found this material. (It may not be possible to include page numbers for Web resources.)
  • Take notes in your own words as briefly as possible. Get all the FACTS, names, dates, what happened. You can use incomplete sentences and abbreviations, as long as you're sure you'll understand them later. Be careful not to twist facts or ideas into something that the author didn't say.
  • If you are writing an exact quotation of someone else's words, copy the quotation EXACTLY, that means every little comma! ENCLOSE THE QUOTATION IN QUOTATION MARKS. Also include the name of the person you are quoting and that person's position.

 

Taken in part from School District of Springfield Township - All Rights Reserved