Taking Notes for Research
Below are three suggestions for taking research notes. With any of these note-taking forms, you
should use the bibliographical format required by your instructor to record
information, so you won’t have to revisit sources for missing information. See our MLA/APA handout for details on these
formats.
Author, title, publisher, publishing date, page
number “Quote the source
As you take notes, be
sure to write quotations exactly or to paraphrase (put an author’s ideas into
your own words) correctly, since you will be held accountable for properly
documenting your sources. See Handout on
avoiding plagiarism and how to paraphrase for more information on these topics.
Author, Page Number “Quote exact words from
source.”
Note
cards are handy because you can
lay them out and organize how each quotation
will fit into the paper. To save time you can keep
a separate bibliography list and use only
the
authors last name on each card. If you choose
not to keep the list, remember to put all
source
information on each card. Use ziplock bags
to organize and store cards by topic.
Author, title,
publisher, publishing date Author, Page
Number “Quote exact
words from source.” Author, Page
Number “Quote exact
words from source.” Author, Page
Number “Quote exact
words from source.”
In a notebook there is a room to
lift many quotations from each source.
Be
sure to place page numbers next to the
quotations to keep track of them. Use the
front of the page only, so you choose to cut
pages into strips later when you organize the
information.
Author, title,
publisher, publishing date, page number “Quote exact words from source.” Author, title,
publisher, publishing date, page number “Quote exact words from source.”
Using a
Computer to write
your quotations allows you to cut and paste
directly from on-line sources into your notes
(be sure to out quotation marks around these
quotations and to record bibliographical
information). You can also copy and paste
notes into the paper as you write.
Keep all source information next to each quote
on the computer, so you can print and use quotes
as you would note cards.