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Once you have a good working outline, you should begin taking notes in earnest. Use either 3x5 or 4x6 note cards, whichever your teacher prefers. If your teacher says it's ok to use a notebook, report him or her at once to us here at CHIRP.
You should write down any fact, statement or statistic that you feel might be useful for writing the paper and which helps support one of the major points in your working outline. A good notecard has FOUR parts to it:
- An abbreviated source identification ( a piece of the title or author, or even just an
author's initials)
- The page number of the source (very important for citing later!) If an internet source
has no page number, just skip this part
- Where in your working outline you think the note might go
- The note itself (can be several kinds of notes, discussed below)
Tips for writing note cards:
- Use ONE side of card ONLY.
- Put the author/title abbreviation in upper right-hand corner.
- Put the page number, if there is one, at the bottom right-hand corner.
- Put the section of the working outline you feel this note will go in the bottom left-
hand corner.
- Limit yourself to one fact, statistic, or quotation per card.
- Make sure any statements made by people are identified properly; this will be clearer
and help you avoid plagiarism later.
- Avoid taking excessive notes from one source.
- Use a language that you are familiar with.
Sample Notecards:
A "blended quote" notecard
Note for the above notecard that Berry is the author, that the quote was from page 56, and that it will go in section IIB of the outline.
A 'paraphrase' notecard
Notice here a few small differences with the same information. First, the person here used an abbreviation code (BC) instead of the author's last name, Berry. B here is for Berry and C is for the first main word of the book - Cloning - The Issues Explored.The quote itself is a paraphrase, all in the words of the notetaker. The rest is the same.
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